In-Side-Out, Up-Side-Down of Genome Sequencing
Turkey's government is about to pass legislation that could cripple the country's biological research.
Nature 463, 1000 (25 February 2010) | doi:10.1038/4631000a; Published online 24 February 2010
An absurd law
When politicians respond to popular distrust of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), they sometimes fail to grasp how intricately molecular technologies infiltrate different areas of science. A case in point is now playing out in Turkey, where an attempt to regulate GMOs in agriculture has morphed into a draft law that could wipe out the country's biomedical research.
It is not as complicated as you think as long as you stick on the recipe.
1. Apply POI (Perturbation Of Interest) to your cells.
This could be a drug treatment, hyper- or hypo- oxia treatment or simply disease cells.
2. Get your normal control, untreated cells ready.
Now we are going to take molecular genetics pictures of your cells.
3. Spin down your cells.
4. Isolate RNA.
5. Get the cDNA copy of the RNA.
The cDNA copy of your cells represents the most recent status of cells of interest. Ready to take the picture.
Prostate-specific antigen (PSA)is a 34 kD glycoprotein manufactured almost exclusively by the prostate gland. PSA is a ejaculate component and it liquifies the semen in the seminal coagulum and allows sperm to swim freely. It is also believed to be instrumental in dissolving the cervical mucous cap, allowing the entry of sperm.
In women, PSA is found in female ejaculate at concentrations roughly equal to that found in male semen. It is highly probable that PSA in women will help the sperm to dissolve the cervical cap and to enter the egg.
Super Computer
Roadrunner is a fast computer. To put the computer's speed in perspective, it has roughly the computing power of 100,000 of today's most powerful laptops stacked 1.5 miles high, according to IBM. Or, if each of the world's 6 billion people worked on hand-held computers for 24 hours a day, it would take them 46 years to do what the Roadrunner computer can do in a single day. The investment into roadrunner is nothing compared to its abilities. Only, $100 million.
Single Nucleotide Polymorhisms (SNPs) are single letter changes in the genetic code differing from individual to individual. Every individual has two copies of the same genes but genes differ in single letters from one individual to another. Most of the time these differences do not hurt anybody. In other words, they do not change the meaning of a gene. Despite these minute individual differences genes are conserved enough to carry out their functions.
Let's say "Jack has brown eyes" is the letter by letter sentence, i.e. the gene coding for brown eyes.
In 2009, about 1,479,350 new cancer cases were expected to be diagnosed in USA and 562,340 Americans were expected to die of cancer. That translates to more than 1,500 people a day. Cancer is the second most common cause of death in the US, second after heart disease. Cancer accounts for nearly 1 of every 4 deaths, in the US.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) estimates overall cost of cancer in 2008 at $228.1 billion; $93.2 billion for direct medical costs (total of all health spendings); $18.8 billion for indirect morbidity costs (cost of lost productivity
There are different avenues of research in biological, behavioural, and social sciences. The avenues are basic research, applied research, clinical research, and translational research. Basic research is driven by a scientist's curiosity or interest in a scientific question (science for science). Applied research is designed to solve practical problems of the modern world. The main motivation is to expand man's knowledge , not to create or invent something.
What two terms best define information ? First of all information is a dynamic entity. It may gain or loose its importance in time. Information is time sensitive. Secondly, it is universal it does not belong to certain groups or individuals only. Especially, in the mass-social media era the producers and the consumers of information are instantly connected.
Secrets can not be defined as information as they are neither dynamic nor universal.
Gaucher disease affects no more than one in 100,000 people in most populations, with an estimated 5,400 cases in the United States. On the other-hand as many as 3 million to 4 million Americans are estimated to have Parkinson's disease.
An international team led by a National Institutes of Health researcher has found that carriers of Gaucher disease face a risk of developing Parkinson's disease more than five times greater than the general public. The findings were published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Everybody knows Georg Mendel and basics of Mendelian Genetics; one gene is associated with one trait. Simplified, if the green pea is round shape one gene is responsible for that. Irregular shaped green peas have a different version (polymorphism) of the very same gene.
Now that we live in the computer-informatics age those days are over. Gene expression profiling and massive sequencing technologies helped us to discover that one gene defect can result in more than one disease or else one disease can be caused by alterations of multiple genes.
