New Device Sequences Complete Human Genome Faster, Cheaper Than Ever

• An engineer from Stanford by the name of Stephen Quake recently invented a new machine to be used to sequence human genomes, or read DNA.
• The Heliscope Molecule Sequencer, as it is called, works by pulling DNA apart on a pane of glass and then putting it back together, only modified to emit light, which is read by a computer.
• This process takes about a week and costs less than $50,000, compare to the first Human Genome Project, lasting ten years with a total cost of $2.7 billion
• Even the machine, which costs about a million dollars to build, is cheaper than many pieces of hospital equipment.
• While scientists have yet to understand how many genes will translate into proteins, cheap genetic sequencing is sure to speed this effort.

This story immediately caught my eye because it reminded me very much of the movie Gattaca. Although this is nothing like instant blood scans, it could be seen as a beginning. This will likely speed genome research to a point where we will be able to understand and decode them efficiently, which could lead to quicker, cheaper scans, most likely to be used for preventing genetic disorders and diseases. Although I do not think that “geneism” will ever occur, I would think it very interesting to know my genetic build and find out what genes make up me. Also, although being able to “build” a child will definitely not happen soon, if ever, it would be useful to be able to simulate what ones child might be like.

Source:
http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2009-08/new-technology-sequences-human-genome-faster-less-expensively-ever

Tested: A Reboot for the Immune System

• Jeffery Bluestone, who has been trying to discover how to keep the immune system from attacking the body through allergic reactions for 30 years, began his work by testing the OKT3 drug (used to stop the body's rejection of organ implants) to find other uses, namely a more effective treatment for Diabetes I.

• Through this work the drug has been developed into a sort of “homing missile” targeting malfunctioning immune system components without disabling the entire immune system, allowing correctly functioning T-cells to take over.

• The treatment worked phenomenally on test patients, not only preserving the body's level of insulin cells, which are attacked by the immune system in diabetes I, but actually increasing the capacity to produce insulin cells.

• Drugs like this that target only one small part of the immune system, in this case the receptors on T cells, can likely be used to treat a variety of other similar diseases from debilitating eye diseases to osteoarthritis.

• However, many current diabetes patients today will be unable to take advantage of this due to it not being approved by the FDA and the fact that it only works on recent diabetes cases, where there has not been too many insulin producing cells destroyed already.

This article I had read the perfect time, right after learning about how all the immune system components mentioned in the article work, so I had a very good background for it.
The treatment in the article seemed remarkably simple, kill only the bad cells and the good ones will replace them, but as I thought about how any drug would sweep over everything it encountered, I realized it would not be that easy. What amazes me is how opening this one door, creating a “homing missile” drug, will allow for so many other treatments, and even possibly cures, for other diseases. As many people in my family have allergies ranging from sneezing around pollen, to near death from eating peanuts, and so I know how allergies are and know what a great technology this could be. Whether or not this drug becomes approved for use though, I know that it will advance the science of medicine either way.

Source:

"Tested: A Reboot for the Immune System | Popular Science." Popular Science | New Technology, Science News, The Future Now. Web. 21 May 2010. .

Mad Cow Cloning

• After federal officials announced the first case of mad cow disease (BSE) in the United States, Will Eyestone and a team of researchers at Virginia Tech set out to genetically engineer cows without the deadly prion protein responsible for the disease,

• Earlier research proved that mice lacking the normal prion protein could not be infected with abnormal prions and therefor could not catch any prion diseases.

• By using the skin cells of a cow, which were tested to show that they could not make prions, scientists hope to create a prion free cow using a technology similar to cloning.

• The team claims that it is “a win-win type of experiment” because the end result will either give some hint to what the prion protein actually does and if it is necessary in cows, which is currently unknown, or it will create a BSE immune cow.

This article caught my interest because I have been interested in cloning ever since my second grade science fair, where for my project I invented a theoretical “cloning gun”, which defied just about every law of physics and genetics. However, I did have an inkling of an understanding on how cloning actually worked, and this article brought of the interesting idea of cloning and genetic modification used in union with each other. I also had no idea that nobody actually knew what the prion protein really did, they just knew it could become infected. Secondly, I also have always been interested in the effect of what should happen should some organism just lose part of its makeup on a molecular level. Of course, in second grade I imagined it would be something like the animal's legs disappearing or its skin turning purple.

Citation:

"Mad Cow Cloning: Science Videos - Science News - ScienCentral." ScienCentral | Science Videos | Science News. Web. 14 Mar. 2010. .

Stem-Cell-Coated Contact Lenses Are Curing the Blind

• In Australia, scientists have discovered an extremely efficient way to literally cure blindness caused by damage to the cornea.

• By taking stem cell's from the patient's good eye or a different part of their eye and then cultivating them on contact lenses, the stem cells would bond to the patients' damaged eyes very quickly, in less than two weeks.

• Although it is mostly limited to curing corneal damage in patients with only one bad eye, a defect affecting both eyes called aniridia was treated successfully.

• The best parts about this method are the cost, which is very low, meaning poorer people will have access to this brilliant technology, and its potential for use on other organs like the skin, which is similar to the cornea in many ways.

I found this article to be appealing partially because I thought the aforementioned feat was utterly impossible and partially because I have a strange paranoia that the high levels of chlorine in the pool will react with my already bad eyesight and severely damage my eyes. Now, the greatest achievement of this technology would be to be able to cure those who are blind from birth, or even those who are totally colorblind. Colors are something that most people take for granted, but I imagine that if I had never before in my life seen a color, and then all of a sudden gained sight through an inexpensive and simple operation, that result would be quite shocking. It would be as though someone who could see discovered a new color and just went mad trying to describe it.

Citation

"Stem-Cell-Coated Contact Lenses Are Curing the Blind | Popular Science." Popular Science | New Technology, Science News, The Future Now. Web. 14 Mar. 2010. .

In Amoeba World, Cheating Doesn't Pay

• Dictyostelium disdoidem, a type of amoeba known as slime mold, acquires food by having large numbers get into a clump resting on top of a stalk made up of the bodies of some slime molds, who must willingly sacrifice themselves.
• Some of the slime molds are "cheaters" and will stay in the back of the colony or push others to the front so that they will never have to die in the stalk
• However, a group of mutant slime molds has evolved to actively resist the efforts of the "cheaters".
• While the "resistors" do not always defeat the "cheaters", a study showed that the ratio of resistors to cheaters did increase over time, in favor of the resistors.
• Also, the resistors do not try to claim dominance over the normal slime molds, but instead are willing to protect them, and sacrifice themselves if need be.

I found this story very interesting because it shows extremely simple and unintelligent organisms telling the difference between right and wrong. The mutant resistors acting like police and keeping the lazy cheaters in line seemed very advanced for being like an amoeba. It was most amazing though, that the resistors would then act all noble and continue helping the normal amoebas despite the fact that they could have easily used their strength to gain the upper hand in survival. As they were described in the article, these "altruistic" amoebas were purposely decreasing their chance of survival in order to help others, even though they themselves had the best chance to begin with. Finally, I found it ironic that these amoebas, perhaps one of the least advanced forms of life, were more noble and selfless than some human beings, who credit themselves as being so evolved, while they themselves are bettered by a few amoebas!

Citation:
"In Amoeba World, Cheating Doesn't Pay." PhysOrg.com - Science News, Technology, Physics, Nanotechnology, Space Science, Earth Science, Medicine. Web. 13 Mar. 2010. .