Scientists And Genetic Engineers example essay topic

INTRODUCTION I chose to do my report on cloning, or genetic engineering. Cloning is the technique of producing a genetically identical duplicate of an organism by replacing the nucleus of an unfertilized ovum with the nucleus of a body cell from the organism. Some people agree with this type of reproduction, where others do not agree with it and wish that it could be banned. Genetic engineering was first originated in the late 1960's and early 1970's. But the first experiments were not performed until the early 1990's when scientists began to experiment with the smallest human chromosomes, the Y chromosome and chromosome 21.

They were broken down into different smaller parts so that the scientists could reproduce the parts in large quantities. Genetic reconstruction is being used to test and see if a baby is going to develop a hereditary disease that a parent might have passed on to the child. If it shows that the child is going to have this disease, reconstruction enzymes are used to cut apart the DNA of the parents, and the DNA pattern of cells from the fetus is compared. In many situations, the status of the fetus can be determined.

As of right now, this process is applicable to thalassemia's, Huntington's disease, cystic fibrosis, and Duchenne's muscular dystrophy. Another good discovery of genetic engineering was the discovery of oncogenes. Oncogenes are genes that play a specific role in causing some cancers. These genes could not have been discovered any other way than genetic engineering. In the future, scientists hope to be able to go in a cut out the oncogenes to try and prevent some cancers. Genetic engineering is being used many different ways to help better our lives.

In my paper, I will describe the many different ways genetic engineering and cloning is being used today. DISCUSSION Recent advances in science have led to two astounding technologies. The first of these two is cloning, the process if making an exact copy of a living organism. The second is genetic engineering, which allows scientists to make living things healthier than before.

Farmers can grow bigger, juicier vegetables, and doctors can predict whether a baby will have a disease even before it is born. These ideas are brand new thoughts. They used to be just a fantasy, even just 20 years ago these ideas were just beginning to be thought of, but were not a reality. Most scientists back then never dreamed that this technology would ever be a reality like it is now.

Genetic engineering is the more helpful of these two technologies, because it can be used to prevent babies from being born with diseases and other birth defects. Cloning is still a very controversial subject though, a lot of people do not agree with the idea of making exact copies of organisms. To understand how these two technologies work, one must understand what the body is made of. All living things are made of cells, some organisms only need one cell and some need many. The human body is composed of trillions of cells. Over the years, scientists have studied the human cells very closely hoping to find out as much as they can.

Now they have learned how to alter the cells. DNA sends messages to the cells about what to do. Cells are alive, they eat, get rid of wastes and reproduce, and DNA controls these things. When the DNA gets the message to reproduce from DNA, it splits in half and the new half gets every aspect of the old cell including the DNA.

And then each half keeps reproducing over and over again until there are millions of cells. After a cell group forms, the DNA gets more and more specific. Then, certain cells are assigned more specific jobs, cells become blood, brain or skin cells. Once every "role" has been filled a complete organism, such as a human, can be formed. DNA also plays a role in when you look like.

Under a microscope, each strand looks like a twisted up ladder. The DNA is made up of many different genes, and the genes are what make us look how we do. They determine whether we have blue, green or brown eyes, or brown, black, or blonde hair also. The also determine our different characteristics and other traits. The genes we are born with are passed to us from our biological parents; this is why you look like your parents. This process is called heredity.

DNA and genes are found in structures called chromosomes. Each human cell contains 46 chromosomes. And in time, scientists hope to learn the roles that each of our 40,000 genes perform. By changing a cell's genes, scientists can urge the cell to grow in ways that it normally would not grow.

By making cells grow differently, scientists can give an organism totally different traits or they can even create a whole new organism all together. Scientists who work with genes are called genetic engineers. Genetic engineers find an organism that has traits that are desirable, they then find the genes that caused these traits and combine the genes with another organism. The second organism will develop the desired traits of the first. That way you have a new organism that is engineered to have the perfect traits. Genetic engineering is also called Recombinant DNA Technology.

This technology allows scientists to reshuffle or recombine DNA from one organism with the DNA of another. To do this, they use needles called micro syringes. Micro syringes implant substances into very very small things. Scientists implant the DNA fragments of a desired trait into a cell to improve the organism. An example of this would be making tomatoes that taste better and stay fresh longer, or apples that are big and taste good as well. Cloning is when scientists produce an exact copy of another organism, and the clone will possess the exact same genes as the original did.

Right now, scientists are mainly focusing on cloning the organisms that will help us learn more about our world and how to solve many of it's problems. It is not being used to just clone people just so that there will be a million twins of one person walking around, that would create a major controversy. To clone something, scientists take a cell and destroy its DNA, and then insert new DNA into the cell using a micro syringe. The cell will now follow instructions from the new DNA, creating an exact copy, or clone, of the original organism. So, when scientists want to clone an organism, the remove the cells old DNA and replace it with new DNA which is what they new cell will listen to. As the cell follows the new instructions from the new DNA, it transforms into an exact copy of the original.

Now that the process of cloning and genetic engineering has been explained, I will explain how scientists actually discovered these new technologies. And, what discoveries were made years ago that led to the breakthrough of cloning and genetic engineering we are witnessing now. Cells were first seen under a microscope in 1665 when English scientist Robert Hook was examining a piece of cork in his microscope. He saw tiny holes that appeared to be surrounded by walls, and he gave them the name cell.

He named them this because they reminded him of the monk's cells that they lived in. Even though cells were discovered in 1665, scientists didn't realize the importance of them until 1838 when German botanist Matthias Sch leiden said that he believed cells were the basic unit of life. And, in 1839, Theodor Schwann proved that all living things were made of cells. From that point on, scientists focused their attention on the cell. Inventors began constructing more powerful microscopes so the scientists could get a better vies of the cells. The better the microscopes got, the more discoveries were made, they discovered that cells divide (reproduction), and the also saw the nucleus and other smaller parts of the cells.

In the 1800's a monk named Gregor Mendel experimented with plants, he grew and studied thousands of pea plants. From his experiments, he learned that each plant's traits were passed down from parent to off spring. Mendel published his work in 1866, but no one paid any attention to his work until the following century. He is now considered a pioneer of genetics. In 1910, American scientist Thomas Hunt Morgan discovered that genes are arranged in a special order. He made the argument that genes were what was responsible for heredity.

In the 1950's, the science of cloning began to take shape, scientists made clones of tadpoles, but nothing as advanced or big as what can take place today. The did try to make copies of more complex animals such as cows, but were unsuccessful. The technology was not advanced enough to clone such complex genes at that time. Starting in the 1970's advances in lasers and computers really helped scientists.

New microscopes kept providing a clearer focus into cells and opened up a whole new world of study. For the first time, genes and DNA could be observed up close and in great detail. It was then that scientists began to find ways to inject genes into many living things. Scientists made plants and animals with new and better characteristics such as a tomato plant that bugs would not eat, or they even injected human genes into mice which made the mice grow to double their normal size.

Scientists need to have a lot of genes available in order to study the science of cloning. Many genes get destroyed in the failed experiments. In 1983 genetic engineers discovered how to make clones. Being able to clone genes meant that the scientists would have a limitless supply of genes to work with.

The could simply clone some more genes when they began to run low instead of looking for new organisms that they could use their genes. Animals such as pigs, cattle, and rabbits were cloned in the 1990's. These animals were cloned when they were still very young because it is a lot easier to clone young animals than it is to clone adults. The DNA in young animals is a lot purer than that of adult animals because the animal has not lived long enough to have been influenced by its environmental surroundings. Scientists know this because attempts to clone older animals kept failing. Until 1996, no adult animal had been cloned.

But, in 1996, British scientist Ian Wilmut made a clone from the genes of an adult sheep, and he named the clone Dolly. Dolly was born a baby lamb even though she had been cloned from the genes of a female sheep. But, she grew naturally as a female sheep. Dolly is very famous because she proved that basically any living thing could be cloned, no matter how big or small, or how old it was. It took Doctor Wilmut 277 sheep before he got the experiment right. The 277 that he used either died or did not grow properly.

This is part of the reason cloning can be so controversial, because the animals that are used to experiment with usually die or become deformed, and this is not something that animal lovers like. Nearly every move that Dolly makes is recorded and filmed. In 1998 she gave birth to a healthy lamb of her own. The lamb developed DNA on it's own, not the same as the cloned DNA of it's mother. And the most surprising thing was that the genes that Dolly passed to her baby did not cause any problems. Scientists are using their discoveries in creative, brilliant ways.

The are trying to make our food, health and bodies better than ever, and thanks to the new technology, all of these things are possible, not just dreams anymore. Some genes can get damaged when they don't copy or develop correctly. Others can be damaged by us not taking care of our bodies, doing things such as: using drugs, smoking, abusing alcohol, and getting too much sun. Over 3,000 diseases have been tracked to either heredity or damaged genes; these diseases include forms of cancer and heart disease.

If damaged genes could be replaced by those from a healthy donor, many terrible diseases might be avoided before they even fully develop in the future. Scientists have already found over 500 genes that can be used in medicines. An example of one of these medicines is insulin for diabetics. The insulin is injected into a person with diabetes at least once a day, and it tells the bacteria to make insulin once it is injected into the body in order for the body to store and use glucose (blood sugar).

If glucose builds in the person's bloodstream, it can reach dangerous levels and really be harmful to this person. Another method of trying to improve the human body is by using gene therapy, a branch of genetic engineering. In gene therapy, missing or damaged genes are replaced with new ones, these new genes instruct the cells to make necessary repairs. Some kinds of immune diseases have been treated using gene therapy.

When a person has immune diseases, they cannot fight of diseases very well so they usually get a lot sicker than normal people and they stay sick for a longer period of time. To these kinds of people, common sicknesses such as the flu can put them in the hospital. So, they are very thankful for these types of treatments that can help make their immune system get stronger. Scientists are also trying to alter the genes of dangerous or damaged cells. In the future, they hope to be able to prevent most diseases, such as cancer and heart disease before they even develop. Or, at lease weaken the cell so that they can be treated a lot easier and less painful than they are treated now.

Scientists have also created gene tests, which are mainly used on unborn babies. The tests show if a baby will suffer from a heredity disease so that the doctors can begin treating the disease as soon as the baby is born. But, these tests can also be performed on children, teens, and adults. Genes can be taken from your blood, hair roots, and cells in your mouth to be tested and monitored to see if you are at risk for certain heredity diseases.

Scientists can also make a wide variety of genetically engineered plants. These plants have been used to make healthier, better tasting foods, and they have also provided new medicines to heal the sick. Scientists can engineer as little as one plant, or as much as a whole crop of plants. The crops that have been engineered include cotton, corn, soybeans, and squash. The vegetables that are genetically engineered can resist disease and damage from insects and pesticides.

The "latest and greatest" experiment that scientists are working on right now is a plant that can grow plastics. Four genes from a special plastic-producing bacteria were inserted into selected plants. These plants soon yield a "crop" of plastic. The greatest thing about these plants is that, unlike plastics now, they are biodegradable plastics, which means they will not harm the environment. This is just one small example of the extraordinary things that scientists and genetic engineers can do to help better our lives.

Even though cloning and genetic engineering can do so many helpful things, there are many people who are against it. These people include government leaders, religious leaders, members of the public and even some scientists. Some believe it is too much like "playing God" and that cloning should not even be a natural way to create human beings. Others believe, and fear, that human clones could maybe be used in the wrong way, such as making them slaves or soldiers. Some people also are scared that when cloning becomes more accessible to normal people, people are going to begin to create designer babies and smaller versions of the rich and famous. Which is another way that cloning will be used wrongly; at first by people with way too much money to spend, and eventually by just normal every day people.

At this pointing time, cloning is still very hard to do, before Dolly, 277 sheep died before she was successful. If humans were to begin being cloned, they would have to pay a huge price to even begin to be experimented on: their life. Scientists can never be certain if an experiments is going to turn out alright or not, so if the issue of human cloning ever comes about, many lives may be lost until someone is successful, just as it was in the case of Dolly. The people against cloning also believe that cloning may change humans in a way that could be harmful, or that the scientist could accidentally mess up and create an organism that may actually ham us. These very different beliefs between the people for cloning, and the people against cloning have caused a lot of debate. There are websites and books dedicated to these two issues.

But, there are still those people who are for cloning. The strongest argument for cloning and genetic engineering is that it can repair what we have done. Genetic engineering can fix the things that we have done to harm our bodies and develop diseases. I personally do not agree that this should be the strongest argument for this subject. If a person is willing enough to drink, smoke or do drugs and harm their body, then they should have to like with the consequences of their actions and not rely on genetic engineering to fix their bodies when they start to develop cancer. The other side to this though, is that polluted air, water and the ozone layer can also cause a great deal of harm to our bodies, which, in most cases can be repaired by genetic engineering.

Also, genetic engineering can help fix what we have done to wildlife. Many animals may soon become extinct, but by cloning them, we could prevent them from just vanishing off the earth. Although it is beginning to look like a possibility, a human clone has not yet been made. Identical twins are the closest thing to clones that we can see right now. Natural identical twins will be much more alike than cloned twins might be.

This is because natural twins are grown and nourished inside the same mother, and cloned twins may not be. Since cloned twins may be inside different mothers, the different diets, sleep schedules, and exercise routines may slightly alter the clones physical traits, even though the genetic make up of the twins will be identical as it is with natural twins. Even though cloned babies will look alike, one thing that cannot be cloned is personality. This makes sense because even in natural twins, they do not usually have all of the same characteristics; in fact, they are usually opposites in personality. The next closest thing to cloning babies is in-vitro fertilization, also known as test tube babies.

This is usually only used when one of the parents is infertile, or when some parents have genetic problems that they do not want to pass on their children. How this works is a woman will begin taking hormones a few weeks before she is scheduled to go for her procedure to make sure the eggs develop properly. She then goes to the doctor where he removes all of the eggs from the woman and keeps them in his laboratory. He will add the sperm into the mixture and watch it for about 2 days, then the woman comes back and had the eggs and the sperm put into her uterus. The chances of becoming pregnant this way are about 4-6 (out of 10), and it is very expensive so most couples can only afford to do it once and hope for the best. CONCLUSION I am still kind of divided on this subject.

I do not agree with some aspects of cloning and genetic engineering, such as having exact clones made of stars, or having "designer babies" made, and also engineering genes to prevent a cancer that you cause yourself by smoking, drinking or doing drugs. But I do agree that cloning and genetic engineering can help make our lives a lot easier. It also can offer some hope to parents who wish to have children but are infertile, even though the option of adoption is always there. But, it can help with people who were born with cancers, or prevent babies from being born with terrible diseases, which are all good things. RECOMENDATIONS Surely, there are many improvements that need to be made to this science, genetic engineering has been around only about 50 years, and cloning is just recently being thought of in the past 20 or 30 years. I do believe that scientists are working hard to develop these technologies further so that one day they will really help us out and make life a whole lot easier.