Monday, January 26, 2015

The Genome Machines

Located in Cambridge,  Massachusetts there is an old beer factory that is currently being used to aid in the 1000 Genomes Project. The facility houses numerous machines which hold up to 10000 test tubes containing genetic fluids, and which also give out genetic sequences which are prepared and analyzed by scientists. This facility has played a role in sequencing "dengue fever, malaria, and the West Nile virus". Scientists around the world send their various samples (including Ebola) to this facility aside and typically receive results in in about 40 hours. One of the main goals aside from gene sequencing is to get a clear "picture of disease epidemiology as the disease is happening". 

Being able to test the blood of deceased Ebola victims to see if they had the disease was a very risky feat. to make things worse the article mentioned the fact that the virus was mutating and could go airborne which would drastically increase the amount of Ebola cases around the world. The article was very interesting and gave light on the Ebola outbreak that occurred not too long ago. 



 

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