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Transgenic Animals

Posted on 5:35 AM by 4 8 15 16 23 42 and filed under ,


After the post about Transgenic Plants I couldn’t help but wonder how scientists (or transgenic "artists") can create such species. I took my last biology lesson 4 years ago in high school and I don't remember much about genes etc. So I did a little research about the subject.

While searching over internet, I figured that most of the pages were a little hard to understand for readers with non-biological backgrounds. Yet I found a document prepared by "European Initiative for Biology Education" (EIBE) and it was the simplest to understand. You can check it out by clicking here.

1) First scientists identify what is the gene of interest ( for example GFP gene found in the jellyfish that fluoresces green when exposed to blue light).  

2) They form Recombinant DNA's. A recombinant DNA is, according to Wikipedia, a form of synthetic DNA thereby combining DNA sequences that would not normally occur together. So basically after identifying a gene that is responsible of a certain characteristic, they match the molecules of the chosen Gene with the normal DNA, so that the "Recombinant DNA" carries this foreign gene. 

3) This is the step where they insert the transgene. According to EIBE, there are 3 methods that are used in this step; Microinjection, Use of Retroviral Factors and Embryonic Stem Cell Transfer. 
Microinjection is maybe the simplest to understand. With this method the scientists inject the transgenes with a fine needle, inside of a fertilized cell while a microtube holding the fertilized cell.
The logic is the same as Mendel's discovery with peas (remember it from high school). In every method I suppose, they first inject the transgenic material and try to produce heterozygotes which are the result of a matching of one normal and one modified animal. If they manage to do so, then they match again two heterozygote animals to produce fully transgenic animals. 

Here is a pic, when scientists implemented the growth gene to mice. 

Although genetic experiments are realized mostly on mice, Taiwanese scientists created glowing pigs like the glowing rabbit Alba in 2006 according to BBC. There is even a video of the pigs on the site.


While I was searching all this stuff, a thought crossed to my mind. Think about transgenic humans. Today the genetic engineering has come to a point where a cactus with human hair or glowing rabbits could be easily achieved. So will genetic technology be used to create “better” human beings? Maybe one day secretly, modified humans with different abilities will exist (glowing in the dark wouldn’t be cool thoughJ ). And maybe we will be talking about a new genetically superior generation. Maybe there will be disputes within generations (Mutants vs. Normal People). I never thought these movies could refer to possible scenarios.
But with all these achievements in science, nothing really seems impossible, even Xman.    

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Next – Michael Crichton

Posted on 2:47 AM by 4 8 15 16 23 42 and filed under ,


Ok, so in this second( or first) post I want to write about the novel “Next” written by Michael Chrichton.



A few words about the author, he is/was one of the best (for me the best) science fiction writers in the world. He is very well know of the great books he has written such as Sphere, Jurassic Park, Lost World, Disclosure, Rising Sun etc. All of them are masterpieces he also directed well-known TV series“ER”.




The most amazing part of his writing style that he tells you real facts, real scientific events, real discussions and he also presents all this information in a such thrilling story line. His most recent books are “State of Fear” about global warming (I’m starting it tonight) and “Next” about usages of genetic engineering and biotech.

 

After I’ve read Next, I understood I knew almost nothing about the subject and this book taught me a lot. I mean A LOTT!!

Don’t worry, my intention is not telling you the end of the story I just want to share some real facts from which the author itself got inspired too. 


Transgenic Art

 This is a concept I’ve never heard before. Transgenic Art is defined, according to contemporary artist Eduardo Kac, as

"Transgenic art, I propose, is a new art form based on the use of genetic engineering techniques to transfer synthetic genes to an organism or to transfer natural genetic material from one species into another, to create unique living beings “

 

So transgenic artists transfer genes from some species to other species and create SHOCKING results. Here are a couple of examples:

  •       Glowing Rabbit Alba (2000)  : Alba is one of the most famous transgenic art  examples of Eduardo Kac. It’s a genetically modified rabbit that “glows” in the dark. Artist took GFP gene that fluorescences green found in jelly fish etc., implemented it on rabbit cells and created “Alba”. 


  •       Cactus that grows human hair(2002) : This example of transgenic art performed by artist Laura Cinti, is a cactus that grows real human hair. She obtained this result by implementing keratin genes in our hair to the cactus genome.



Animals with developed communication skills 



Koko: Koko is gorilla with extensive language capabilities. He can understand more than 2000 English words and 1000 signs based on sign language.

 



 N’kisi: N’kisi is an African grey parrot with a vocabulary of approximately 950  words. There's an  audio of N'Kisi in conversation with his owner Aimee.    


Apparently Grey Parrots are animals with really special communication capabilities( I wish I  had oneJ ). 

I personally think all this stuff are pretty amazing, and shocking. It’s true that in this era we are faced with different usages of genetic engineering, and biotechnology is one the most important topics of 21st century.


 So actually there are a  lot more in the book, but I don’t wanna cover all the topics. I highly recommend you to read the book and enjoy.



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My first blog post

Posted on 3:47 AM by 4 8 15 16 23 42 and filed under

Hey everyone!! My name is Arda. I am an industrial engineering final year student in Istanbul and this is my fist attempt to blogging!

Wow, let me tell you about what this blog is about. The answer is unknown(!). I am interested in many subjects and I am not quite sure about what I should be writing about. 

Here are possible subjects:

  • Business/ Finance
  • Science/ Technology
  • Books I’ve read
  • Softwares
  • Guitar ( I am not good at it , so the chances are quite low  )
  • Photography (                    "                                   "         )
  • Etc.

                Or

  • All / Whatever comes to my mind

 

The advantage of writing a blog specialised on a particular subject, is that you can reach a bigger audience  and readers are satisfied with the contents of the blog.

On the other hand, writing about diverse subjects gives the writer more material to write about and for the readers, possibilty to learn new stuff about different subjects.

Considering all that plus and minus, I’ve decided to write about what comes to my mind for a while( so I can get used to writing a blog) and then I will start a pole and let the readers decide( hopefully there will be readersJ ).

 

There are a few reasons to write this blog:

  • Motivate myself to learn new things to share
  • Meet and discuss stuff with new people
  • Get new ideas
  • Keep track of what I am focused on
  • Share information and contribute to humanity( !! )   
  • Practice writing skilles in english
  • Etc.


In this blog, I will try to write posts with a casual manner , easy to read.  Comments are most WELLCOMED, I would really appreciate if you leave comments after the posts( so I can understand there are people out thereJ ) 


Wellcome to my blog!!!


And the show begins:)