ShmoopTube

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We speak student!

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Molecular Genetics

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Applying Biotech in the Real World

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A la Shmoop

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[ clears throat ] All right, we're with Dr. Ruth Tennen

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talking about biology and we're now gonna cover

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applying biotech to the real world.

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It's kind of what we've been talking about.

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We're gonna take this to the next level.

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So, Ruth, how are advances in molecular genetics

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applied to medicine?

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Walk us through, you know, molecular cloning

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and gene therapy and some of the state of the art tools

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that we apply these days.

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Yeah, absolutely. So, one thing that we kind of got into

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a little bit with the idea of making medicines

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in bacteria - that's something that requires

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recombinant DNA technology.

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- Mm-hmm. - So making insulin for diabetes.

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There's also -- Artemesinin is a drug that's important

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for getting rid of malaria.

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So that's something that's now being made in yeast.

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So how does that work?

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Is it like a blood thing?

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Would it be injected into people so they're resistant

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to a malaria...?

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So, that's a good question.

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I think, right now, it's used as a drug after you have it,

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have gotten the disease.

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But the idea is basically you take the components

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that normally would make artemisinin in plants.

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That's where it's normally derived from.

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And you'd put all those genetic components into yeast cells

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and then they would churn out the drug for you.

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And then you could just purify the drug

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- and give it to people who had malaria. - Hmm.

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Wow, that's awesome.

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What are some of the other things?

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- Gene therapy, diagnosing diseases, vaccines. - Yep.

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Can you walk us through a couple of examples

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that, you know, are striking your head.

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That sort of illustrate how these really, you know, work

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- when they work well. - Sure, absolutely.

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So, in the gene therapy arena...

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So, one thing that people are working on.

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People who have hemophilia often have problems.

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They have mutations in their clotting factor.

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Explain what hemophilia is.

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Hemophilia is a blood disorder where your blood can't clot.

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So you're at risk of bleeding and bruising and things like that.

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- So, one little cut and you can bleed to death - Exactly.

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- because you don't -- Okay. - Yep.

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So, let's say normally, you have 100% of a clotting factor.

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You really only need about 10% and you can function just fine.

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And so the idea that you could deliver

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using gene therapy. So you put the clotting factor gene

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into a plasmid, or into a virus.

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And you deliver that to people

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and then they'd be able to produce the clotting factor

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that they were missing and not have hemophilia anymore.

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In terms of disease diagnosis...

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So, genetic diseases -- So we know, for example,

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that people who have mutations

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in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes

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are at increased risk of breast cancer.

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So if you were able to sequence someone's DNA

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using these new technologies and say,

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"You have that mutation. There's certain preventive

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things that you can do to prevent yourself

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from getting breast cancer."

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Let's say you had a bacterial infection

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and you wanted to know which antibiotic to take,

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you could sequence the DNA of those bacteria

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and you could say, "Oh, this is the right antibiotic for me."

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Rather than getting a broad spectrum one.

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Wow, cool. And we've talked a bit about

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genetically modified plants and agriculture

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resistant to pesticides and so on.

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How should we think about biotechnology

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as applied to agriculture?

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I think the major concerns about, sort of, GM crops

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are these ecosystem damage things.

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So you could imagine that, yeah,

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you make a plant that's resistant to pesticides.

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But then you keep applying more and more pesticides.

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You get these super-weeds that can then spread.

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So I think people are trying to be as careful as possible

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and kind of cordon off the areas

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of the GM crops compared to the regular crops.

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But it's definitely something to monitor

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and you probably wouldn't see the effects until

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- later on. - For a while. Yeah. Okay. Fair enough.

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Okay, that was applying biotech in the real world

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with Dr. Ruth.

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[ whoop ]

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How are advances in molecular genetics applied to medicine?

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What are other examples of advances in biotech?

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Like gene therapy, diagnosing diseases, vaccines.

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All that fun stuff.

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How should we think about biotechnology

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as applied to agriculture?

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[ high-pitched group yelling ]

Full Transcript