Safely Releasing Genetically Modified Genes Into The Wild

Many diseases can be controlled from a large outbreak, but infectious diseases transmitted by insects are hard to control, as they can’t be contained. Researchers have been trying to find ways of controlling the transmission of diseases from insects like mosquitoes, with one common disease carried by them being malaria. To decrease the likelihood of diseases being transmitted, researchers have found a way to genetically modify genes in organisms and releasing them into the wild, such as malaria-resistant mosquitoes.

Our ecosystem is very organized and balanced and introducing a genetically engineered species into the wild can have consequences. Therefore, the release of the genetically engineered species needs to be safely controlled and planned. As Tanaka mentions, “an accidental or premature release of a gene drive construct to the natural environment could damage an ecosystem irreversibly” (Burrows). The researchers therefore inserted weaknesses in the gene drives that would balance the genetically modified genes. These weaknesses act as an on and off switch of the gene drive that protect against a premature release and uncontrollable spreading.

Introducing a genetically modified species also doesn’t guarantee that its genes will be inherited by offspring. To counteract that, researchers developed the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing system, which allowed researchers to create a system that increases the likelihood of a desired trait to be inherited to almost 100% even if that trait is disadvantageous. This means that when introducing malaria-resistant mosquitoes, the genetically engineered genes that make mosquitoes resistant to malaria could replace the wild-type genes in only a few generations instead of being only partially distributed throughout the mosquito population.

I chose this article for two reasons, first because there is a lot of controversy with genetically modified organisms where a lot of people believe it is bad even though it has many positive effects. I also chose it because recently there has been more news on mosquitoes carrying diseases like Zika. Transmitted diseases like Zika introduce fear into our communities because it seems as something impossible to protect oneself from. Our world has been hit with many deadly diseases that are transmitted by insects or other animals and the spread of these diseases are hard to control.  This would allow us to proactively fight against some of these diseases instead of having to reactively treat them.

Burrows, Leah. “Safely releasing genetically modified genes into the wild.” Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, National Science Foundation, 1 Aug. 2017, www.seas.harvard.edu/news/2017/08/safely-releasing-genetically-modified-genes-into-wild.

An Inner Look into the Minds and Brains of People with OCD

I have been around multiple people in my life who have OCD (Obsessive compulsive disorder). One of which is a close cousin of mine. While I always thought very highly of him and consider him to be much smarter than me I always new certain things were much harder for him. OCD, like any condition varies in it severity, for some it may make it difficult to go about daily life, while others simply appear to be extremely organized. We often hear people toss it around in conversations when someone is up tight or a "clean freak". This article goes into what is really happening in the minds of those who have been diagnosed with OCD. It presents a study that shows a link between belief and action that is broken to some extent in people with OCD. As a consequence, what they do conflicts with what they know.

The Study was led by graduate student Vaghi and Fabrice Luyckx at the University of Cambridge. Supervised by neuroeconomist and senior author Benedetto De Martino at University College London. They recruited 24 volunteers with OCD and 25 people without the disorder and had them play a video game in which they had to move a target (the “bucket”) around a circle to catch colored dots (“coins”) emitted from the center of the circle. The article itself has the game embedded into the website if you would like to get a more visual look at how the game works. Most of the time the average destination of the coins was more or less the same, varying only slightly, but there was a one-in-eight chance each time that this position would dramatically shift.The groups did not differ as far as how many coins were caught. However those with OCD normally would adjust the bucket to exactly where the last coin had landed. Where as those without OCD would not. 

Where they were able to prove their hypothesis of OCD patients having a disconnect between what they know and their actions in the result regarding the confidence the patient had in their placement. The results between the OCD patients and those without were indistinguishable, suggesting the patients developed as accurate a sense of what was going on as the healthy volunteers. But their actual bucket placements showed they were not using this knowledge to guide their actions. “This study shows that [in OCD] actions are dissociated from thoughts, in a sense,” Vaghi says. “It's very much related to the clinical manifestation, when (those with OCD) say: “I know it’s unlikely I’m going to get contaminated by touching the door handle, but even so, I will wash my hands.’”

My cousin is often referred to as the smartest one in the family. With a perfect ACT score and 4.5 GPA his OCD does not seem to be slowing him down in anyway. However, I have seen him become very frustrated at simple tasks like setting the dinner table. He will pick up and set down the silverware ten times or more and still seem to be unsatisfied. It is very interesting to me the way our brains function. I love the idea that our brain can learn in so many different ways. This article is evidence that our understanding of the brain and its functions is growing. With that new knowledge I believe we will close barriers that exist in our current society between those with mental disorders and those of us who consider ourselves normal. 

GT 

Source: Scientific American: An Inner Look into the Minds and Brains of People with OCD

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/an-inner-look-into-the-minds-and-brains-of-people-with-oc

Chip Reprograms Cells to Regenerate Damaged Tissue

Accidents and tragedies occur everyday in the world. Some of these have a very broad area of that it affects, while others affects a small few. Both scenarios are equally as impactful and tragic. These tragedies may include natural disasters and war which affect many people worldwide while others may include car accidents which only affect a select few. The consequences of these accidents are devastating and unexpected. They may even be life changing for some. For example, a common consequence of these unintended mishaps could be losing the function of a limb. This is undoubtedly life changing and severe that can affect the individual as well as their family and friends. Recently, however, scientists have created a new method by which they are able to convert or “reprogram” cells to function as other cell types for regenerating damaged limbs and organs.

In the past, existing methods, regarding this subject, have been risky and inefficient and have only been tested on laboratory animals. These methods include the process of reprogramming the cells using injected mixtures of DNA, RNA, and Proteins. Scientists used viruses as the delivery vehicle in order to transport the DNA, RNA and Proteins into the cell. This was risky and ineffective due to the virus potentially infecting unintended cells, disrupting the immune system, and even turn cells cancerous. In the past, Bulk Electroporation, poking holes in individual cells to expose it to genetic material and protein, has been used as an alternative to viruses as transporters. This may seem like a great fix to our problem. However, the downfall to this is that due to the uncontrolled amount of electroporation, it may cause stress and kill the cells rather than benefit. As we can see, something had to change in order to make this a viable method to curing damaged cells.

Tissue Nanotransfection, a newly discovered method, involves a chip containing an array of tiny channels that apply electrical fields to individual cells. These electrical fields are able to target the correct cells and decreases the risk of damaging unintended cells. With this method, a controlled, small area of the cell is affected without damaging surrounding cells. This is unlike the previous method. With this method, the cells are not damaged or killed. Essentially, a tiny hole is created in the cell and because of the chip, we are able to control the amount of DNA injected into each cell.

The Genetic material injected into these cells rapidly converts skin cells into endothelial cells which are the main component in blood vessels. This method is able to help patients who have had limbs or organs that have been damaged by loss of blood flow due to a severed artery. With this method, new blood cells form, blood flow increases, and the limbs and organs are healed completely. So far, this has only been tested on animals, but the team of scientists who developed this method hope to start human trial in a year.

In my own opinion, I see this as a huge breakthrough in regenerative methods. It has the potential to save and bless many lives. It is interesting to me to read about this topic because it is directly related to what we have been learning in class. A great understanding of DNA and genetic processes opens the door to a vast number of opportunities of curing and blessing others in many different ways; as we see in this example. I myself have a high respect for those who are working diligently to continually discover new ways to make lives better. They share their talents to help those around them. This article and discovery is a great example to helping people who have been disabled not by their own choice. The understanding, hard work and research in genetics gives these affected individuals hope for a better future.

Makin, Simon. “Chip Reprograms Cells to Regenerate Damaged Tissue.” Scientific American, www.scientificamerican.com/article/chip-reprograms-cells-to-regenerate-damaged-tissue/. Accessed 2 Oct. 2017.

Promoting Antiseptic procedures in Healthcare

The article I used gives details on a book written by by Lindsey Fitzharris The Butchering Art, giving an insight on the early years of medicine practice involving the doctors and practices during surgeries. 
Fitzharris mentions how people believed that pain and death were just normal after surgical procedures.
She also touches on how one surgeon, Joseph Lister (1827-1912) was one of few who started looking into precautionary treatments practiced might inhibit some illnesses. 

In a time when so many diseases and deaths were easily accepted as a "normal" outcome of surgeries, Lister's reputation in antiseptic techniques and practices was established by his patient Queen Victoria.
Now, precautionary cleanliness in healthcare has become one of the greatest parts of providing “quality” services. With companies now creating and capitalizing on sterile and compliant products to use during surgeries or regular doctor visits. Compliant in the fact that we now have laws and regulations on how to wash hands and or clean items for use in procedures.

 Once I began working in a hospital I realized how strict these regulations have become to prevent bacteria or contaminations from being spread. Its also interesting to me how they never thought of using sterile items in the eighteenth century like the article states. To think they would have surgeries with many spectators aside from those preforming the surgeries, they could have any type of disease and not even be aware they could be airborne illnesses being spread to the patient. Along side with reusing the same items used on other patients,  new patients were doomed from the start. In the article it mentions how in the 1800’s “most surgeons…regarded infection as unavoidable” and one surgeon recorded a 300% mortality rate. Where an assistant somehow had a finger dismembered, the patient died and an observer died of a heart attack. Thank goodness I was born in the later years of improved medicine practices. Where we now have only those qualified to be in the same room, wearing and dawning proper attire to prevent infections. Not everything is guaranteed to be 100% affective but the results and standards have become much higher in patient care.


References:
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v550/n7674/full/550036a.html?foxtrotcallback=true

The Zika virus is a virus that has captured the attention of many pregnant women, families with newborns, medical doctors, and researchers for its detrimental effects on the heads of newborn babies. This virus can cause microcephaly, in which the brain does not fully develop thus causing a small head in newborns. This disease has become very dominant across the Americas.  Researchers specifically have been wondering why the Zika virus has become more prevalent the past couple years, whereas it has been discovered for more than 60 years.

 In the year 2013 researchers in China were studying the Zika virus DNA specifically the amino acid sequence versus its ancestral strand. They were comparing the mutation that has occurred, and they found there was a single amino acid mutation on the fundamental protein, serine to asparagine. Thus their point is that a single amino acid mutation from the ancestral strand has been the cause of great strife, called the S139N alteration. To prove their discoveries they began experiments on lab mice. They created different Zika virus strains, and they realized that the strain with the S139N substitution caused the greatest mutilation to the mice’s brain cells. To help prove their hypothesis they tested the other strains of lab created Zika virus that did not contain the S139N mutation. They found that those strands did not cause nearly as much damage to the brain cells.

The scientists are still unaware of how the mutation creates a stronger strain of the Zika virus, but they are alluding to the fact that is it dealing with the structural component of the protein. This relating to the strength of binding with itself and with other cells, consequently to its function affecting other cells. Although this has proven that the mutation of S139N is a damaging cause of microcephaly, the scientists stated that there are also other mutation causes at the time that are unknown.

I have been very interested in the Zika virus and how it has suddenly affected so many people in a short span of the past couple years. But also how this virus’ mutation caused such a difference compared to its previous generations, and why all of sudden this change occured. This article furthermore became interesting to me because we have been studying and understanding the amino acid sequences in proteins and exactly how they define the function of a protein. We as well have studied the folding and binding of a protein with itself and within its environment. There are many proteins and they each in a specific order specify a function, and if one mere mutation or change of an amino acid can cause a drastically different outcome than desired. Likewise that this one mutation has a domino effect with its following bindings.

Victoria Hooper 

Reference:

 https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-single-mutation-helps-modern-zika-cause-birth-defects1/

Long-Awaited Landscape: studying ancient DNA

First large-scale study of ancient DNA in sub-Saharan Africa lifts veil on recent prehistory.

An international research team headed by Harvard Medical School did a large-scale study of ancient DNA in sub-Saharan Africa. The study looked at the movement of populations and how they replaced each other around 8,000 years ago. The study looked at the details about sub-Saharan African ancestry including genetic adaptations from the hunter-gatherer lifestyle and population distribution before farmers and herders moved about the continent over 3,000 years ago

 “Ancestry during this time period is such an unexplored landscape that everything we learned was new” said David Reich, professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School School. With new types of technology, DNA that has been subject to rapid degrading in warm climates is now able to be extracted from things like ear bones which are smaller bones are more dense than other bones and are able to hold genetic material better.

Teams from 11 countries in Europe, The U.S. and Africa compared 15 ancient sub-Saharan Africans to modern African and Non-African populations. The results showed that when agriculture was spreading across Europe and Asia, farmers spread into hunter gatherer groups. In the horn of Africa genetic migration went from the east coast to the west coast. In other areas, groups completely disappeared on the genetic record. Tracing these migration patterns, researchers at MIT were able to track mutations in two different regions on the genome of Southern Africans that underwent natural selection. First was an adaptation to UV light and the other was an adaptation in the taste buds leading to help detect poison in plants.

I find studies like these interesting because we are products of our environment. Being able to track our genetic drift and migration patterns can tell us about where we came from genetically. It makes the world a small place and show us that genetic variation is always on the go. Our adaptations also tell us a lot about history we wouldn't have known otherwise.

References
Long-Awaited Landscape. Harvard Medical School. 2017 Sep 21 [accessed 2017 Aug 2]. https://hms.harvard.edu/news/long-awaited-landscape

Are You a Magnet for Mosquitoes?

"Are you a magnet for mosquitoes?" asks Dina Maron, an editor at Scientific American. This is a very interesting question. People around the world have often wondered what makes them more attractive to these pesky little critters. James Logan, a medical scientist that studies insects, says, "We know very little about the genetics of what makes us attractive to mosquitoes." Thus Logan and his team of researchers are going to investigate if these human genetics actually do play a role in alluring mosquitoes.

"Scientists that study human odors and genetics have previously suggested scent cues associated with genetics are likely controlled via the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes. Those genes appear to play a role in odor productions and also in mammals' mating choices...," says Maron. In this specific study, Logan and his team plan on collecting used socks from 200 identical and nonidentical twins from the UK and the Gambia in Africa, putting the socks in a wind tunnel, and seeing where the mosquitoes are more attracted to. The researchers are hoping to analyze the odor that comes from the socks, whether it has attractive or repellent chemicals. Identical twins tend to smell alike more than nonidentical twins, so ideally they would have the same attractive or repellent chemicals. "If we can identify important genes, perhaps we could develop a pill or medication that would allow the body to produce natural repellents to keep mosquitoes away," says Logan. 

A previous study was done in 2015 to determine what mosquitoes tend to be more attracted to. They seem to be more attracted to those that exhale more carbon dioxide and consequently to taller, larger people, whether because of the greater body surface area or the tendency to exhale more carbon dioxide. Pregnant women and those infected with malaria are also targets for mosquitoes.

I mainly chose this article because I seem to be one of those magnets for mosquitoes. I have always wondered why they tend to eat me up as opposed to my acquaintances, who seem to escape outdoor outings with zero suffering. If scientists, like Logan, can study the behavior of mosquitoes and come to a conclusion, I would be more likely to enjoy my time spent outdoors. As Logan explained, a medication or something similar could be produced that helps our bodies produce mosquito-repelling chemicals. Society as a whole would benefit greatly. Just imagine being able to enjoy nature without smelling like you bathed in chemicals and looking like you rolled through mosquito-infested field. KE

Works Cited

Maron, D. F. (2017, June 20). Are You a Magnet for Mosquitoes? Retrieved October 02, 2017, from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/are-you-a-magnet-for-mosquitoes/