Tanner Paskett

9 December, 2016

Erasing a genetic mutation: Researchers reverse a liver disorder in mice by correcting a mutated gene

The article I reviewed revealed incredible science being done at MIT. They are developing a technique that would allow the reversing of genetic mutations. They were able to remove a mutated sequence from the DNA of mice and replace it with the correct sequence of DNA. The procedure allowed them to cure a liver disorder in the mice! The implications of this is HUGE! The mastery of this technique would allow cure for many different genetic diseases and could hopefully reverse the mutations that are caused in cancer cells.

The technique is called CRISPR. It involves using an enzyme called Cas9 that is designed to cut out a specific sequence in the DNA. In this case, they would design it to cut out the mutated sequence. The scientists also introduced an RNA template strand. The cell would repair itself from the damage done by the enzyme and use the RNA template strand to repair the DNA and correct the mutation.

The Cas9 is said to be very adjustable and can be changed to potentially treat genetic diseases such as Huntington's disease or hemophilia. I find this research to be extremely interesting because it could be the solution to many diseases that are otherwise incurable.

Source:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/03/140330151614.htm

Giraffes more speciose than expected - Mary Salmeron

Giraffes more speciose than expected

            A study was recently conducted on the genetic makeup of a giraffe. The conclusion was that instead of just being recognized as one species, the results showed that giraffes have four distinct species. This analysis was done using nuclear marker genes from over 100 animals. The results of this analysis would be used to help protect the endangered animals in Africa.

            While reading this article I learned a few things. One being the giraffe hasn’t been studied much so we were just aware of one species instead of four. Also knowing that there are four species of giraffes I found it interesting how according to research they don’t mate with each other. I also didn’t know that a giraffe had subspecies before them finding out they had in fact four species. During the skin biopsy’s they were conducting a result showed that two of the giraffe’s subspecies were basically identical, and that the last ancestor they had in common lived from about 0.4 to 20 million years ago. Lastly I learned that being given this information about giraffes they are at a higher risk than before due to their three other species.

            I thought this article was interesting because it was different and as soon as I opened up the page the title caught my eye. Like the article states it was known that giraffes were recognized as on instead of four, was really fascinating. I had always just thought of it as just one species. Also that this study could help not only the giraffes but other animals that could be in danger. 

http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2016/09/08/giraffes_more_speciose_than_expected.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+biologynews%2Fheadlines+%28Biology+News+Net%29

Drug Resistant Bacteria found on Pig Farm

Nathan Sandage

BIOL 1610 10AM T-Th

12/07/2016

The article I read was called: New Kind of Antibiotic Resistance Shows Up on a Hog Farm. This article was about a new antibiotic resistant bacteria called carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE). This new bacteria was discovered on a farm in the Midwest United States. The article said that it was the first discovery of this sort of drug resistant bacteria in the United States. The article then talks about different ways the drug may have shown up on a farm, since most of these type bacteria would be at a hospital. One theory is that farm employees may have picked the bacteria up at a hospital and brought it back to the farm. Another interesting thing the article talked about was how it was weird for the bacteria to stay so long in the hogs when the drug it is resistant to is not used in agriculture. But later it talked about how a different drug that is similar to the drug used, is used in agriculture. The article went into how the drug resistant DNA is on the plasmids of the bacteria instead of the chromosomes of the bacteria. This is important because it is easily spread to other bacteria in this way. At the end of the article it talks about how everything is very new and researches are working to find out the health impacts of the new discovery.

I thought that this was an interesting article to read because recently in class the topic was brought up. In class we watched the video of drug resistant E.coli.  This article was interesting because it showed a real-world example of how this happens. And how evolution and natural selection is always moving and changing the way things are. The article talked about how hard these kind of drug resistant bacteria are to fight and how that the bacteria jumping between people and animal and back can be very dangerous. This was a very interesting article to read and it was interesting to get a real world example of what we saw and learned in class. 

Study reveals how Ionizing Radiation damages DNA and causes cancer

Alberto Valdez

Dr. G

Biology 1610

7 December 2016

Study reveals how Ionizing Radiation damages DNA and causes cancer

http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2016/09/12/study_reveals_how_ionising_radiation_damages_dna_and_causes_cancer.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+biologynews%2Fheadlines+%28Biology+News+Net%29

            Researchers from Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and their collaborators were able to find two characteristics patters of DNA damage caused by ionizing radiation. Dr. Peter Campbell from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute lead a study were he tested the DNA from secondary radiation-associated tumors and patients who had not been exposed to radiation. Throughout his study they found that there were two mutations found in all the patients who had been exposed to radiation. One mutation was a deletion and the other was an inversion. Since these researchers found out that the abnormality of cell growth is being caused by a DNA mutation there might be a way to reverse this. This finding will be able to help doctors and researchers better diagnose the cause of cancer. Not only do I believe that it can help diagnose cancer caused by radiation but I believe but it is a good start on finding a cure now that we can “see” where some of the problem is. This topic really interests me because cancer is always a huge topic in society. I also really enjoy studying and talking about DNA. I find it amazing how these doctors and researchers were able to find things in the tiny DNA that will be able to help a huge population in the world! I find it really interesting that there is researchers still trying to find many ways to help people with cancer. The reason this article catched my eye is because this study in science involves the whole world. This will be able to help many families around the world and can even make other treatments and studies cheaper now that there can be easier ways to find the causes of certain cancers. With technology advancing this study will go further and many other great things will be found.  

“3-Parent Baby” Procedure Faces New Hurdle

“3-Parent Baby” Procedure Faces New Hurdle

Josh Duvall

BIOL1610-006 10AM

Article Link:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ldquo-three-parent-baby-rdquo-procedure-faces-new-hurdle/

This evocatively-titled article appears in the Scientific American, and was written by Karen Weintraub. While the imagery of the title might conjure hollywoodesque pictures of mad scientists in their laboratory, I am pleased to report the substance of the article was nearly as interesting--albeit in a more scientific sense.

A paper published in Nature a couple weeks ago reported on a drawback that is being observed with a scientific technique being used to stop certain diseases involving the mitochondria, such as Leigh syndrome. It involves taking mitochondria from a donor, dubbed the "3rd Parent", and incorporate that into new offspring in an effort to replace the mother's faulty mitochondria in the offspring which can lead to certain debilitating diseases. This paper found that even after 99 percent of the mother's mitochondria are eliminated, they can come back to dominate over the donor's mitochondria and sicken the child with the diseases from the faulty mitochondria from the mother.

In an effort to resolve this problem of mother mitochondria resurgence, a doctor is mentioned in the article describing a technique as "taking the 'yellow part' of a mother’s egg and inserting it into the 'white' of a donor’s egg." Reportedly, an "apparently healthy" boy was born in Mexico back in April using this technique. His parents had two children previously who died of Leigh syndrome.

The article also discusses in some length other considerations about this mitochondrial replacement therapy, as it is called. There may be complications with the technique because of potential incompatibilities that may arise between mitochondrial and nuclear DNA, such as donors being from different ethnic backgrounds for example. 

I just find the whole concept of being able to go in and replace defective mitochondria with better donor mitochondria in a new offspring to be totally fascinating. There's always ethical considerations to be had, too, with the topic as a whole. As research continues in this field of biology and genetic engineering, I think the technology will be advancing at least as fast as the philosophy we have to deal with these new advancements, if not faster. The potential benefits of research in this field are highlighted in this article, and I think this kind of therapy is only the beginning of a brighter future.

Can You Diagnose Dementia from a Gaming App?

28 November, 2016

            Over the course of history, dementia and Alzheimer’s have continued to be wretched issues that affect families, people, and society. It’s something that seems to affect anyone, no matter their creed, gender, or background. It leaves individuals forgetting their identity, and forgetting people they love. This article reviews this new gaming application that may begin to help people diagnose dementia.

                In this article , it is remarked that spatial navigation skills can be linked to these diseases. A decline in these abilities may mean it is a sign of the underlying disease coming on for an individual. This game measures those abilities. People seem to have issues getting lost if they are developing dementia, even in familiar neighborhoods.

                This article talks about how the study developed a base-line ability for a typical person of good health. What was found was with each age from 19 on, the individual’s ability to remember and perform with spatial navigation declines rather steadily as well that men were typically better than women. With this gathered information they are now going to it on patients and look at a more in-depth study. This study was pretty interesting because nearly all people in the world know of someone that is affected by these diseases. Learning about them and finding links can lead to helping people decline the severity of these disease or even eventually put a stop to them.