Health NewsSurvival of the Sickest: Dr. Sharon Moalem
As I walked across the glacial debris field through the clouds and the continual rain I had a tremendous urge to pee. I was angry with myself for drinking a coffee prior to the hike yet surely a single cup should not have had such an effect. Usually when I I hike 6 km with an elevation gain of over 600 m, I would be consuming more liquid and sweating it out. Then I remembered Moalem’s book “ Survival of the Sickest” Among other things, he described why persons of European genetic background seem to have an increased ability to survive in the cold. Needing to urinate when it turns cold is one of the ways we cope. I felt better already, if only I could find a place above the treeline to relieve myself.
Life at the Bottom of a Deep, Dark Hole
Way, way down at the bottom of a very dark hole in the ground there is a very special kind of community. It is related to communities living in the black tar sands near Fort McMurray and they in turn have some connection to the liquids filling tailings ponds in Alberta and other places around the world.
These are the communities of microbes responsible for souring of gas wells, corrosion in pipelines, and over a very much longer period of time, also responsible for the conversion of black gold to the black mud mined up in norther Alberta.
We've prepared a business case to put those wee little beasties to work.
Genetic Passports and Code 46
Searching for less well known Biopunk movies, I thought I’d take a peek at Code 46, a 2004 movie with Tim Robbins and Samantha Morton. It’s set in a near future, dystopian world where reproduction is only permissible between people not closely related. As a result of rampant human cloning, people have no real idea of their genealogy and thus are constantly in danger of inbreeding, so genetic screening is mandatory prior to reproduction or as the 'Code 46' dictates. Its a future of genetic travel restrictions and biological surveillance. The title is based on the fact that Humans normally have 23 pairs of chromosomes for a total of 46 and thus the Code 46.
Code 46:
“Article 1
Any human being who shares the same nuclear gene set as another human being is deemed to be genetically identical. The relations of one are the relations of all. Due to IVF, embryo splitting and cloning techniques it is necessary to prevent any accidental or deliberate genetically incestuous reproduction.
Therefore:
I. All prospective parents should be genetically screened before conception. If they have 100%, 50% or 25% genetic identity they are not permitted to conceive
II. If the pregnancy is unplanned, the foetus must be screened. Any pregnancy resulting from 100%, 50% or 25% genetically related parents must be terminated immediatelyIII. If the parents were ignorant of their genetic relationship then medical intervention is authorized to prevent any further breach of Code 46
IV. If the parents knew they were genetically related prior to conception it is a criminal breach of Code 46.”
Mountain Pine Beetle Genomics
A few nights ago I was in Red Deer, Alberta, to watch Dr.Janice Cooke speak at one of the regular Wednesday night science evenings at the Red Deer Museum and Art Gallery. Janice is the co-leader of our Tria Project which is looking into Mountain Pine Beetle system genomics.
The beetle has chewed its way through much of British Columbia's pine forests and has already made a meal of an estimated million and a half Alberta trees. The relationship between the beetle, the pine tree, and the blue-stain fungus is not well understood by scientists or the forest industry. (who knew there is actually 9 fungi species at work)
As I've discovered since we launched the project in January, the general public, media, and many policy makers do not realise that there is even a fungus at work in the epidemic. They are even more in the dark about the fact that the fungus is as fatal to the tree as the beetle, and may even be more damaging.
So we jump at the chance to take the 'show and tell' on the road whenever we can.
Bigfoot DNA plays Possum
After spending two weeks in Britain, I intended to blog about the genomics issues I read and heard about in the British Press. Then I get home and the first thing I see on my homepage when I start up my computer is a link to a newspaper article on analysing Bigfoot DNA. Wow! I thought nothing I saw in Britain could compare to this.
Turns out that the DNA indicated the Bigfoot to be 96% Possum and the remainder human. I guess they didn’t even need to do the DNA test, there was a Bigfoot body. Examination of the body proved it to be a rubber gorilla suit.
I did wonder though, how would we know if indeed we had Bigfoot DNA.
"Free the Gene!" Fluorescent Black Graphic Novel Interview
Here’s an interesting Biopunk find! I was scanning the shelves at the local gas station and came across the September issue of Heavy Metal Magazine. As I flipped through the pages, I came upon a graphic novel intro called Fluorescent Black by Author Matt F. Wilson.
As fate would have it, I was honored to meet Matt through the wonders of the internet and myspace. He graciously agreed to do an interview for this Blog and the interview in full is posted in the read more link below.
Genome Alberta Joins the DNA Network
We're pleased to note that Genome Alberta has been added to the DNA Network of blogs.
It isn't easy being unique on the Internet but the DNA Network has certainly carved out a unique niche as a collection of more than 50 blogs covering the fields of genetics, genomics, and health. The network was co-founded by Dr. Hsien-Hsien Lei and Ricardo Vidal and has a varied range including Ricardo's 'My Biotech Life', 'Omics! Omics!', 'Reporter Gene', and Hsien's 'Eye on DNA'. Hsien recently moved from the U.K. to Singapore and Ricardo landed in the U.S from Portugal so you're assured of some international flavour if you follow the feed.
We'll be adding the DNA feed to our main blog page so anytime you come to our pages you'll be able to see what's up on the DNA Network at the same time. That's a lot of blog reading to do but we'll do our best to make sure that the Genome Alberta pages are a kind on one-stop-blog-shop for you. You can also find the DNA Network on Facebook and of course don't forget to give a virtual gene on Facebook using the Genomics Application and check out Genome Alberta's group on Facebook.
You may have noticed we've also decided to have a little fun with the world of genomics with Tammy Grady's Biopunk blog on these pages. Rightly or wrongly genetics has a strong presence in online gaming, home gaming systems, fiction, and fantasy. Tammy will be writing about that world and if you suspend your science mind for a few minutes you might find there is a whole world of genomics you never knew existed !
And last but not least we're also pleased to be added to BIO's own blog pages and be included as a guest blogger. The pages are fairly new and really first saw the light of day at BIO International in San Diego, and I'm looking forward so seeing how it develops between now and BIO Atlanta next year.
"Steady Now... Your Genetic Code is Being Re-Written": Bioshock
Being a new initiate into the world of Biopunk, I ran out and bought a copy of Bioshock for my Xbox 360 to see what all the hype was about. Having “Bio” in the title peaked my curiosity as to the possible Biopunk in the game and I was intrigued by the inclusion of genetic modification so decided to give it a go. I hear it takes about 20 some hours to play, and just started playing a few nights back and I am enjoying every couple of hours I can squeeze in here and there when my toddler falls asleep. Yes, I’m a Mom and I'm a Video Gamer.
Mike's Genotyping Update
I've used Promethease to update my 23andMe and deCODE analyses.
For those who haven't really been following the blog (or forgot where we were in the gap since my earlier posts! ) Promethease is a piece of software created by Greg Lennon and Mike Carioso. You can use it to take the raw data file that 23andMe or deCODE make available to and analyse it to produce results that go beyond the summary report the companies offer. A data file of a million lines or so is not something you want to go through manually and you still need the information for each SNP to figure out what it means. As Mike Carioso put it "I knew 500,000 facts about myself, but had no idea about their implications".
Apart from the software to look at all the information you also need a reliable and consistent database of information so he was also instrumental in developing SNPedia.
DNA Files
Make a point of tuning your radio for the rest of the summer to CBC on Monday evenings between 8:00 and 9:00 for theDNA Files. This is a great series that covers genetics from GMOs to ethics to nature vs nurture. My own background includes being a former radio producer with CBC so I have a bias, but I also know good radio when I hear it.
However I think I have the background to add a caveat to the series. Some of it is from 2001 and it was all produced in the United States.
As a result some of the information is out of context and some of it is out of date. That doesn't mean the facts are wrong because the basics haven't changed, the series research is excellent, and some of the more recent episodes are from 2007. But genomics and genetics have been called 'the biology of the 21st century' and some of references are from the last century.
Beyond the Burn
You can't open a newspaper or watch the news over the last few days without hearing about the use of prescribed burns to help control the Mountain Pine Beetle in Alberta.
No question that burning up trees that are the home to a community of the tiny little bugs will put an end to its life cycle and with fewer trees to chow down on, the spread will be limited even further so it certainly isn't a bad practice. Problem is, that doesn't get to an understanding of the epidemic and kills trees that have not been affected or may have successfully fought off the beetle. Needless to say it does not contribute extensively to improved forest management practices either.
We're trying to move things a bit beyond the burn, and in conjunction with our partners in B.C. and Alberta were able to launch the Tria project earlier this year. Tria is Latin for 3 and that number is an important, not well understood, and generally not well known part of the MPB problem.
What is Biopunk?
This is my first Blog and I have the honor of being invited to test my hand highlighting Biopunk in Pop Culture as subgenre of Science fiction and Cyberpunk. I haven't written in years so I'm trying to get my mojo back and learning about both writing and biopunk in the process. I'm by no means an expert in the subject and hope to connect with the both layperson and more informed citizens out there. The aim is to reach forth and beckon those who have an interest in the genre for the joy of it, in addition to discussions and comments. As I learn more about the blogging process, I'll strive to make this as fun and as interactive as possible and post interesting videos, pics and links. To start, I'll outline a brief definition then add some links to some sites. As I learn about Biopunk, I'll add my ideas in the following weeks.
In Biopunk, instead of technology enhancing the human body, enhancement is achieved through Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology. Its usually based in a near future, dystopic society in which subversive and corrupt organizations or government use biology to 'better' human society. As a result there are rebellious underground punks who excel in hacking the genetic code in order to bring the genetics to the people. Any Genetic manipulation in order to advance humans, usually beyond what is currently called human is fair game. As a result, Biopunk presents some social and philisophical discourse in what it means to be human.