Human Germline Engineering
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Human Germline Engineering
Human germline engineering is the process by which the genome of an individual is edited in such a way that the change is heritable. This is achieved through genetic alterations within the germ cells, or the reproductive cells, such as the egg and sperm. Human germline engineering is a type of genetic modification that directly manipulates the genome using molecular engineering techniques. Aside from germline engineering, genetic modification can be applied in another way, somatic genetic modification. Somatic gene modification consists of altering somatic cells, which are all cells in the body that are not involved in reproduction. While somatic gene therapy does change the genome of the targeted cells, these cells are not within the germline, so the alterations are not heritable and cannot be passed on to the next generation. For safety, ethical, and social reasons, there is broad agreement among the scientific community and the public that germline editing for reproduc ...
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Genome
In the fields of molecular biology and genetics, a genome is all the genetic information of an organism. It consists of nucleotide sequences of DNA (or RNA in RNA viruses). The nuclear genome includes protein-coding genes and non-coding genes, other functional regions of the genome such as regulatory sequences (see non-coding DNA), and often a substantial fraction of 'junk' DNA with no evident function. Almost all eukaryotes have mitochondria and a small mitochondrial genome. Algae and plants also contain chloroplasts with a chloroplast genome. The study of the genome is called genomics. The genomes of many organisms have been sequenced and various regions have been annotated. The International Human Genome Project reported the sequence of the genome for ''Homo sapiens'' in 200The Human Genome Project although the initial "finished" sequence was missing 8% of the genome consisting mostly of repetitive sequences. With advancements in technology that could handle sequenci ...
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Innate Resistance To HIV
A small proportion of humans show partial or apparently complete innate resistance to HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The main mechanism is a mutation of the gene encoding CCR5, which acts as a co-receptor for HIV. It is estimated that the proportion of people with some form of resistance to HIV is under 10%. History In 1994, Stephen Crohn became the first person discovered to be completely resistant to HIV in all tests performed despite having partners infected by the virus. Crohn's resistance was a result of the absence of a receptor, which prevent the HIV from infecting CD4 present on the exterior of the white blood cells. The absence of such receptors, or rather the shortening of them to the point of being inoperable, is known as the delta 32 mutation. This mutation is linked to groups of people that have been exposed to HIV but remain uninfected such as some offspring of HIV positive mothers, health officials, and sex workers. In early 2000, researchers discovered a small ...
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Emmanuelle Charpentier
Emmanuelle Marie Charpentier (; born 11 December 1968) is a French professor and researcher in microbiology, genetics, and biochemistry. As of 2015, she has been a director at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin. In 2018, she founded an independent research institute, the Max Planck Unit for the Science of Pathogens. In 2020, Charpentier and American biochemist Jennifer Doudna of the University of California, Berkeley, were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for the development of a method for genome editing" (through CRISPR). This was the first science Nobel Prize ever won by two women only. Early life and education Born in 1968 in Juvisy-sur-Orge in France, Charpentier studied biochemistry, microbiology, and genetics at the Pierre and Marie Curie University (today the Faculty of Science of Sorbonne University) in Paris. She was a graduate student at the Institut Pasteur from 1992 to 1995 and was awarded a research doctorate. Charpentier's PhD work i ...
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Feng Zhang
Feng Zhang (; born October 22, 1981) is a Chinese-American biochemist. Zhang currently holds the James and Patricia Poitras Professorship in Neuroscience at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research and in the departments of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and Biological Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He also has appointments with the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard (where he is a core member). He is most well known for his central role in the development of optogenetics and CRISPR technologies. Early life and education Zhang was born in China in 1981 and given the name 锋 (which means "point of a spear; edge of a tool; vanguard"). Both of his parents were computer programmers in China. At age 11, he moved to Iowa with his mother (his father was not able to join them for several years). He attended Theodore Roosevelt High School and Central Academy in Des Moines, graduating in 2000. In 1999 he attended the acclaimed Research Science Institute at M ...
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Francoise Baylis
Françoise Elvina Baylis FISC (born 1961) is a Canadian bioethicist whose work is at the intersection of applied ethics, health policy, and practice. The focus of her research is on issues of women's health and assisted reproductive technologies, but her research and publication record also extend to such topics as research involving humans (including human embryo research), gene editing, novel genetic technologies, public health, the role of bioethics consultants, and neuroethics. Baylis' interest in the impact of bioethics on health and public policy as well as her commitment to citizen engagement]and participatory democracy sees her engage with print, radio, television, and other online publications. Education Baylis' education includes a Certificate of Bilingualism from Laurentian University (1981), Political Science degree (BA, First Class Honours) from McGill University (1983), followed by an MA (Philosophy, 1984) and PhD (Philosophy, specialization Bioethics, 1989) from t ...
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Eric Lander
Eric Steven Lander (born February 3, 1957) is an American mathematician and geneticist who served as the 11th director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy and Science Advisor to the President, serving on the presidential Cabinet. Lander is a professor of biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a professor of systems biology at Harvard Medical School, a former member of the Whitehead Institute, and the founding director of the Broad Institute. He is a 1987 MacArthur Fellow and Rhodes Scholar. Lander co-chaired President Barack Obama's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Lander announced he would resign from the Biden Administration effective February 18, 2022 after allegations surfaced he had engaged in bullying and abusive conduct directed against his subordinates and other White House staff. Early life and education Lander was born in Brooklyn, New York City, to Jewish parents, the son of Rhoda G. Lander, a social studies teacher, and ...
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Food And Drug Administration
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the control and supervision of food safety, tobacco products, caffeine products, dietary supplements, Prescription drug, prescription and Over-the-counter drug, over-the-counter pharmaceutical drugs (medications), vaccines, biopharmaceuticals, blood transfusions, medical devices, electromagnetic radiation emitting devices (ERED), cosmetics, Animal feed, animal foods & feed and Veterinary medicine, veterinary products. The FDA's primary focus is enforcement of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C), but the agency also enforces other laws, notably Section 361 of the Public Health Service Act, as well as associated regulations. Much of this regulatory-enforcement work is not d ...
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Gene Doping
Gene doping is the hypothetical non-therapeutic use of gene therapy by athletes in order to improve their performance in those sporting events which prohibit such applications of genetic modification technology, and for reasons other than the treatment of disease. , there is no evidence that gene doping has been used for athletic performance-enhancement in any sporting events. Gene doping would involve the use of gene transfer to increase or decrease gene expression and protein biosynthesis of a specific human protein; this could be done by directly injecting the gene carrier into the person, or by taking cells from the person, transfecting the cells, and administering the cells back to the person. The historical development of interest in gene doping by athletes and concern about the risks of gene doping and how to detect it moved in parallel with the development of the field of gene therapy, especially with the publication in 1998 of work on a transgenic mouse overexpressing insul ...
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CRISPR Gene Editing
CRISPR gene editing (pronounced "crisper") is a genetic engineering technique in molecular biology by which the genomes of living organisms may be modified. It is based on a simplified version of the bacterial CRISPR-Cas9 antiviral defense system. By delivering the Cas9 nuclease complexed with a synthetic guide RNA (gRNA) into a cell, the cell's genome can be cut at a desired location, allowing existing genes to be removed and/or new ones added ''in vivo''. The technique is considered highly significant in biotechnology and medicine as it enables editing genomes ''in vivo'' very precisely, cheaply, and easily. It can be used in the creation of new medicines, agricultural products, and genetically modified organisms, or as a means of controlling pathogens and pests. It also has possibilities in the treatment of inherited genetic diseases as well as diseases arising from somatic mutations such as cancer. However, its use in human germline genetic modification is highly controve ...
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Myostatin
Myostatin (also known as growth differentiation factor 8, abbreviated GDF8) is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''MSTN'' gene. Myostatin is a myokine that is produced and released by myocytes and acts on muscle cells to inhibit muscle growth. Myostatin is a secreted growth differentiation factor that is a member of the TGF beta protein family. Myostatin is assembled and produced in skeletal muscle before it is released into the blood stream. Most of the data regarding the effects of myostatin comes from studies performed on mice. Animals either lacking myostatin or treated with substances that block the activity of myostatin have significantly more muscle mass. Furthermore, individuals who have mutations in both copies of the myostatin gene have significantly more muscle mass and are stronger than normal. There is hope that studies into myostatin may have therapeutic application in treating muscle wasting diseases such as muscular dystrophy. Discovery and sequencing ...
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Liang Guang Small Spotted Pigs
Liang may refer to: Chinese history * Liang (state) (梁) (8th century BC – 641 BC), a Spring and Autumn period state * Wei (state) (403–225  BC), a Warring States period state, also known as Liang (梁) after moving its capital to Daliang ** Kaifeng, a city formerly known as Daliang (大梁) ** Liang (realm) (梁), a fief held by various princes under imperial China * Liang (Han dynasty kingdom) (梁), a kingdom/principality in the Han dynasty * Liang Province (涼州), an administrative division in ancient China covering present-day Gansu, Ningxia, and parts of Qinghai, Xinjiang, and Inner Mongolia * Former Liang (涼) (320–376), one of the Sixteen Kingdoms * Later Liang (Sixteen Kingdoms) (涼) (386–403), one of the Sixteen Kingdoms * Southern Liang (Sixteen Kingdoms) (涼) (397–414), one of the Sixteen Kingdoms * Northern Liang (涼) (397–439), one of the Sixteen Kingdoms * Western Liang (Sixteen Kingdoms) (涼) (400–421), one of the Sixteen Kingdoms * Liang dyna ...
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Designer Baby
A designer baby is a baby whose genetics, genetic makeup has been selected or altered, often to not include a particular gene or to remove genes associated with disease. This process usually involves analysing a wide range of human embryos to identify genes associated with particular diseases and characteristics, and selecting embryos that have the desired genetic makeup; a process known as pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, preimplantation genetic diagnosis. Screening for single genes is commonly practiced, and polygenic screening is offered by a few companies. Other potential methods by which a baby's genetic information can be altered involve directly genome editing, editing the genome before birth, which is not routinely performed and only one instance of this is known to have occurred as of 2019, where Chinese twins Lulu and Nana were edited as embryos, causing widespread criticism. Genetically altered embryos can be achieved by introducing the desired genetic material into ...
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