Designer Babies

Genetically modifying embryos to have certain desired traits is far from being done. The ability to select different traits is much more difficult than targeting genetic diseases. This is because genetic diseases can be caused by a single mutation, while selecting certain traits is influenced by multiple genes. Shai Carmi said how it is much more accepted to alter a baby if it is for a disease versus an outward identity. Also traits can be very unpredictable, even if altered.

In my opinion, I do not think genetically modifying embryos should be allowed with the purpose of a "designer baby." I think it is acceptable to modify in the interest of the health and well being of a child, but to completely change their characteristics should not be okay. If somebody wants to change the way they are, it should be decided by them, not their parents. Also all life should be accepted the way it is, parents should be happy with the way their baby looks without genetically modifying them. I hope this is never something that is available to the public when it does become successful.



https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2019-11-21/designer-babies-a-long-way-off

Related Article:
https://embryo.asu.edu/pages/ethics-designer-babies

Eye Color; Myths of Genetics

There are many myths regarding genetics and inheritable traits. Even when most of them have been clarified, people are still confused about some patterns of heredity. One of the most popular myths of genetics is eye color, specially those in the blue category since it is less common.
People used to believe that eye color were single genes, and that blue is a recessive allele of other non-blue eye colors like greens and browns. A research on myths of human genetics by John McDonald notes that eye color is not a simple hereditary trait, in fact there is at least 12 genes involved and phenotypes vary not only with the genes themselves but also with the interactions with each other.

Heterochromia: Different pigmentation/concentration of melanin.

Many articles explain that the coloration of the eyes is mainly based on the presence and absence of melanin, and that essentially there is only one eye color, brown; other colors are a product of reflection and absorption of light. Melanin is a brown pigment that absorbs light; in blue eyes, there is less melanin thus more light is reflected. For eye color, there are genes that determine the melanin's quality, quantity, dispersion, concentration, etc. Other factors like the amount of collagen in the iris and blood vessels can also affect the color expressed. Eye color is still believed to be genetic but is more complicated than simple dominant-recessive alleles.

Neimann Pick Type C-1 Treatment

Parents Hugging Daughters with Neihmann Pick Disease

The Neimann Pick Type C-1 disease is a lethal and inherited disease against the body's metabolism for lipids and cholesterol. There is a new treatment that come out of the National Institutes of Health. There was a long detailed report of using model organisms of mice and then cars and it showed that the drug made of cyclodexetrins can slow the disease, prolong life, and minimize some of the symptoms of the condition. Now there is a competition between which company will be able to make human trials successful from Vtesse to the NIH and CTD Holdings.

"In mouse models of the disease, cyclodextrin administered peripherally delayed disease onset, reduced brain accumulation of fat, and lengthened life significantly, several published studies have found. In presentations this summer, CTD representatives reported anecdotal cases of neurological improvements- such as motor skills and speech- in children treated intravenously with the company's cyclodextrin on a compassionate use basis, including the Hempels' daughters. The company further notes that the IV delivery method may protect other organs affected by NPC."

The reasons why this disease is related to our class are based on two idea. The idea of using a model organism first is along the ethical ideas of genetics practice and medicinal practice of using a non-human organism first to model the possible human reactions and interactions. Along with this idea comes the idea of inheritance through families and all of the forms of Niemann Pick are autosomal recessive inheritance based.

"This means that both parents are carriers each carry 1 copy of the abnormal gene without having any signs of the disease themselves. When both parents are carriers, there is a 25% chance that their child will have the disease and a 50% chance that their child will be a carrier."

I think it is wonderful how medicinal competition and betterment of medicine and technology is pushing for a treatment for this inherited disease, but I am also wondering if there are any pre-zygotic treatments for conception that could prevent a child from being born with this disease. i have always been interested in genetic disease prevention and hopefully technology of current treatment will eventually develop to the pre-conception stage of the disease.

Could your grandmother who smokes be the reason you have asthma?

The European Respiratory Society’s International Congress in Amsterdam showed evidence of asthma being linked to smoking in previous generations. Asthma is the most common childhood disease and currently affects 8% of adults and 9.3% of children in the US according to the CDC. While that may not seem like a large percentage, the actual number of children affected is 6.8 million. That really opens your eyes to the issue. Originally, researchers thought that exposure to specific environmental changes were responsible but more and more evidence of smoking grandmothers are surfacing.

The first study took place in an entire population in Sweden from the grandmothers at the extra time of pregnancy. If the grandmother smoked, the asthma risk increased 10-22%. The results came to show that from 44,853 grandmothers tested, 66,271 grandchildren needed asthma medication. 

We already know genes can be affected by things like tobacco and other things we are exposed to but what we didn’t see before was that these changes can be dormant for generations but still be passed down.  In the US, researches thought that this could account for 98% of diseases inherited human diseases that are unaccounted for.

This could be a breakthrough in determining what exposures we face now can affect future generations. In my opinion, this is super important to our generation and future generations. While numbers of smokers has decreased significantly, asthma is still up there. Now that we know we could be affecting our future generations, we could really put an end to smoking and increase everyone's health. 

For the full story click here!
To look at a previous study on this click here

DNA doesn't control all inherited traits

New research demonstrates that characteristics passed through generations are not only decided by DNA. Scientists studied proteins known as histones, which act as spools around which DNA is wound. Histones are responsible for controlling whether or not genes are switched on.

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh carried out experiments in a yeast with similar gene control mechanisms to humans. When changes were introduced to a histone that caused it to switch off nearby genes,, the effect was inherited by following generations of yeast cells.

This research is important and quite interesting because it shows that changes in the histone spools are passed through generations. This also demonstrates that DNA is not solely responsible for all inherited traits.

My Article
Related Article

 Genetics Could Help You Next Time You Forget Your  Anniversary

     We can all admit we have forgotten an important date or event at one point in time or another.  I know some have even spent a night or so sleeping on the couch after trying to explain how you might have forgotten such an important thing.  International scientists and Boston University school of medicine researchers have linked memory loss to two genes.  There is a possibility that memory loss could be inherited from your family gene pool.  They tested over 30,000 people using different memory tests and mapped their whole genome.  Ones with low memory scores were then analyzed to isolate possible gene differences.  Important to note that none of the people had dementia. Interesting to see if there is a possibly treatment in the future to improve memory based on these findings.  Imagine a pill that could help you study for an important test. Researchers agree that more testing is needed though to find more definitive proof though. Next time you are in trouble for forgetting something important, you can point out that crazy uncle that talks to himself in the corner and blame your family gene pool and not the beer.

http://www.dnaindia.com/health/report-scientists-shed-new-light-on-how-memory-loss-is-inherited-203872http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-11-clues-memory-international-genetic.html                                                                                                                                                                 http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-11-clues-memory-international-genetic.html

Could be more to know about the world of Epigenetics than previously assumed...

As time pushes onward, humans are constantly obtaining more information about how the body works and how our traits are passed from generation to generation. This article gives insight to the world of Epigenetics, which scientists have previously believed to be set in stone. However, as researchers backtrack and take a closer look, epigentics is not as simple as we assumed. This article mentions how we have viewed the DNA sequence as an independent of the epigenetic mechanisms (that which are responsible for controlling the gene expressions and are heritable). Further reading of this article will allow the readers to be able to see just how complex the transcription of the DNA can be. Some of the transcription ways are straightforward, but others occur at different rates or times which can all effect the output of the process. I feel that is is important that researchers keep investigating what controls our traits, that way we can learn how to better ourselves and the future generations to come. 

Source: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/342/6159/705.full

Below is a link to another article, also giving details about epigentics: 

http://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/epigenetic-influences-and-disease-895

Genetically Happy?

According to the article, "Happiness Is Mostly Genetic", happiness is greatly influenced by inherited factors.  Studies have proven that environmental factors have very little to do with an individual's happiness.  David Lykken conducted a study to measure how separated twins described personal contentment with their life.  Approximately 60 percent of twins that were separated at birth described their lives as happy, despite living in different environments.  Genes form personalities; therefore, the twins that describe themselves as happy were "genetically programed".  Science Daily reports similar findings with twins separated at birth.  Science Daily's article explains happiness is 50% inherited and 50% external factors.  Those who inherit happiness have an "affective reserve" in times of distress.  I always felt external factors played a larger role in happiness .  The two studies that observed separated twins was quite convincing. It provided evidence that environment has little to do with happiness, and genetics seems to have a greater impact.  After reading the two articles I agree that genetics has a great influence on personality and happiness.