Why in the world did I selected biotechnology as the subject of my next article, only God knows, but the fact is I did, and now I´m hooked up with it. It is, indeed, fascinating. As I kept reading I was full of mental Oh´s and Ah´s. Even some Oh Wow´s. So... Better share the love, right?
First, I came across this article on a new Institute for Genomic Medicine open in Texas.
Lexicon is a pioneer in gene trapping technology and will use $35 million of the grant to make two copies of its knockout mouse embryonic stem cell library that will contain 350,000 cell lines. A knockout mouse is a mouse with a gene that is "turned off" so scientists can find out the function of each gene.
Yeah.
Then, the article "More time needed for biotechnology debate"...
Pre-implantation diagnosis should not be allowed. Pre-natal testing should be allowed if there is a possibility of the parents passing on a genetic disease to their children. Polar-body biopsy should be allowed only in the case of a serious illness. Human cloning should be prohibited on all counts, even for therapeutic purposes.
Oh...
And then the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, with its Biotech 101 Guide and the reference to the Biotechnology Industry Organization at Bio.org. (Nice set of milestones 2005 here, btw)
The original intention of the article is a question. Are we culturally ready?
Weell. Are we?
3 comments:
Nevaaah!
But we're going to do it, anyway...
Imagina el mercado? Refacciones para humanos, upgrades para humanos, discriminaciones por modelos viejos... es tan pateticamente trillado y tenebroso que tiene que ser posible y probable.
Gattaca
Hm. 99% of the genetic code shared with mices.
Hm.
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