Category Archives: Genetic Engineering

Genetic Engineering The Rise Of Civilization - Part 2 The advent of agriculture gave rise to the meteoric development of nation-states around 6000 years ago. Dr. Rita Louise delves into the mundane topic of agr... By: Just Energy Radio … Continue reading →

Light-activated genes might be precisely controlled and targeted By Ken Kingery Duke University researchers have devised a method to activate genes in any specific location or pattern in a lab dish with the flip of a light switch by crossing a bacteriums viral defense system with a flowers response to sunlight. With the ability to use light to activate genes in specific locations, researchers can better study genes functions, create complex systems for growing tissue, and perhaps eventually realize science-fiction-like healing technologies. The study was led by Charles Gersbach, assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Duke University, and published on February 9 in Nature Chemical Biology. Researchers demonstrate their new technique to control genes by shining light through a Duke D stencil to turn on fluorescent genes in cells. The new technique targets specific genes using an emerging genetic engineering system called CRISPR/Cas9. Discovered as the system bacteria use to identify viral invaders and slice up their DNA, the system was co-opted by researchers to precisely target specific genetic sequences. The Duke scientists then turned to another branch of the evolutionary tree to make the system light-activated. In many plants, two proteins lock together in the presence of light, allowing … Continue reading →

Bridges Middle School Student Explains Genetic Engineering By: BridgesAcademy2E … Continue reading →

Genetic Engineering cDNA FM - . By: Gyanvani Sangamam … Continue reading →

Genetically engineered crops: Something to be feared or something to be encouraged? Two Penn State professors presented the pro side of the genetic-engineering debate at the Fogelsville Volunteer Fire Company Thursday night as part of state Rep. Gary Day's (R-Lehigh/Berks) annual Agricultural Town Hall Meeting. About 60 constituents, many of them local farmers, turned out for the meeting and sandwich buffet. Before introducing the speakers, Day said the 187th District he represents, which includes Upper Macungie Township, was predominantly agricultural but has shifted as farming has given way to residential and commercial development. He said the topic of Thursday's informational meeting, traditionally referred to in his office as "Farmers' Night," surfaced when he visited his alma mater to learn more about Penn State's work with genetically modified organisms (GMOs). GMOs are organisms that have been altered to produce specific characteristics such as cold tolerance or pesticide resistance in plants by extracting genes responsible for certain traits from the DNA strands of one organism and inserting them into another. "You rely on your university to give you the facts so you can make decisions," Day said in introducing Richard Roush, the new dean of Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences, and … Continue reading →

Let's stop drawing lines in the sand when it comes to genetically modifying people and talk about engineering everybody Want to see what a genetically modified human looks like? Just glance in the mirror. You are the result of an experiment that randomly modified your DNA in at least 50 places. No ethics committee in the world would approve such a dangerous practice. But hey, it's OK because the scientist in this case is nature. And nature is good, right? Never mind that some unlucky kids die horrible deaths because they end up with cruel and fatal mutations. Never mind that just about every one of us will suffer at some point because of the legacy of countless generations of this uncontrolled experiment. What if we could put a stop to this? We have already begun in a small way. For the past three decades some communities have been screening would-be parents to ensure their children do not inherit one particularly cruel genetic modification Tay-Sachs disease. More recently, we have begun to screen IVF embryos before they are implanted in cases when we know children risk inheriting one or other of the nastiest results of nature's meddling. And now, with … Continue reading →

TIME Ideas health Three-Parent IVF Deserves a Chance in the U.S. All new fertility methods sound crazy at first In a historic vote that rocked the world of fertility medicine Tuesday, British lawmakers approved the use of a controversial IVF practice that would take genetic material from three people to create a single embryo. The promising technique, which involves replacing the defective cellular material of a womans eggs with that from a healthy donor, aims to prevent patients from passing down crippling genetic diseases to their offspring. It also might hold the key to other groundbreaking applications, such as extending womens fertility by rehabilitating old eggs. The decision is inspiring because members of Parliament chose science over a firestorm of often ill-informed debate questioning whether weve gone too far in experimenting with genetic engineering. Hopefully, they will motivate the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which held public hearings on the topic last year but declined to move forward with human trials citing lack of safety data, to follow suit. New research published in the New England Journal of Medicine estimated that more than 12,000 women in the U. S. of childbearing age risk passing down such mitochondrial diseases, which have … Continue reading →

The House of Commons in the U.K. has now voted to permit mitochondrial DNA replacement, which enables babies to be born who have DNA from three people. Mitochondria are the batteries of our cells that provide energy for cell division and growth. We get ours from our mothers genes. If there is a defect in a mothers mitochondria, it can have devastating consequences for her children, resulting in almost certain death. But, by extracting a mitochondrion from a healthy donor egg, scientists are now able to conduct a miniature organ transplant on the cellular level to create a healthy baby through in vitro fertilization. Such a baby has its parents genes, except for one small but crucial portion obtained from a donor. The need for the procedure is real. Somewhere around 4,000 children per year in the United States are born with a type of mitochondrial disease. Many do not survive more than a few months. Mitochondrial transplants would help prevent these diseases. So why not use them? Critics give three main reasons; safety; creating babies with three parents; and the danger of opening the door to more genetic engineering. None of these objections provides a convincing reason against trying … Continue reading →

16 hours ago All life processes depend on genes turning on and off. Cornell University scientists have created a new "on" switch to control gene expression - a breakthrough that could revolutionize genetic engineering. Synthetic biologists led by Julius Lucks, assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, have created a new genetic control mechanism made exclusively of ribonucleic acids (RNA). They call their engineered RNAs STARS - Small Transcription Activating RNAs - described online in Nature Chemical Biology, Feb. 2. "We've created a whole new toolset of regulation," said Lucks, who describes RNA as "the most engineerable molecule on the planet." RNA is a single-stranded version of its close cousin, DNA, which makes up the double-stranded genome of all living organisms. While DNA acts as nature's hard drive, storing the genes that make up our genome, RNA is part of the cellular computer that activates the hard drive by helping the cell tune the expression of specific genes, Lucks says. While RNA is known to do this in many ways, one thing it can't do in nature is start the process by turning on, or activating, transcription - the first step in gene expression, and the core of many cellular … Continue reading →

Genetic Engineering for Mining Water Filtering This is a biotech company video made to show the process of genetically modifying bacteria used for filtering mining water-- Created using PowToon -- Free si... By: shchang18 … Continue reading →