Genetic Engineering In Medicine Essay

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Genetic Engineering in Medicine

By

Jonathan Winn

by Jonathan Winn

Genetic engineering and gene therapy are an essential part in today's medicine. They have led to the discovery of many new treatments for "untreatable" diseases. They have provided cost efficient solutions that require much less procedure and can be permanent rather than temporary. The solutions are also more effective then before and through the use of transgenic plants and animals, can be easily produced. Gene knowledge has sparked interest and continues to supply discoveries of new applications for this research everyday.

The ability to study and manipulate genes is a process that has become extremely helpful in recent years. Genetics is playing an increasingly important role in the diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment of diseases. (www.ornl.gov 2000) Such projects as the Human Genome Project have become areas of interest because the concepts are new and the applications for this research are almost endless. The Human Genome Project is helping to identify and study each individual gene on the human DNA strand. Scientists now have the ability to pinpoint errors in genes, which will eventually allow inherited diseases such as down syndrome to be completely eradicated. A process known as gene therapy can be used upon infants to fix broken or problematic genes. Gene therapy is accomplished by replacing these genes with normal genes, so the baby will develop normally.

New techniques are being developed all the time. A fairly new process involves synthesizing a therapeutic gene and then inserting it into a viral vector. This viral vector can be either cultured along with blood cells of the patient, or inserted directly into the patient. Both these procedures result in the patient's cells being altered to repair the problem gene. Companies such as Chiron, Transgene, Vical, Cell Genesys, and Penn State University are main research facilities in gene therapy and currently are running trials on humans. (Popular Science "Mending Broken Genes") It is crucial to understand the importance of this research. These findings could cause dreams of cures for cancer become realities. Already scientists can accelerate the healing process by introducing a disc containing DNA that promotes wound healing into an area of damaged tissue. This is actually one of the most successful methods of gene therapy because the cells are exposed to the DNA in the disk for an extended period of time. Other than directly entering the gene into human DNA, there are ways of benefiting from gene therapy.

Once these genes have been developed, there are usually ways to easily mass-produce the gene or to make use of it. There are millions of people who benefit from genetic engineering every day. Transgenic animals are one way...

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