Gene therapy has become a powerful therapeutic approach for many different diseases, including diabetes and cancer. Appropriately, gene therapy using genetic engineering, and gene-delivery systems have been broadly studied. Among scientists, it is a major challenge to engineer effective gene-delivery vectors with less cytotoxicity. Viral vectors, which have been used as gene-delivery carriers, have shown many signs of toxicity and side effects. Therefore, non-viral vectors used for gene delivery has been studied and developed to overcome the physiological obstructions of the viral vectors.…
Genetically Modified Organisms, or GMOs, are organisms that have been created through the gene-splicing techniques of biotechnology Although GMOs have been around for many years, it wasn’t until just recently that people have become more concerned with them. However, many companies that produce genetically modified organisms, like Monsanto, try to make believe that the products they produce are healthy and beneficial for the environment; while that may be true first glance, lots of anti gmo activists believe that these companies scam people into believing false information. In this essay, we will uncover the pros and cons of these genetically modified organisms and ultimately, come to the conclusion that GMOs may have downfalls for humans and the environment, but are economically beneficial.…
In the last century, there have been a number of discoveries regarding the treatment of human disease and genetic conditions. The current on-going research is in the field of gene therapy, an experimental technique that uses genes to treat and replace the defective genes of an affected person. Instead of treating disease symptoms, this has the potential to correct the underlying cause (1). Besides its high costs and ethical concerns (therapy involving germ line treatment), this technique also poses a considerable amount of risk. Thus, gene therapy is currently only being tested on the diseases for which there is no cure. This article shall look primarily into cystic fibrosis, as well as X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), as examples to describe the potential of gene therapy in medicine.…
Genetically modified foods are beneficial for our society because of the nutrients that may be added to foods and the greater ability to produce these foods. While some people argue that genetic modification is still a new technology that should be researched further, others will agree that the benefits definitely outweigh the drawbacks. Society today has all kinds of new technology at its fingertips and should be allowed to use this technology to enhance certain things to better the world.…
Genetic modification is becoming closer and closer to an everyday possibility. With this possibility comes a whirlwind of possible effects, both positive and negative. There has been a history of opposition towards these technologies, oftentimes because of fear that the capabilities would be abused. However, the potential that newborns could be born free of hereditary diseases outweighs the fear of “designer babies”.…
Human genetic engineering is the process by which the human genome is being modified and manipulated in order to remove or select certain genes. Moreover, traits that are desirable can be selected, and preventing the genetic causes of diseases is possible. Human genetic engineering, as a new field, has raised a lot of questions and ethical issues. I argue about where we should put the limits for our genetic editing. Should we just use it to prevent harmful diseases or can we carry on with the modification and choosing the desirable traits of our future generations? Who decides? Who has the right to object? I will try my best to provide reasonable answers to those questions throughout my series of blogs, based on scientific articles that talk about its controversial and ethical aspects.…
Genetic engineering (GE) is also known, as genetic modification is the process of organisms that are genetically modified. In this process the goal is to transfer new DNA to an organism so it can improve its habits and make new cells.…
In fact living in a world where more than seven billion people reside, would it be worth beginning these experiments? Although CRISPR, the technology used to alter genes, can destruct unwanted and deadly diseases (Genetic Engineering Will Change Everything,…
Science leads to medical, and technological advances, and even the modification of food humans eat, in Mary Shelley’s gothic novel, Frankenstein, she captures question of how scientists can do this. “The world to me was a secret, which I desired to discover: to her it was a vacancy, which she sought to people with imaginations of her own” (Shelly 21). All the discoveries Scientist make lead to a bigger questions of truly how safe is the modification of food. The United States alone, consumes over 70%-80% of the Genetically Modified Organisms made. Most developed countries have either restriction or have banned Genetically Modified Organisms after chronic illness, food allergies and other mental/health disorders have increased. Over the last…
CRISPR stands for “clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats” and is used to “revolutionize the field of genome editing” (Doudna). This is a very controversial subject because there are two sides that people are on and debating about. The first side supports this system because it says that you can genetically change a person’s genes so that if they have a disease or mutation, they can be cured. However, many people are supporting the second side as well. This side or the second side says that you can genetically modify your babies to how you would like them and create the baby you want.…
In recent history, many people have become wary of the infamous genetically modified organisms (GMOs), which are commonly found in many foods and products, from corn to cotton. However, there are a series of documented dangers associated with GMOs and they have caused a divide between those who support GMOs and hope to reassure the consumer that GMO’s are safe, versus those who oppose GMOs and promote the removal of them from their favorite products. Despite strong arguments from both sides, there is extremely sufficient evidence to prove that GMO’s are nothing to be afraid of.…
CRISPR is a new technology, a method that can edit genomes. It makes it possible for scientists to manipulate and make changes to the DNA in the cells of all organisms. Since this is such a new discovery, there hasn’t been done much testing and experimenting, which makes it unknown and none predictable for humans. It is said that with CRISPR, scientists will for example, be able to change genes in human embryos, and create so called “designer-babies”. There has been a lot of discussion around this topic, and the issue of gene editing in general has created several ethical issues that needs to be taken into consideration. But what exactly is CRISPR, and how may it effect the future? In this article, I will focus on explaining what CRISPR is, how it can be used e.g. CRISPR-Cas 9, and I will discuss the ethical issues of this method.…
CBS News airs a lot of news, like new findings in science and technology, entertainment, health, sports, and crime. The guest speaker was Eric Schadt who is the director of the Icahn Institute for Genomics and Multiscale Biology at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. I will be using this source to explain my counter argument on how Gene Editing can be a good thing. Gene editing has evolved into switching out one mutated gene for a healthier gene, instead of how they used to just discard of an embryo altogether. This is revolutionary because we can cure the embryo before it is born of a laundry list of different diseases, with the only catch being that they need to be a single gene. If it is not a single gene it makes it much more difficult because scientists would need to change an entire genome, this is not yet possible for science. The diseases that could be cured include Huntington's Disease, Cystic Fibrosis, Tay-Sachs disease, as well breast cancer. Not to mention that there is a hope that scientists will be able to help people live longer. This was an interview on CBS News which leads me to believe that this is a primary…
The science of today can create super baby's, which Huxley predicted by engineering everyone through conditioning. The debate between nature vs nurture has battled for over a century and half, as to whether genes or environment play a role in human nature. Steven Pinker a Canadian psychologist, says that genes are the reason for human behavior. Pinker reinforces his idea by talking about children, “[Anyone with a] child knows that kids come into the world with certain temperaments and talents” (Pinker, 2003). Environmental factors do not play a detrimental role in the development of children, the genes determine how the child will work. Some genes may cause children to have a bad temper, while other genes may make children behave. To edit genes was thought of as a game changer, to be able to remove unwanted traits such as the cancer gene or make people immune to every known bacteria and virus known to man. Today there is CRISPR or Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeat. According to Harvard University “CRISPR changed not only the way basic research is conducted, but also the way we can now think about treating diseases” (CRISPR, para 1). Humans can edit genes in other humans to remove genes that are thought as being unworthy or useless. CRISPR can be similar to Brave New World but because of ethics and regulations on changing and or…
Imagine a world where autism and downs syndrome are a thing of the past, and where there is no shortage on food for anybody. Over the years mankind has developed and improved technology to save more and more lives through the manipulation of the DNA that makes up all living organisms. However, there are those who oppose this approach. Despite the risks and ethical concerns, genetic engineering holds the potential to benefit humanity through both direct and indirect means.…