Blog Post: BIOL 1020
Name: Sarah Brabazon Student number: s4205104
Prac session: Wednesday nights Tutor: Brenda McDonald
Article: Battling illness with body proteins; Science News, june 2007. Mary Murray.
This article reports on how recombinant DNA technology has enabled medical researchers to manufacture several human proteins that can bolster the body's natural defences against disease. It begins with a short history of recombinant DNA technology and explaining how genes can be cloned using bacterial vectors. It then moves on the highlighting medical breakthroughs which have been made possible through the use of this new technology, such as the manufacturing of synthetic insulin, which previously had the be farmed from pig pancreases, and the approval by the FDA of a recombinant human growth hormone, to treat growth-hormone-deficient children. The article also touches on the subject of the use of modified genes and their role in the creation of new anti-viral vaccines. The topic of new, preliminary research into recombinant DNA technologies is then addressed, such as research into recombinant ANF hormone, which operates by relaxing the muscles in blood vessels, thereby helping to reduce blood pressure. This article seems reasonably reliable and unbiased, as it refers to both the positive and negative aspects of this new technology and most of its claims are referenced.
