• Question: Do you think that genes are the next step in technology?

    Asked by elliotsomerfield to Adam, Joanna, Louise S, Louise W, Marcus on 16 Nov 2012.
    • Photo: Joanna Giles

      Joanna Giles answered on 16 Nov 2012:

      In the year 2000 the genetic code for the first human was published – this was called the human genome project. This was a major event in gene technology. It meant that it allowed for scientists to really be able to identify differences between individuals and find out what genes are “causing” diseases.

      Working with genes is really cutting edge stuff and every day new genes are being “blamed” for causing disease. Right now my project looks at some genes that have been shown to be involved in Rheumatoid Arthritis and the future now is trying to understand what the genes do and how we can try to control them to prevent disease.

      So I agree with you and I definitely think working with genes is a major and important step for the future and trying to understand how they work and can go wrong is exciting and important to science 🙂

    • Photo: Louise Stanley

      Louise Stanley answered on 16 Nov 2012:

      I do! By moving genes from one organism we can alter them to do things that they couldn’t do before. We already have bacteria that can detect and destroy explosives, plants that can remove toxic heavy metals from soil and mice that change colour when they catch infections. We are starting to modify viruses to attack cancer cells and we are developing viruses to deliver healthy genes to people with genetic diseases such as cystic fibrosis. Plants that have had genes put in to them that make them resistant to pests are already being grown, some people are making plants that produce human antibodies for medical use and plants that produce medicines are being grown so you could take your medicine by eating a carrot in the future! Who knows what we will be able to do in the future, I think this is one of the most exciting times to be a biologist!

    • Photo: Louise Walkin

      Louise Walkin answered on 18 Nov 2012:

      Yes I do! So much evidence is merging suggesting that our genes play a role in so many diseases and how likely we are to get them. Genes have been shown to be involved in cancer, respiratory diseases and kidney diseases. There are lots of genetic defects that are seen at birth and many that are seen only later in life. Another big emerging field is “epigenetics” which is basically the study of changes in the expression of genes and the development of diseases which isn’t caused by changes in the DNA itself (A,C,T,G). The DNA stays the same but something else changes what genes we express! Ths is actually really interesting and is something many genetic scientists will be studying over the coming years.

    • Photo: Adam Paige

      Adam Paige answered on 19 Nov 2012:

      The head of department where I did my PhD was Prof Bob Williamson who had the first UK licence to try gene therapy for cystic fibrosis. The idea of gene therapy is to put a healthy gene into cells where the gene has been damaged, and therefore restore the cell to normal healthy function. Although gene therapy is successfully used for a small number of illnesses, it has not worked well yet for many other diseases. Those early Cystic Fibrosis trials were not as successful as they hoped, largely because our technology (getting the healthy gene into the correct damaged cells) doesn’t work too well yet. Once that technology problem is solved then gene therapy is going to be a major treatment for many diseases (eg cancer).

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