As a team, stake a claim about whether or not the government should allow Gene Therapy research. Justify your choice.

Gene therapy is the process of inserting genes into cells of an individual in order to correct a gene product that is inherited. It has been practiced in a limited manner. Our team does not think that the government should allow for Gene therapy research because its not right. It could have some benefits, but you don't know where gene therapy could do.  Since it hasn't been researched enough, you never know what the outcome might be. It has been associated with several deaths and cancers. It shouldn't be allowed if all its going to do is make a person die or become sick than they already are. Also, all the deaths and cancers arising have slowed the development on new therapies. Its not right to spend time on one kind of therapy, when you could be researching something else that would help a human better. Functional genes are inserted into sperm or egg cells, and that seems pretty dangerous. Those genes being inserted could cause a serious problem. Also, with Gene therapy, you are going against God's wishes. Its his choice on how he wants a person to turn out to be. Its not right to go back and try to make genes better, because it could end up killing a person. It is not ethical because it is a form of human engineering. Humans should not be messed with. Because of the deadly outcomes, the government should stay away from Gene therapy research.

Kharishma Patel, Jeswina John, Miranda Juergens, Deepthy Varghese

Medical Microbiology, 8th period, Rickard

Discuss genetic mutation:

A. Point mutations (including base pair change), frameshift mutations (including insertion and deletion), and nondisjunction:

A point mutation is a simple change in one of the bases of the gene sequence. For an example, using a sentence, where one letter in a sentence, such as this example, where we change the 'c' in cat to an 'h': 

Original	The fat cat ate the wee rat.
Point Mutation	The fat hat ate the wee rat.

 

In a frame shift mutation, one or more bases are inserted or deleted. Because our cells read DNA in three letter "words", adding or removing one letter changes each following word. This type of mutation can make the DNA meaningless and often results in a shortened protein. An example of a frame-shift mutation using a sentence is when the ’t’ from cat is removed, but we keep the original letter spacing:

 

Original	The fat cat ate the wee rat.
Frame Shift	The fat caa tet hew eer at.

 

Nondisjunction is when chromosomes fail to split apart during cell division. This is where an chromosome goes to both daughter cells, and nowhere else. Nondisjunction is when there are errors made in chromosome numbers. Common examples are, Trisomy 21, Down syndrome, and monosomy x.

B. Mutations that result during mitosis (body cells) and meiosis (gametes or sex cells)

Mutations in mitosis will be unavoidably inherited, unless a mutation occurs for it by duplicate descendants of a single-celled organism. Mutations in mitosis can include any mutations that revolve around chromosomes, such as Down’s syndrome. Cancer can also be a mutation. In meiosis cell division results in haploid sex cells. Mutation can occur in either parent as a legacy of its coming into mitosis or at the time of zygote formation. This is where nondisjuction is.

C. Results of these mutations in the individual as well as in the offspring

The organism can come out with having Down Syndrome, genetic disorders, differences in skin colors, eyes, multiple fingers, etc. Frame shift and nondisjunction may affect the offspring. 

Kharishma Patel, Jeswina John, Miranda Juergens, Deepthy Varghese

Medical Microbiology, 8th period, Rickard