With the help of genetic engineering, scientists can replicate or even completely alter the natural functions of organisms. Breakthroughs in the field of genetic engineering have allowed us to change the way our food is produced. This is called biotechnology, or the use of organisms in the process of manufacturing products. The traditional form of biotechnology has consistently been a part of producing food. For example, microbes such as yeast and bacteria have long since been used to create food and drink. The gasses yeast produce help let bread rise and are used to create alcohol. Bacteria assist in the process of creating yogurt (cultures). Another type of biotechnology creates stronger crops, which results in more appealing traits in livestock. These methods are called natural selection and crossbreeding. Genetic engineering now competes with traditional biotechnology mainly because it is so recent. Food producers turn to science because of “efficiency, effectiveness, and cost.” For instance, a genetically engineered protein can frequently be produced more efficiently than it can be naturally. In addition, science will usually provide a stronger version of a protein. The most common uses of GE are for traits that give food producers an advantage. Crops like soybeans and corn often exhibit disease and inset infestations. GE can help create traits of resistance. Therefore, many foods end up being created with genetically engineered ingredients. In response to this, whole foods have begun to be genetically engineered. The most drastic changes in food are believed to come when GE focuses on the consumer. For example, foods could be engineered to have fewer calories. In modern times, there is a very large debate over whether or not GE should be used in food production. Using recombinant DNA, GE allows scientists to take genes from almost anything and add them to the makeup of a plant. The result of this is called a transgenic plant. A common GE trait is herbicide resistance. A variety of soybeans are genetically engineered to withstand a weed-killing spray. Traditional biotechnology uses for livestock include cross-breeding in order to produce the most desirable traits in animals. Modern biotechnology uses include techniques such as cloning and recombinant DNA to either change or completely copy genes. Cloning is very expensive, so it is not commonly practiced. However, some still see it as a way to create the finest livestock. In the present-day, most cloning is performed by using the same technique that was used to create the first cloned sheep, Dolly. With more advanced technology, this technique could be improved, making it more affordable. Another GE technique used with livestock is recombinant DNA. This technique helps enhance current traits or produce new ones. In the field of medicine, recombinant DNA can be used to create vaccines, drugs, and reproduce certain proteins and hormones. Genetically engineered pharmaceutical products include, but are not limited to, insulin for diabetics, factor VIII for males suffering from hemophilia A,factor IX for hemophilia B, human growth hormone (GH), erythropoietin (EPO) for treating anemia, three types of interferons (fight viral infections), and many interleukins. Pharming is a new idea of genetically engineering livestock that produces medical products. For instance, sheep are used to produce a blood clotting protein found in humans. In medicine, gene therapy can be used to either replace absent genes or fix malfunctioning ones. There is a certain way that this must be accomplished, however. There has to be a method to delivering the good genes to the old ones. The most common ways of doing this are attaching the gene to a protein, or encapsulated in a virus or pill. Gene therapy is still in the process of experimentation, though because these processes aren’t always effective. Gene therapy is currently used to treat or cure existing conditions. In the future, it could be used for prevention.
Corey Goldstein I chose to do my first summary on the website http://www.iptv.org/exploremore/ge/. When I first got onto the website there was a poll that I knew I must answer, the question was should human cloning be illegal and I answered no. I answered no because I don’t think we should clone humans because I don’t know what advantages we would get. When I saw the results I was very surprised, 51% of the people said no and the other 49% said yes. I thought the results would be a lot more for no but I was incorrect. I first read about cloning and the cloning of animals. The website said that doctors believe there are advantages for cloning animals like: saving endangered species and to bring back species that are already extinct. The website also said it would provide medic opportunities. I somewhat agree in cloning animals because bringing back species would be cool and saving extinct species could help if the species produces something that helps humans. The website than said genetically identical species share strengths and weaknesses and if one animal were to get a disease the entire species could wind up died. If that were to happen then there would be no point in cloning if the are all going to die at the result of one animal. Something interesting I read on this website was about the age of clones. There was an experiment in Japan with two mice, one natural mouse and a cloned mouse. The cloned mouse died before the other one and that find made a concern that a cellular structure having to do with aging might be different in clones. I also read about recombinant DNA. It said that recombinant DNA is the process of taking DNA from one organism and putting it into another and giving it new traits. It can be used to make crops resist against disease and pests. It can also be used to make livestock bigger or smaller; in medicine it can develop drugs, vaccines and reproduce human hormones and proteins.
The second website I chose to write about was http://syntheticbiology.org/. Synthetic biology is the design of biological components and systems that don’t exist. Also it’s the new designing of biological systems that already do exist. The difference between synthetic biology and system biology is, system biology studies biological systems as a whole. It uses tools of modeling and simulation and comparison to experiment. It focuses on natural systems that have a medical significance. Synthetic biology studies on how to make artificial biological systems apposed to new ones. It uses many of the same tools as system biology and some same experimental techniques. Synthetic biology is engineering while system biology is doing more science. The focus is on natural biological systems and using them as a engineered biological system. Biologists are interested in synthetic biology because they want to make a system and it provides a complementary viewpoint from which to consider, analyze, and ultimately understand the living world. They want to see the behavior of molecules and their activity inside cells. Engineers are interested because synthetic biology gives them information, energy and materials.
With the help of genetic engineering, scientists can replicate or even completely alter the natural functions of organisms. Breakthroughs in the field of genetic engineering have allowed us to change the way our food is produced. This is called biotechnology, or the use of organisms in the process of manufacturing products. The traditional form of biotechnology has consistently been a part of producing food. For example, microbes such as yeast and bacteria have long since been used to create food and drink. The gasses yeast produce help let bread rise and are used to create alcohol. Bacteria assist in the process of creating yogurt (cultures). Another type of biotechnology creates stronger crops, which results in more appealing traits in livestock. These methods are called natural selection and crossbreeding. Genetic engineering now competes with traditional biotechnology mainly because it is so recent. Food producers turn to science because of “efficiency, effectiveness, and cost.” For instance, a genetically engineered protein can frequently be produced more efficiently than it can be naturally. In addition, science will usually provide a stronger version of a protein. The most common uses of GE are for traits that give food producers an advantage. Crops like soybeans and corn often exhibit disease and inset infestations. GE can help create traits of resistance. Therefore, many foods end up being created with genetically engineered ingredients. In response to this, whole foods have begun to be genetically engineered. The most drastic changes in food are believed to come when GE focuses on the consumer. For example, foods could be engineered to have fewer calories. In modern times, there is a very large debate over whether or not GE should be used in food production. Using recombinant DNA, GE allows scientists to take genes from almost anything and add them to the makeup of a plant. The result of this is called a transgenic plant. A common GE trait is herbicide resistance. A variety of soybeans are genetically engineered to withstand a weed-killing spray. Traditional biotechnology uses for livestock include cross-breeding in order to produce the most desirable traits in animals. Modern biotechnology uses include techniques such as cloning and recombinant DNA to either change or completely copy genes. Cloning is very expensive, so it is not commonly practiced. However, some still see it as a way to create the finest livestock. In the present-day, most cloning is performed by using the same technique that was used to create the first cloned sheep, Dolly. With more advanced technology, this technique could be improved, making it more affordable. Another GE technique used with livestock is recombinant DNA. This technique helps enhance current traits or produce new ones. In the field of medicine, recombinant DNA can be used to create vaccines, drugs, and reproduce certain proteins and hormones. Genetically engineered pharmaceutical products include, but are not limited to, insulin for diabetics, factor VIII for males suffering from hemophilia A,factor IX for hemophilia B, human growth hormone (GH), erythropoietin (EPO) for treating anemia, three types of interferons (fight viral infections), and many interleukins. Pharming is a new idea of genetically engineering livestock that produces medical products. For instance, sheep are used to produce a blood clotting protein found in humans. In medicine, gene therapy can be used to either replace absent genes or fix malfunctioning ones. There is a certain way that this must be accomplished, however. There has to be a method to delivering the good genes to the old ones. The most common ways of doing this are attaching the gene to a protein, or encapsulated in a virus or pill. Gene therapy is still in the process of experimentation, though because these processes aren’t always effective. Gene therapy is currently used to treat or cure existing conditions. In the future, it could be used for prevention.
Corey Goldstein
I chose to do my first summary on the website http://www.iptv.org/exploremore/ge/. When I first got onto the website there was a poll that I knew I must answer, the question was should human cloning be illegal and I answered no. I answered no because I don’t think we should clone humans because I don’t know what advantages we would get. When I saw the results I was very surprised, 51% of the people said no and the other 49% said yes. I thought the results would be a lot more for no but I was incorrect.
I first read about cloning and the cloning of animals. The website said that doctors believe there are advantages for cloning animals like: saving endangered species and to bring back species that are already extinct. The website also said it would provide medic opportunities. I somewhat agree in cloning animals because bringing back species would be cool and saving extinct species could help if the species produces something that helps humans. The website than said genetically identical species share strengths and weaknesses and if one animal were to get a disease the entire species could wind up died. If that were to happen then there would be no point in cloning if the are all going to die at the result of one animal.
Something interesting I read on this website was about the age of clones. There was an experiment in Japan with two mice, one natural mouse and a cloned mouse. The cloned mouse died before the other one and that find made a concern that a cellular structure having to do with aging might be different in clones. I also read about recombinant DNA. It said that recombinant DNA is the process of taking DNA from one organism and putting it into another and giving it new traits. It can be used to make crops resist against disease and pests. It can also be used to make livestock bigger or smaller; in medicine it can develop drugs, vaccines and reproduce human hormones and proteins.
The second website I chose to write about was http://syntheticbiology.org/. Synthetic biology is the design of biological components and systems that don’t exist. Also it’s the new designing of biological systems that already do exist. The difference between synthetic biology and system biology is, system biology studies biological systems as a whole. It uses tools of modeling and simulation and comparison to experiment. It focuses on natural systems that have a medical significance. Synthetic biology studies on how to make artificial biological systems apposed to new ones. It uses many of the same tools as system biology and some same experimental techniques. Synthetic biology is engineering while system biology is doing more science. The focus is on natural biological systems and using them as a engineered biological system.
Biologists are interested in synthetic biology because they want to make a system and it provides a complementary viewpoint from which to consider, analyze, and ultimately understand the living world. They want to see the behavior of molecules and their activity inside cells. Engineers are interested because synthetic biology gives them information, energy and materials.