Monday, November 21, 2011
Super Mice
Researchers at Salk Univeristy, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, and University of Lausanne have tweaked a few sets of genes that made a certain group of mice twice as strong as regular mice. The researchers have identified a genome regular, NCoR1, that allowed them to create these super strong mice. They believe that with this discover, drugs can be made for people who have a degeneration of the muscle and obese people that are unable to exercise. With taking away this inhibtor, mice were able to run for an extended amount of time. The drug that could be created will decrease the effectiveness of NCoR1 since in the research NCoR1 was genetically modified. It is interesting to see that people with muscle degeneration may now have increased hope to be able to use their body as a normal person would, along with people with an obesity problem allow to function better.
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This a very intriguing advancement in genetic engineering. It is foreseeable though that some problems would need to be addressed for this technology to be an effective treatment. As discussed in lecture, there needs to be a control on where the gene is allowed to be expressed so that all the tissues won't be affected. Also, it is important that there is an inhibitor at some point so that the muscle mass would not exceed functional and healthy levels.
ReplyDeleteThis is an amazing discovery that could have a huge impact in personal health and wellness. The idea that we can produce "stronger" human beings is truly mind blowing. I'm hopeful to see this advancement soon.
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