The ability to trace cell lineages holds a massive amount of beneficial information for the medical community, biologists, and genetists. John Sulston started this revolution with his 1980s research over an embryo of Caenorhabditis elegans. Sulston traced the cell lineage of this organism from fertilization until multicellular development. In his observations, he recorded the development of 671 cells and the death of 111 cells. Understanding the history of where the cells come from has the promise to lead to innovative technologies which have the possibility to change the future of medicine. Several methods by many different researchers were used to approach this innovate ideology of cell lineage tracking. Researchers such as Ehud Shapiro …show more content…
Discovering the cell lineage in humans could allow for basic understanding of how embryonic cells and embryonic mutated cells are distributed towards development of which parts of the body. Cancer is defined as genetic mutations which occur following birth, yet with Stratton’s research what if the mutations found at the embryonic level within the breast cancer patients contributed to the cancer after all. The scientific community knows in order for cancer to arise a very large series of mutations must occur, so what if the mutation has slowly been accumulating since the embryonic level? If somehow, we could trace those mutations from the embryonic level to the grown organism I think we could possibly have a better understanding of cancer. Geneticist, Jay Shedure, approached cell lineage tracing with the vision to follow mutated embryonic cells through their development. Shedure utilized the CRISPR-Cas9 as part of his methods to follow mutations he induced in zebrafish. CRISPR uses the Cas9 enzyme to modify specific DNA sequences with the help of an RNA molecule which finds the desired sequence of DNA to be edited. Shedure used CRISPR-Cas9 to insert mutations in specific regions of two zebrafish embryonic genomes and then sequenced the same regions in an adult zebrafish. With the embryonic mutated genomes and the sequenced regions in the adult zebrafish, a lineage was created. Unanticipated results
Please List any concerns you have about your child’s behavior. __________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ How does your child get along with peers? __________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ How does your child get along with siblings? ________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ List any current stressful events in the family or in the child’s life. _______________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ DEVELOPMENT: Please fill in any information you have on the
CRISPR stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeat, referring to the repeating DNA sequences found in the genomes of microorganisms. CRISPR technology allows scientists to make precise changes in genes by splicing and replacing these DNA sequences with new ones. Through these changes, the biology of the cell is altered and possibly affects the health of an organism. The possibilities are endless as this offers opportunities in curing deadly diseases, modifying genes, and changing humanity as we know it. Although bioengineering has been around since the 1960s, CRISPR is significant because of the comparative low costs and the ease of the procedure to
The author gives a brief history of past genome editing but thoroughly explains the history and mechanism of the CRISPR technology. She elaborates on how the technology has already been used to cure diseases and speculates on its future uses and regulation.
Embryonic stem cells are found in human blastocysts (Marcovitz 17). A blastocyst is a very young embryo (just a few days old) that contains around 200 undifferentiated stem cells (Marcovitz 17). German Zoologist Valentin Hacker coined the term “stem cell” after he discovered them in a blastocyst of a crustacean (Marcovitz 18). Embryonic stem cells were collected for the first time in 1988 by Dr. James Thomson of University of Wisconsin and by Dr. John Gearheart of Johns Hopkins (Panno 76). These stem cells are unspecialized; they do not perform a specific function like cells such as muscle and nerve do (“Stem Cells”). They are also pluripotent, meaning they have the ability to divide and become specialized cells (“Stem Cells”). This is why stem cells hold so
One tradition I have is, on Christmas morning I wake up and drink hot chocolate and watch a Christmas movie to wait for everybody to wake up. Another tradition is while opening gifts we play loud Christmas music and eat cookies, and, my sister I play our 3DS and wait for people to come over. On Christmas weekend I usually leave to go to my grandparent’s house until Christmas morning, and that got me wondering, I wonder what my other grandma would say if I got a BB gun for a present.
The discovery of stem cells is a fairly recent event, happening only a little over 50 years ago (Hardie, Blackburn, 2011). At the end of World War 2, they were discovered as a direct result of radiation poisoning from
Leonard Hayflick, a Cell Biologist, had other plans in mind for cell line development. He established a cell line from the amnion of his daughter on the
CRISPR-Cas9 is a unique technology that can be used to edit the human genome (1). Compared to other techniques of editing DNA, CRISPR and Cas9 are cheaper, faster, and more accurate. CRISPR-Cas9 gives geneticists as well as medical researchers the ability to edit specific parts of the genome by the removal, adding, or altering of certain sections of DNA sequences (1). CRISPR stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats and is a part of bacterial defense system (2). The two key molecules of CRISPR-Cas9 are Cas9 (an enzyme that can cut DNA at specific locations) and guide RNA (a small piece of RNA sequence that guides where the Cas9 should cut) (1). CRISPR is a crucial component
Many scientists believe that embryonic stem cell (ESC) research is the key to curing diseases such as cancer and HIV. Stem cells are so important to biomedical research because they are primitive cells that are capable of replicating indefinitely producing a multitude of different types of cells. This means that one of these pre-determined cells has to potential of becoming any range of over two hundred tissues with epithelial cells to blood and
Scientists are interested in stem cells for their ability to become any type of cell in the body, a process called differentiation. Theoretically, this allows for limitless possibilities in disease
CRISPR is versatile in that any target sequence can be modified by simply altering the gRNA sequence. In addition, multiple genes can be edited at the same time with great specificity (Cong 88-89). The convenience and accessibility of CRISPR resourced have also allowed thousands of laboratories worldwide to study CRISPR in different ways, which has broadened the horizons of its biomedical and clinical implications (Collins et al 259). Overall, the ease and simplicity of CRISPR technology has allowed for a rapid increase in the understanding of genome editing, which will allow CRISPR to revolutionize how certain conditions will be treated.
The word migration can have a very different meaning to each individual. In the dictionary it is defined as the movement of people from one country or locality to another. I now see the word with such a deeper meaning no only is it the group of people moving, but in fact how they moved and the struggles they had to go through. Before I sat down with both of my parent and asked them about my “roots” I had no idea how difficult migration from Mexico to the US was for both of my parents families. I never took the time to listen to little details on how exactly they ended up in this country. After I took the time to listen to my elder relatives and parents talk about how they use to
Family history is very important to an individual. By knowing where you come from, you can have a better perspective of your life. Having a clear understanding of your family background allows you to better appreciate the things that you would normally take for granted. The house, the car, and the average clothing may look better when one sees the sacrifices their family has made. They will see that their family has worked very hard just so their family can experience the better things in life. A persons roots and origin is one of the most important things to explore. It alone can bring you closer to self-discovery.
this research would be to identify the factors that are involved in the cell making process that determines cell specialization. A few of our extreme medical conditions, like birth defects and cancer, are a direct result of abnormal cell specialization. If researchers obtain a better understanding of the normal cellular process, they can isolate the causes of these deadly illnesses. The most exciting potential use for stem cells is the generation of tissues and cells. Many diseases are a direct result from complications of cellular functions or destruction of tissues in the body. Many people donate organs and tissues to replace failing or destroyed tissues. Unfortunately, there are many more people suffering from these disorders than there are organs to transplant. That is where stem cells step in. They will give humans a chance to have a renewable source of cells and tissues that will treat a slue of diseases, and disabilities such as, Parkinson’s, stroke, burns, Alzheimer’s, spinal cord injury, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and
During January of 2013, scientists based at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard were able to demonstrate fixed change in human and animal cells using CRISPR-Cas9. This marked a turning point in genetic advancement—though CRISPR was far from mastered, its potential was beginning to show.