Unit 6 Biotechnology Reflection

In this unit, we learned about biotech and the different possibilities and applications it might offer to humanity. There are four main fields of biotech, namely: agricultural, industrial, medical, and investigation. These fields of biotechnology offer amazing abilities and powers that we humans can wield, such as the power to clone, to heal using recombinant DNA, to optimize crop growth and food output, the possibilities are practically endless. However, there is also the issue of bioethics, which puts for the question: Just because we can, should we?

In this unit, one of my main strengths was being quick to understand how the two labs pGLO and dye electrophoresis would work. Because of this, I was able to push my groupmates in a positive to direction to work quickly, efficiently, and at the same time, closely following the procedure. However, one of my weaknesses in this unit was the recombinant DNA vodcast. I didn't quite understand the process of extracting DNA using restriction enzymes and cutting it, and then pasting it into other organisms.

I really liked the pGLO lab because it was a great demonstration on how recombinant DNA could be used by letting E. Coli pick up the plasmid that would make them resistant to ampicilin and even cooler, it would make them glow in the presence of arabanose sugar. However, I still hope to learn more about recombinant DNA and find out about even more of the possible applications that it could offer to humanity.

As for my New Year's goals, I feel like I have been doing really well. I carefully watch the vodcast and take notes closely, and even replay parts of the video to help better broaden my knowledge. I have also cut down on the procrastination and have been studying for the unit test throughout the unit instead of all on the night before. In general, I am really excited about biotech and hope to see where this technology will take us in the future.

Below I have attached some pictures that highlight some of the labs we did in this unit.

pGLO Lab

1.

Obtain your team plates.  Observe your set of  “+pGLO” plates under room light and with UV light.  Record numbers of colonies and color of colonies. Fill in the table below. Plate Number of Colonies Color of colonies under room light Color of colonies under   UV light - pGLO LB 20 tan/white violet - pGLO LB/amp 0 the color of nonexistence "" + pGLO LB/amp 10 tan/white violet + pGLO LB/amp/ara 6 tan/white bright glowing green

2.	What two new traits do your transformed bacteria have?
	These bacteria are now resistant to ampicillin and will glow in the presence of arabanose sugar.
3.	Estimate how many bacteria were in the 100 uL of bacteria that you spread on each plate. Explain your logic.
	After two days, there were about 100 billion bacteria. Assuming the bacteria divided once and hour, a pretty typical rate, the amount of bacteria in the original 100 uL would be around 100 billion divided by 2^24 or about 6000
4.	What is the role of arabinose in the plates?
	It reacted with the pGLO to make the plate of bacteria glow a bright, florescent green.
5.	List and briefly explain three current uses for GFP (green fluorescent protein) in research or applied science.
	Used to label spermatoza, too help see microorganisms better, and it can be used as a reporter gene.
6.	Give an example of another application of genetic engineering. It can be used in agriculture, to make crops pick up DNA that can make them resistant to certain plagues, therefore having a positive effect on the harvest.

Editing the genes of embryos: a most debated question

It all began when Chinese scientists reported taking 86 human embryos and attempted to modify the gene that causes beta-thalassaemia, a deadly blood disorder. They did this by using a new gene-editing technology known as Crispr-Cas9, a machine that can make extremely precise edits to DNA. Now, Britain wants to do the same thing, except this time, to research the development of a healthy embryo and the possible causes of miscarriage. This technology can be used to cure many diseases that may be genetically inherited and may show some of the possible causes of miscarriage.

Clearly, this new technological and biological revolution has the potential to bring about many benefits. First off, using this gene-editing technology can cause genetically inherited diseases to be wiped off the face of the earth. Secondly, such edits can cause aging to be much slower, letting us humans live much longer, and healthier lives. Finally, such gene-editing technology can end the "gene-lottery," where the babies that have favorable traits are completely randomly chosen. Now, everyone will have desirable traits and nobody will have any unfair advantage over another.

However, such gene-editing technology can also prove to be very ethically problematic.  First off, there could be an accidental, "off-target" mutation caused by gene editing on a different part of the genome, which could have fatal effects. Also, gene-editing could cause the creation of "designer babies", babies whose traits have been carefully selected to be superior in looks, height, intelligence, and other different areas that aren't actually necessary for medical purposes. Even leaving it up to the "gene-lottery" is better than creating a race of perfect humans, where there is little genetic variation when it comes to different natural talents. Finally, this gene-editing of embryos could lead to a scary methodology called eugenics, the racist idea of creating a superior race with specific traits like for example, with the Nazis, was the Aryan race, a race purely made of people with blond hair and blue eyes.

In conclusion, I must say that I stand on the side of not supporting such technology, or at least limiting it purely to medical purposes, and not for genetic enhancement. This is because even with all the possible benefits it could introduce to make life much easier for everybody, it takes away the aspect of life which is that hard work is the key to success. In a world where gene-editing is possible, those with enhanced genes will clearly have an unfair advantage. This is why I feel that modification of the genes of embryos, or any human for that matter, should not be done, or at least limited to medical purposes only.

Above shows how the Crispr-Cas9 genetic editing technology works

Works Cited:

Savulescu, Julian. "News and Articles on Science and Technology." News and Articles on Science and Technology. Science X Network, 3 Dec. 2015. Web. 26 Jan. 2017.

Page, Michael L. "How Do We Weigh Benefits and Risks of Human Gene Editing?" Genetic Literacy Project. N.p., 17 Mar. 2015. Web. 26 Jan. 2017.

Candy Electrophoresis Lab

1. When we analyzed the results, all of our test dyes matched the four reference dyes except for one. When we extracted the dye from the orange skittle, it didn't match any of the reference dyes in both color and distance traveled. It almost seemed to split into red and yellow, except that since they weren't fully split and were still partially combined, the didn't quite match the red reference die or the yellow reference dye.

2. I think that betanin, the beetroot red, and citrus red 2 will likely match or at least be pretty similar to the red 40 reference dye. However, I think that betanin will be slightly darker and citrus might be a bit lighter.

3. These dog food manufacturers likely put colorful dyes in dog to make it more attractive to the consumer.

4. One reason why artificial dyes might be more preferable than natural dyes is the fact that artificial dyes can be mass produced. This makes it a lot easier to make and makes it a lot more mainstream.

5. The size and time it travels.

6. The negatively charged end (the anode) attracts the dyes and causes them to start moving through the holes towards the end of the gel.

7. The component that causes the molecules to separate by size is the fact that there are holes within the gel. Larger molecules move a lot slower through the holes while smaller molecules move quick and easy through them.

8. The molecule(s) with weight of 600 daltons will go the furthest, then followed by 1000 daltons, 2000 daltons, and 5000 daltons will travel the least distance.

In this lab, we asked the question: How can we use electrophoresis to identify the dyes in candy? We found that we were able to do so by comparing the distance traveled by our candy dyes to that of the reference dyes. The dye from the red skittle matched red 40, the dye from the green skittle successfully separated into yellow and blue, and matched the yellow and blue reference dyes, and so did the dye from the yellow skittle. However, the orange skittle wasn't able to completely split into red and yellow, so it ended up halfway between the two reference dyes for red and yellow. This supports our hypothesis because we thought that it would indeed be possible to identify the dyes used in the candies, and we were right.

While our hypothesis was supported by our data, there could have been possible errors due to the fact that we were at an assembly while we ran our gel. This could have caused the dyes to move without supervision, and anything could have happened to alter the results and we wouldn't have known about it. Also, when we used the micropipet to transfer the reference dyes and our candy dyes into the wells, there were a couple of times where we missed some dye, so that could've also affected the results by changing the amount of dye that was actually running through the gel. Due to these errors largely being affected by not having enough time, I suggest that in the future, this lab be split into two days: one for preparing the dyes and the second day for running them.

This lab was done to demonstrate how electrophoresis could be used to identify different dyes. This lab helps me better understand the concept of how similar molecules will travel similar distances through the gel because of their similar size. Based on what I learned in this lab, I think I can probably do gel electrophoresis for DNA as well.

New Year Goals

This year, one of my two SMART goals is to spend much less time on my phone or my computer, watching videos and procrastinating on work. It might seem a bit overzealous, but I will cut down my daily usage of these things to one hour at max. This way, I can get my daily workload finished much earlier and more efficiently, therefore allowing me to go to sleep earlier and to be even more productive the following day. This creates a positive cycle of becoming a much more aware and focused student.

The second of the two SMART goals I set is to pay much more attention to the vodcasts. A lot of the time, I would usually skip through the vodcast, purely copying down what was written on the screen, and therefore getting my homework done in a really short period of time, but in turn, not actually learning much. This would usually come back to get me when studying for the unit test later on, because I would have to cram all the things that I missed from the vodcast into the brief studying time I would have right before the assessment.

These are my two goals for the new year and I intend to pursue them with motivation.