Genetically modified mosquito

The Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India has granted permission to the International Institute of Biotechnology and Toxicology (IIBAT), near Chennai, India to run trials on the Genetically Modified (GM) mosquito. The GM mosquito is engineered by the researchers at the Oxford University to control dengue and chikungunya. Around 55% of the world population is at risk of getting dengue and 120 countries are endemic. This technology deploys genetically sterile Aedes aegypti male mosquitoes to fight the disease- causing ones.

Genetically modified primates

Japanese researchers has created the first transgenic monkeys (marmoset) that can pass a foreign gene to the offspring. This major accomplishment is published in the May issue of Nature. This experiment has little immediate effect on the modification of human germ lines as the marmoset monkeys are evolutionarily distant from humans. However this advance will eventually lead to more sophisticated human disease models leading to inevitable attention from animal-rights activists. The transgenic marmoset do one thing different from normal monkeys, they glow as they harbor the Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) gene. Already the animal-rights activists have pitched in some emotional campaign. They fear this advance will lead to engineering marmosets that are born and live with genetic defects that will also be passed on to their progeny.

The researchers may be justified by their values, but researchers must be ready to address ethical question. A broader debate involving researchers, public and political fraternity is essential to take on the bioethical issues and to promote research. Researchers could publicly demonstrate an acute awareness of the ethical aspects of research practices and of the potential applications, like UK scientists did last year during debates over human embryo research.

GM food in India

Are Indians consuming GM (genetically modified) food without their knowledge? Recently Indian newspapers reported that maybe GM food is being imported despite ban into the country. This is made possible because of weak regulations and calls for stricter regulatory mechanisms.

 

Read more at http://in.news.yahoo.com/32/20090605/1053/tnl-gm-food-slipping-into-india.html

Enzymatic Assembly of DNA in a Test Tube

Daniel Gibson and his colleagues at the J.Craig Venter Institute, USA have developed a method for assembling DNA molecules up to several hundred kilo-bases in  a test tube. Their study is published in Nature Methods 6, 343 - 345 (2009). According to the method described by them, DNA molecules are assembled in a isothermal, single-reaction process with the concerted action of a 5' -  exonuclease, a DNA polymerase and a DNA ligase. A single-step process makes it faster and fully controllable. This will further allow in vitro assembly of genes, entire genetic pathways, or even small genomes from natural or synthetic DNA.

 

 

P.S. : Daniel Gibson's group previously assembled the entire genome (583 kilo-base-pair) of Mycoplasma genitalium using synthetic DNA. The final steps of DNA assembling could be accomplished in a yeast cell and it is difficult as the foreign DNA maybe toxic to the yeast.  

Events

 

These are the few upcoming events. I hope someone finds these useful.

 

15th International Scientific Congress 2010, Cuba.

 http://www.cnic.edu.cu/15congresoingles.html

 

Advanced Laboratory Training Course: Viral Subversion of Immune Responses

Howard Hughes Medical Institue and University of Rijeka, Croatia. http://www.hhmi.org/grants/office/international/intl_courses.html

 

Science Forum 2009

Waginengen, The Netherlands.

http://www.sciencecouncil.cgiar.org/events/science-forum/en/

 

Stem Cells 2009

Abcam, Antigua.

http://www.abcam.com/index.html?pageconfig=resource&rid=11429

Gender Bias in Scientific Careers?

In a meta-analysis of peer-reviewed procedures during grant applications by researchers Rudiger Mutz, Hans-Dieter Daniel and Lutz Bornmann at the Professorship for Social Psychology and Research on higher Education at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Switzerland discovered a bias against women. They concluded that the reason for this gender bias is unknown. But, one of the factors could be that fewer women principal investigators apply for grants. Other explanation offered by them is that more men occupy high ranking positions, i.e., "decision-making positions" than women in institutions. They also discussed about the ways to avoid gender bias and their suggestion is to mask applicants gender.

Another study by Gunnel Gustafsson, Carl Jacobsson and Carolyn Glynn at the Swedish Research Council in Sweden analyzed all 17,000 grant applications to their council during 2003-05. They found little evidence for gender bias and reported that the success rate for receiving grants were roughly the same for both the genders. But still they discovered other discrepancies such as less success rates for women with fellowships to be post-docs, long term grants for prominent research environments and in nearly all types of grant in the field of medicine. The Swedish researchers ignore the reason for gender bias mentioned by their counterparts from Switzerland. These researchers attributed the low success rate for women in scientific careers to "career age" - the number of years that have passed since applicants earned their PhDs. Success rate increased with increase in career age and on an average women have less career age than men.

However, there is a widespread acknowledgment of gender bias in scientific careers. The US National Science Foundation in its review on gender differences in the careers of academic scientists, concludes: "Taken as a whole, the body of literature we reviewed provides evidence that women in academic careers are disadvantaged compared with men in similar careers. Women faculty earn less, are promoted less frequently to senior academic ranks, and publish less frequently than their male counterparts." other studies also pointed to similar problems. This suggests that it would be necessary to carry out international comparative study to reach a conclusion.

Swine flu -Influenza A (H1N1) virus

Cases of swine flu (influenza A- H1N1 virus) continue to be recorded on a daily basis. So far, 2o countries have officially reported 985 cases influenza A- H1N1 virus infection. The research started at the World Influenza Centre , Mill Hill, will be vital for understanding the structure of the virus, its origin, transmission and its potential to cause illness. Analysis done so far suggests that H1N1 is a mild strain compared to H5N1 avian flu strain. The initial indications are largely guesswork from the available genetic sequence of the virus and comparing that to what is known from the research wok on other influenza viruses. The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge will soon begin the gene sequencing of the virus and will also be monitoring any mutations or changes how virulent it is. More biological analysis is necessary to have a proper understanding about the potential H1N1 virus. Scientists have played down the concerns that the milder H1N1 virus could combine with H5N1 to form a "supervirus". Avian flu strain, H5N1 has been around for a decade without combining with normal seasonal flu virus. But scientists do agree that it is difficult to predict new pandemic strains.

 

BioMed Central has compiled a collection of recently published research articles, commentaries, reviews and editorials relating to influenza A - H1N1 virus.

http://www.biomedcentral.com/gateways/influenza