1. José A. Cruz Arzón Biomedical Techniques (BIOL 4997) May 8, 2013
Dr. Elena González, Dr. Eneida Díaz, Dr. Robert Ross
Revolutionary Discovery
The 19th century, a very prominent era in world’s history. Distinguished by several
historical events that marked the history of humankind forever. Napoleon Bonaparte crowns
himself emperor of France in this era by later taking control of almost the entire European
continent. The American colonies began to gain independence from their European rulers,
beginning with Haiti and later on, The United States of America. In economics, the Industrial
Revolution began, altering the economy worldwide. Karl Marx also promoted the ideas of what
is going to evolve in the communism later on. In music, Ludwig van Beethoven became one of
the best musicians in the history thanks to his amazing symphonies and compositions. Even in
science new discoveries emerged; the molecule morphine was isolated by the first time in
Germany by Frederich Sertürner in the 1804. Anyways, 19th
century has let a very noticeable
footprint in our history. But let’s change the theme; I don’t want to bore you with a lot of
monotonous historical events as they do in a common history class, no, I will like to have the
privilege to tell you a very weird but fascinating story, a story that not everybody remembers
well, and if they do, they do not tell it correctly. This is a story about a man, a scientist actually,
that made a brilliant discovery ignored by the scientific community of his era. This is the story of
a revolutionary discovery that has shook science forever.
It was 1887, in the island of Puerto Rico located in the Caribbean, just in the middle of
South and North America. There was this scientist named Dr. José Cruz Arzón, a much loved

2. friend of mine, I knew him very well, a talented man with a very wide vision of the world,
always occupied playing with the magnificent world of science, a passionate man I must say,
passionate for the things he do and for his future goals as a scientist. He studied in what is now,
the Medical University of South Carolina, being one of the first scientists of the world to have a
Ph.D. in Neurobiology, a not well studied field by that time. He had an assistant, named
Charlene Rivera, who was a Biology student from the University of Puerto at Cayey that was
researching with Dr. Cruz because one day she wanted to be also a neurobiologist. She was a
very intelligent student, always devoted to help Dr. Cruz in everything he would need. Together
they were working in something unusual, not thought by another mind. Since the brain is a yet
unexplored region, Dr. Cruz and Mrs. Charlene were working on a Shrinking Ray that could
shrink a car design by Dr. Cruz and Mrs. Rivera, which they named Neuromobile 10nm, because
it could shrink small as 10nm with people inside, enter in the blood vessels of a person and go
directly to the brain region to make closer studies of the nervous system. Dr. Cruz designs it with
materials that the immune system of the body would recognize so it won’t attack the
Neuromobile. Still this seems impossible, Dr. Cruz has already finished the shrinking ray, but he
has not being able to test it on the Neuromobile with people inside. This technique for Dr. Cruz
and Mrs. Rivera seemed to have been developing slowly; meanwhile they have focused on
studying several genes synthesized in the brain that can me mutated by environmental factors
such as the recently discovered, not well studied, Dysbindin-1 protein gene.
“Hello, Dr. Cruz Arzón’s Research Lab, this is Charlene Rivera the research assistant”
Mrs. Rivera answered the phone a Friday afternoon. “Dr. Cruz is for you” she said. “Can’t they
understand we are busy, science needs us” answered Dr. Cruz. “They say is urgent, the life of a
country depends on it” Mrs. Rivera replied. “What could be more important than saving lives

3. through the amazing tool of science?” said Dr. Cruz. He let what he was doing to go and answer
the phone. “Hello, Dr. Cruz here” he answered roughly because he doesn’t like being interrupted
while working. He stayed a few minutes on the phone just hearing, when suddenly we made
facial expressions as he was shocked and amazed. Later on, he just hung up the phone and seated
down slowly still with the look of being shocked. Mr. Rivera approached toward him quietly and
asked: “Doctor, is everything ok? I don’t like that look on your face”. He just lifted his head and
looks directly to Mrs. Rivera’s eyes and answered: “We need to go; we need to go to Brazil, yes
Mrs. Rivera, this is urgent, and the life of a country depends on it”. Mrs. Rivera, amazed by Dr.
Cruz’s answer, she rapidly made all the plans to take a flight to Río de Janeiro, Brazil for an
important research adventure with Dr. Cruz. They didn’t loss time; Dr. Cruz started packing all
the scientific equipment they might need for this travel. What Dr. Cruz and Mrs. Rivera didn’t
know is that they were about to make a brilliant discovery that could change the perspective of
science of that era and the future times.
While traveling in the plane to Brazil, Dr. Cruz explained Mrs. Rivera what was the
situation. The man that called that Friday afternoon was the president of Brazil himself. He has
heard about Dr. Cruz’s works and proposals, so he decided to call him for an important research
work in Río de Janeiro. There was a community in Río de Janeiro, a poor community called
“Flavelas de Marta”, which apparently, its people are suffering from different episodes of
hallucinations, delusions, stress attacks, and even emotional disorders. Some of them have
presented signs of disorganization in their speech and incoherence in their thinking. The
President was very worried because some of these people were getting out of control attempting
the peace of the city, and maybe the country. Since Brazil is high influenced by witchcraft and
other African paganisms, people are proposing that they can be possessed by spirits. Dr. Cruz

4. and Mrs. Rivera’s job is to find out what could be causing these people to hallucinate and act like
they are possessed, or they just are victims of not yet discovered neurological disease. It is a
hard, but intriguing research job for these two scientists, fascinated by this new task to
accomplish.
Dr. Cruz and Mrs. Rivera arrived to Río Janeiro to Brazil and furthermore they arrived to
the community of “Flavelas de Marta”. As soon they entered the community, they instantly saw
what was going on; they were people screaming, shouting, and saying incoherent ideas,
hallucinating, and even having bipolar disorders, very sever ones. Dr. Cruz was very amazed, in
his many years as a studier of the human nervous system and human behavior, he had never seen
such an episode before, and he knew it was going to be a hard research. As soon as he finished
observing people behavior and recording it for a while, he began interviewing some of the people
in the village that apparently were “healthy” or not possessed. Not even a single person was able
to give Dr. Cruz a possible scientific answer that could help him resolve the problem. “This is
going to be a tough one Mrs. Rivera, are you ready for this?” Dr. Cruz asked. “Yes, after all, this
research experience could look good on my portfolio” answered Mrs. Rivera. Immediately, Dr.
Cruz and Mrs. Rivera knew that they were facing something unknown by science, not yet
studied, or well ignored by scientist, who knows? Dr. Cruz immediately began his work along
with Mrs. Rivera and the lab research team that the Brazilian government assigned, and for the
next days they will be dedicated to find the answer of this enigma.
Some days have already passed, and Dr. Cruz’s research has been very difficult to
resolve, even with Mrs. Rivera’s help, the research apparently did not show signs of progress.
Dr. tried everything he had learned and researched about the brain and the nervous system; he
did a normal neurological test to see how well the reflections of the affected people were, he also

5. measured action potential, neuronal transmission and signaling to the muscles and mouth, but the
results were quite normal for everyone. Dr. Cruz didn’t know what else to do, he did every
neurological test he knew, everything was normal. He also dissected a brain from a dead person
that suffered that same “possession” and the brain seemed normal. He was about to surrender,
there was nothing else to do, since the technology of that period was not high advanced,
especially in the field of Neuroscience. Suddenly, the light of hope illuminated Dr. Cruz’s mind;
he had an idea, a dangerous one, but it was the only chance to find the solution to this problem.
“Mrs. Rivera, I have an idea” Dr. Cruz said. “And which is it Doctor?” asked Mrs. Rivera. “I
could use the Shrinking Ray to shrink the Neuromobile 10nm with me inside, and go travel
through the blood vessels to the brain and look for the problem. Meantime, I can test both the
Neuromobile 10nm and the Shrinking Ray at the same time.” answered Dr. Cruz. “But Doctor! It
is too dangerous, we haven’t tested the Neuromobile 10nm yet, we don’t know if a human being
can survive in it, you could die inside!” desperately replied Mrs. Rivera. “It is our only Mrs.
Rivera, we don’t have much time, besides if I die, I will die doing what I love the most,
researching” said Dr. Cruz. “Well Doctor, if you go, I’ll go. I can’t let all the fun part to you”
said Mrs. Rivera. “That research spirit will take you very far my dear assistant. Know lets go and
call Dr. Delaine Zayas-Bazán in Puerto Rico, to see if she can do us the favor of sending the
Shrinking Ray and Neuromobile 10nm” finished saying Dr. Cruz, while both scientists go to the
apartment where they are staying, to call Dr. Zayas-Bazán, Dr. Cruz’s research colleague.
The Shrinking Ray and the Neuromobile 10nm have arrived, Dr. Cruz and Mrs. Rivera
prepared everything for the shrinking and the injection into the blood vessels of an affected
volunteer man; in fact this is going to be the first machine that could actually shrink and object in
a matter of seconds. Dr. Zayas-Bazán came to Río de Janeiro too, to assist Dr. Cruz in his

6. research. Everything was ready; Dr. Cruz and Mrs. Rivera were inside the Neuromobile and Dr.
Zayas-Bazán was also ready, she was in charge of starting the Shrinking Ray whenever they
were ready. Everything was set, Dr. Cruz and Mrs. Rivera were both scared, they didn’t know
what was going to happen to them, whether they will survive or not. The shrinking started; the
ray was fired toward the Neuromobile, with Dr. Cruz and Mrs. Rivera inside. In just a few
seconds they were as tiny as a virus, not seen by the naked eyed, how did Dr. Zayas-Bazán was
going to know if they were there? The answer is that Dr. Cruz design the Neuromobile sensitive
to Wright dye, so the only thing that Dr. Zayas-Bazán had to do is poured a little bit of Wright
dye in the area that they shrank, and immediately the area turned purple, indicating that the
shrank Neuromobile was there. Dr. Zayas-Bazán took that substance and put it inside a syringe
that rapidly was supplied to the man. The only think Dr. Zayas-Bazán could do is wait. By Dr.
Cruz’s orders, after an hour and a half, Dr. Zayas-Bazán will supply a tablet to the patient that
will automatically make the patient him vomit and in that way he can expel Dr. Cruz and Mrs.
Rivera.
Surprisingly, Dr. Cruz and Mrs. Rivera were alive inside the Neuromobile 10nm which
was inside the human body. It was amazing! During their way to the brain, they saw everything
in the blood, erythrocytes, leukocytes, proteins floating everywhere, antibodies, macrophages,
lipids, and everything they could ever have studied in the Biology field. They were approaching
the brain and one of the things that Dr. Cruz could conclude is that the materials that he chose to
design the Neuromobile were perfect because macrophages and antibodies haven’t tried to attack
them yet, that is a great step. They reach the brain; Dr. Cruz almost faints, he have never in his
life seen something such majestically big, the brain as the size of the moon, compared to their
size. The Dr. Cruz was desperately recording everything he was seeing, while Mrs. Rivera

7. focused on driving the car for a while. One of the things he saw was that the ventricle of the
brain was enlarged, it was not normal size. Yet Dr. Cruz recorded it as a possible symptom, he
was asking why he didn’t notice when he dissected the brain; it was a question that in the
moment he could not ask, but yet he had his theories, maybe the enlargement of the brain was a
symptom that emerge later on in patient’s life. When they entered a little bit more inside the
ventricle he notice something strange, but familiar, there was this peptide floating in low
concentrations in the area of the ventricle. “I could swear I have seen this peptide before” said
Dr. Cruz. Suddenly while Dr. Cruz was thinking, Mrs. Rivera said amazed and shocked:
“Doctor! Don’t you realize? That is our protein, the protein that we study in the lab, Disbinding-
1 protein”. After a few seconds of an intense quite Dr. Cruz screamed happily: “It is! Of course it
is! Look at that sequence of amino acids; that has to be Disbindin-1 protein. Oh my God! I can’t
believe it! Good job Mrs. Rivera”. Dr. Cruz and Mrs. Rivera had the opportunity to look at the
protein they have been studying for a long time. One of the things they notice is that the protein
is in low concentrations in this patient. “That’s weird, although we don’t know the function of
the Disbindin-1 protein, I can assure that is found in the nervous system in high concentrations,
not this low” said Dr. Cruz. “Doctor! Maybe it’s because this could be another symptom for this
phenomenon, low concentrations of Disbindin-1” suggested Mrs. Rivera. “You could be right
Mrs. Rivera; that is what I was thinking. Maybe this low concentration of this protein is due to a
genetic mutation caused by environmental factors” said Dr. Cruz. “Do you think?” asked Mrs.
Rivera. “Maybe yes, Mrs. Rivera, remember that this is a poor community, vulnerable and
exposed to different variants of contamination or maybe malnutrition” answered Dr. Cruz. “Its
quiet logical, it seems that we have a lot of work to do Dr. Cruz” replied Mrs. Rivera. “We sure
do Mrs. Rivera, let’s start with the name shall we?” suggested Dr. Cruz. “I would suggest that

8. you call it Schizophrenia” said Mrs. Rivera. “How did you come up with that name” asked Dr.
Cruz. “It comes from the Latin, it means ambiguous or splitted mind, we can use it as a reference
to the bipolar disorder the patients present” said Mrs. Rivera. “Future research ahead of you, my
dear assistant” concluded Dr. Cruz while they feel that the patient was starting to get sick, ready
to bring back the researchers to the real world.
This is a research that started few years ago, not even with today’s days technology we
have been able to decode the function of this protein in the brain. This is the real and original
story of how today’s Schizophrenia was discovered. Do not believe that old-fashioned story in
which Dr. Emil Kraepelin was the first one to observe it as a disease, and Dr. Bleuler the one that
coined the term. That is just a fallacy invented by the scientific community to occult the fact that
were Puertorrican scientists the ones that first observed, studied, analyzed and coined the term.
You are responsible of treasuring this story, the real one, and pass it from generation to
generation, so all patients in the world could know that from long time ago, there have been
scientists working hard to find a cure for the disease. It was the responsibility of Dr. Cruz and
Mrs. Rivera to do it, but it’s the modern scientist’s responsibility to continue his research now
and find the final cure for this disease. There are people out there that are waiting for the day that
they could see normal things without hallucinating, hear normal noises, speak and think clearly,
and have normal emotional behaviors. Don’t blind your eyes and cover your ears at their voice,
hear them, help them, use research if you need to, but just be the light of hope that these people
want to see from this world.