Health NewsCan Beans wear Genes?
That is the question that a grade 8 student asked, and for the remainder of the winter used a potting bench and a fluorescent light to grow intertwined fast growing bean plants and radishes. He wondered if they might grow close enough to exchange some genetic information. The knowledge of Mendel and the science of genetics is not formally introduced to students until Grade 9, and a thorough development of the ideas regarding molecular genetics and gene manipulation is not part of the curriculum until the most senior Biology course. Sure, with my “sophisticated” level of knowledge, I could find a few holes in his hypothesis, but that is not the point. The point is that this student has developed on his own, an idea that he wanted to test, carried out the research and presented it to whoever came by his display at the Canadian Rockies Regional Science Fair.
Moving Forward on Epigenetics
At our Board meeting this week Dennis Fitzpatrick the VP of Research for the University of Lethbridge (and a Genome Alberta Board member) brought everyone up to date on the U of L's epigenetics project.
Epigenetics is the study of heritable changes in gene function that occur without a change in DNA sequence. Somehow the expression of a gene or its appearance is altered by a cause other than a change to the DNA. This new look can stay with the cell and go on for multiple generations.
In humans, epigenetic changes can result in diseases and disorders such as cancer, diabetes, mental illness and fetal alcohol syndrome. Though there is a great deal of interest in how changes to phenotype come about in people, epigenetics has a significant role in studying plants and their ability to acclimate and adapt. (think climate change or environmental conditions!). A plant's environment can cause specific changes to the way a plant behaves and what genes are expressed.
Now, take that concept and move it to research focused on the environment and the effect of environmental poisons or noxious substances. Such chemicals appear to be able to change the epigenetic status of a cell. Not only can the study of 'Epi-toxicology' give us an understanding of where things can go wrong but that knowledge could be applied to cleaning up tailings ponds in the oilsands.
There is a growing interest around the world in epigenetic because of the possibilities and because it just MAY gives us a little more responsibility or control over our own genome. Maybe the work could even mean that when I look at my own genome there will actually be research that indicates that a change in behaviour or environment may mitigate any health challenges still to come.
A major conference is coming up in Singapore in August and significant work is going on at Johns Hopkins, Max Planck Institute for Immunology, the University of Queensland, McGill University in Canada, and here in Alberta at the Univeristies of Alberta, Calgary, and Lethbridge.
For a Nova TV episode on epigenetics go to www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3411/02.html or get a look at the future of epigenetics on 'How Stuff Works' .
That's the nickel tour of epigenetics but the main focus for the Board discussion (and how often do you get blogs and Twitter feeds out of a Board meeting... ) was around a proposal by the University of Lethbridge to create an Alberta Institute for Epigenetics.
The Multimedia Gene
Yesterday I joined one of the many webinars put on by the D.C. based Genetic Alliance. This one was was titled Genetics and Media: The Full Portrait, but don't let the title mislead you into thinking it was about mainstream media's treatment of genetic science. In this case the 'media' was really more mixed or multimedia such as dance, photography, and film.
The 3 presenters were Rick Guidotti - Program Director, Positive Exposure, Joanna Rudnick - Director of Development, Kartemquin Films and Elizabeth Johnson - Associate Artistic Director, Dance Exchange’s Teen Exchange.
A lineup such as that begs the question about what the heck any of them have to do with the Genetic Alliance or Genetics and the Media.
Science Policy Needs a Conference Too
Science Funding.
Two words which have gone from 'who cares' to being able to take over the the pages of the Globe and Mail and draw hundreds of comments.
Two words which raise the blood pressure of politicians while draining the life force from researchers to the point where the simplest grant application brings on the night terrors.
Grad students and post doc quake when they cannot get a fix on their future as they peer through the lens of science funding.
However a rather intrepid bunch back in Toronto have decided to tempt fate and address the issue. They're a lively bunch to be sure and at times might need a little reigning in, but they have a heck of an idea. An idea that steps beyond the fractious debate currently being waged in the media and heads down the road to the territory where solutions live. No, it isn't the Twilight Zone but rather the place where you'll find the First Annual Science Policy Conference.
What's in an Acronym? Lots
GE3LS: Genomics, Ethical, Environmental, Economic, Legal and Social
It is a mouthful and at a meeting of representatives from Canada's Genome Centres yesterday, there was some discussion about whether we should scrap the acronym in favour of something a little more user friendly. ELSA for instance is used in Europe and ELSI has more traction in the U.S. We pronounce it simply 'gels' and officially it is always written as GE3LS but having to do that superscript thing can be a bit of a pain and in some online instance almost impossible so it usually appears as GE3LS.
No matter what the acronym you choose however, there are many solid reasons to ensure we hang on to GE3LS and the concepts that are part of GE3LS as we plunge into the sometimes murky waters of the biology of the 21st century.
And the ideas get much more than lip service.
A Flickr of an Idea
When I’m talking to teachers about DNA, I relate the analogy that when Watson and Crick proposed the structure, what they had actually done in the language of today was present a strategy to understand “digital” replication as opposed to the analogue method. Younger teachers know only about digital reproduction of their handouts. There is a digital copy on their computer which gets sent to the printer ….. And then the print on every sheet is as crisp as every other one. Teachers with more experience remember the old hand-cranked-out ditto sheets where by the last sheet coming off the press was almost a total blur. In DNA, some mistakes are made.