Gene Therapy: The concept of gene therapy emerged in the 1970s. The basic premise of gene therapy is using DNA enclosed in a vector as a therapeutic treatment for diseases. In the decades after it was conceptualized, many clinical trials of gene therapy were developed but stalled in phase I or phase II. During the 90s, only 1% of gene therapy trials made it to phase III and none of them went past phase III. The excitement for gene therapy was reduced when a participant of a clinical trial died…
Introduction and Social Relevance Our economy is ever-growing and evolving, this can be problematic for the agricultural crops that will have difficulty providing the world as the demand for food increases. Genetic modification is the use of biotechnology techniques to change the genes of an organism (AGRIC, 2015) In Australia unless the Australian Gene Technology Regulator has concluded the Genetically Modified Organism, abbreviated as GMO is safe to human health as well as the environment it…
Think of the last time you purposely inflicted a bodily harm upon yourself, or a time when you put your own body at risk. Chances are you can’t think off a time when that happened, but what if that was false? Research shows that you may be harming your body by simply eating food. What are these foods you might ask? These harmful foods go by the name of Genetically Modified Organisms, or GMO’s. These relatively new organisms produced by mutating the natural genes are understudied and are in most…
The experiments covered in this report are based on the topic of DNA polymorphisms, these according to Houseman (1995) are differences in the DNA that occur between individuals. The polymorphisms under investigation here are classified as VNTR’s (variable number tandem repeats) and RFLP’s (restriction fragment length polymorphism). The first experiment is concerned with DNA polymorphisms that are known as VNTR’s, sections of DNA which have repeated nucleotide base sections in which the repeats…
Genetically modified organisms, better known as GMOs, have been a controversial topic that has caused an uproar among the population. The researcher’s interest pertaining to this topic was peaked approximately one year ago during a biotechnology lecture. Throughout this lecture Mrs. Rausch, a former biotechnologist, explained the fundamental concepts and processes of making genetically modified organisms. Not only has this lecture shaped the researcher’s bias, but his extensive research for…
Due to limited time constraints and having lab only once a week this lab was broken up into five periods, the last one specifically to go over the results. Day one consisted of extraction of plasmid DNA, which we used Resuspension Buffer to break up our pellet after removing the supernatant (liquid) after centrifuging our overnight culture. Then Lysis Buffer was used to break down the membrane of the cells so that we could then add Neutralization Buffer to bring our sample from basic to neutral…
If a positive correlation is found between aggressive behaviour in adopted children and aggressive behaviour in their biological parents, a genetic effect is implied. However, if a positive correlation is found between the adoptee’s aggressive behaviour and the rearing family, then an environmental effect is implied. Although, research by Hutchings and Medinick suggests that environmental factors do not play a role in aggressive behaviour, as they found when looking at 14,000 adoptions in…
A. fischeriThe overall purpose of this study was to create a genomic library of Aliivibrio fischeri (A. fischeri) thus aiding in creating a restriction map of the lux operon. It also employs typical molecular techniques important for biologists to understand. In this portion of the lab, the chromosomal DNA (chDNA) will be isolated. Its purity will be measured using spectrophotometric analysis. Lastly, the DNA will be digested and verified via gel electrophoresis. A. fischeri is a gram…
This occurs because according to osmosis, water moves down its concentration gradient from a low solute concentration to a solution with a high solute concentration. In addition, an increase in the mass of the potatoes occurs because the highly concentrated solutions were hypertonic. Potatoes with the greater increase tend to be the sweet potatoes because the potatoes already have sucrose embedded in the substance. When placed in a solution with high…
Purification and Quantitation of DNA and Plasmid Structure Labs 3 and 4 Biology 453 Clayton Pedigo September 14 and 21, 2016 Introduction: In this report, there are two labs being discussed. The first lab being lab 3 (purification and quantitation of plasmid DNA) involved lysing bacterial E.coli cells and retrieving the plasmid particles. The purpose of the second lab, lab 4 (plasmid DNA structure), was to use the concentrated DNA from lab 3 and compare…