Introduction Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification, is the ability to manipulate the genes of an organism to produce a given

protein or obtain organisms that have a given trait. It involves the introduction of foreign DNA or synthetic genes into the organism of interest. An organism that is generated through the introduction of recombinant DNA is considered to be a genetically modified organism. The first organisms genetically engineered were bacteria in 1973 and then mice in 1974. The most common form of genetic engineering involves the insertion of new genetic material at an unspecified location in the host genome. This is accomplished by isolating and copying the genetic material of interest using molecular cloning methods to generate a DNA sequence containing the required genetic elements for expression, and then inserting this construct into the host organism. Other forms of genetic engineering include gene targeting and knocking out specific genes.
Genetic engineering techniques have been applied in numerous fields including research, biotechnology, and medicine. Medicines such as insulin and human growth hormone are now produced in bacteria, experimental mice such as the oncomouse and the knockout mouse are being used for research purposes and insect resistant and/or herbicide tolerant crops have been commercialized. Genetically engineered plants and animals capable of producing biotechnology drugs more cheaply than current methods (called pharming) are also being developed and in 2009 the FDA approved the sale of the pharmaceutical protein antithrombin produced in the milk of genetically engineered goats. The greatest applications of genetics are in medicine. By knowing which gene, which piece of the genetic code is responsible for a given disease, physicians can diagnose diseases. It also allows scientists the opportunity to understand how diseases occur and eventually develop treatments. A large part of modern biomedical research is conducted based on genetics and GE. At least until nanotechnology arrives, GE is the ultimate biotool

Use in medical field

Banana Vaccines Research being done on potatoes show that genes can be put successfully into potato plants that will make vaccines against cholera, diarrhoea and hepatitis B. Scientists hope to be able to genetically engineer bananas to have vaccines in them. The bananas would then be grown in developing countries, where disease such as cholera and diarrhoea are very prevalent. This would be a much cheaper alternative to the wasteful process of a series of shots, throwing away costly syringes after every injection. About 300 million people are carriers of hepatitis B, which can cause liver failure and liver cancer. Diarrhoea is a common cause of death in young children. "The next step is to achieve higher doses of vaccines in plants, ensure that the human immune system recognizes the vaccine and develop vaccine-producing banana trees, which take three years to grow. If all goes well, Yasmin Thanavala (of the Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, New York) says banana vaccines may be ready to peel in five years."

DNA Vaccines In the past 100 years, the most effective and most common type of vaccination involved the injection of proteins. The reason that protein injections are used is now evident: for the body to become immune, the immune system needs certain properties (peptide epitopes) found in proteins, in order to be effectively immunized. A new development in immunization is DNA-mediated immunization, known as DNA vaccines. A DNA vaccine involves the direct injection of plasmid DNA encoding an antigenic protein which is then expressed within cells of the organism, making the organism effectively immune to the disease. The vaccines are injected with needles or through the skin. Although only a small amount of cells are effected, the reaction which is not fully understood somehow effectively immunizes the body. Antibiotics Genetic Engineering will have a great effect on the manufacturing of antibiotics. So far, antibiotics worth $4 billion to $5 billion have been produced. The International Resource Development Corporation has projected a $3 billion annual market by 1990 specifically for drugs produced by genetically engineered organisms. The way that this would work is that we would get a certain desirable chemical from an organism, and then insert the gene that codes for that one chemical into bacteria such as E. Coli. Bacteria reproduce very quickly, so in about 24 hours, scientist would have enough of the chemical to harvest and sell as a drug. Xenotransplantation Xenotransplantation is the process of taking an organ from a certain species and transplanting that organ into another species. Until recently, Alltotransplantion, the process of transplanting organs in the same species has been the only method of transplantation. For the last 25 years, heart valves from pigs have been used in human patients. The number of human donor organs in no way meets the demand. Many of the people waiting for transplants will die without them. The only solution from a scientific standpoint is to genetically alter organs in a species similar to humans and use those organs for transplanting. Pigs are the animal that scientists are focusing on as they are over 99% similar in there DNA makeup. They still are not close enough because if an organ from a pig is put into a human, the would human reject the organ. This means that something has to be done to the pig organ to make it even more similar in its DNA makeup so that the human body will not reject the organ. If this procedure is perfected and scientists do make a pig with nearly identical DNA to a human, it would have the potential to save hundreds of thousands of lives per year.
Pharming: Pharming is a portmanteau of farming and "pharmaceutical" and refers to the use of genetic engineering to insert genes that code for useful pharmaceuticals into host animals or plants that would otherwise not express those genes. As a consequence, the host animals or plants then make the pharmaceutical product in large quantity, which can then be purified and used as a drug product. Some drug products and nutrients may be able to be delivered directly by eating the plant or drinking the milk. Such technology has the potential to produce large quantities of cheap vaccines, or other important pharmaceutical products such as insulin.

The products of pharming are recombinant proteins or their metabolic products. Drugs made from recombinant proteins potentially have greater efficacy and fewer side effects than small organic molecules (which are often screened as potential drugs) because their action can be more precisely targeted toward the cause of a disease rather than treatment of symptoms.

Genetically Engineered Pharmaceuticals

insulin for diabetics factor VIII for males suffering from haemophilia A factor IX for haemophilia B human growth hormone (GH) erythropoietin (EPO) for treating anaemia three types of interferons - fight viral infections several interleukins granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) for stimulating the bone marrow after a bone marrow transplant tissue plasminogen activator (TPA) for dissolving blood clots adenosine deaminase (ADA) for treating some forms of severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) angiostatin and endostatin for trials as anti-cancer drugs parathyroid hormone

Designer baby
The colloquial term "designer baby" refers to a baby whose genetic makeup has been artificially selected by genetic engineering combined with in vitro fertilisation to ensure the presence or absence of particular genes or characteristics.[1] The term is derived by comparison with "designer clothing". It implies the ultimate commodification of children and is therefore usually used pejoratively to signal opposition to such use of reprogenetics.

In 2001, the first genetically altered babies were born. A bit of background is necessary, though. The large majority of genes are in the nucleus of cells, called the nuclear genome, which is inherited from both the mother and father in approximately equal quantities. A tiny fraction of the genome is in mitochondria, small cellular organelles with their own genome. This genome, called the mitochondrial DNA, is inherited only from the mother. In the 2001 case, because the mother's mitochondrial DNA had errors, researchers used the mitochondrial DNA from a donor woman and thus the babies had half of their nuclear genome from their father, half from their mother, and the mitochondrial DNA of another woman. This was the first case of a human germline genetic modification. There are thousands of genetic diseases that are encoded by the nuclear genome 1, such as the Down's syndrome and horrible life-threatening diseases like Tay-Sachs syndrome, cystic fibrosis, and Gaucher's disease. For now, prevention is the only choice. Pregnant women can employ genetic counselling techniques such as amniocentesis, which involves testing fetal cells for genetic diseases. A more complicated option is pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). In this technique an embryo is created by in-vitro fertilization (IVF) and tested for genetic diseases and genomic imbalances that can cause problems to the child. This technique allows for the selection of healthy

babies, but also to create a baby to treat a sick sibling. Similarly, it is possible to select for certain traits, such as eye colour or the sex of babies, though this is forbidden in many countries.

The 47th Chromosome

Upgrading our genome is the future. Of course we need to be cautious as there are still many technical problems to solve. But new techniques are being developed and we can expect major progress in the near future. In our constant and everlasting search for perfection we must change the environment that surrounds us but we must also change ourselves. The 47th chromosome, also called techno-chromosome, is a theoretical concept that proposes adding a new chromosome, or more likely a pair of chromosomes, to our current set of 46 chromosomes. This would allow us to include all the changes we desire without the danger of creating genetic imbalances by changing our current chromosomes. Chromos Molecular Systems engineering an artificial chromosome that can be passed into the progeny of mice, and there are attempts to expand this research into humans as cell-mediated gene therapy and stem cell therapy, so this is not science fiction.

Forecasting the future isn't easy. Nevertheless, below is a brief vision of the future composed by some of the most ambitious ideas for using GE I've come across:
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Many types of improvements may be made to our metabolism. Besides the obvious lifeextension procedures, we might be able to turn ourselves more physically resistant in all sorts of manners. Making our skin and bones harder, making us stronger, improving our stamina, giving us super-intelligence, minimizing pain and overall optimizing our biochemistry. Many times, we have a disease but don't know about it until it's too late. If we can make the body have some sort of reaction when, hypothetically, a few cancer cells are present, that would be a major breakthrough in medicine. The idea is to include certain enzymes that can be activated when genes associated with cancer are activated in cancer cells. They could produce a certain chemical compound that would turn the cells pink or the urine green. This, of course, can be applied to many other diseases. An Israeli scientist, Ehud Shapiro, proposed the inclusion of tiny biological computers in cells to work as microscopic doctors. Advances in DNA computer technology have been amazing and perhaps DNA processing machinery can use DNA as a basic Turing machine that works as a computer. The computer can then be programmed to perform certain functions, namely, detecting, signalling, and treating pathologies. To incorporate in the genome genes that can offer protection during cryopreservation for long space trips. To include viruses, called bacteriophages, which attack bacteria and can then be produced by the immune system to attack pathogenic bacteria whenever necessary. Each bacteriophage would be specific for each bacterial strain or family and could be present in the blood at small concentrations when no infection was present. One ingenious idea is to encrypt the genome. Encrypting the genome is changing the DNA sequence that codes for a certain amino acid, the blocks from which proteins are built based on the information in the genes. The result would be a complete resistance to viruses because viruses use the body's DNA machinery; the viral DNA would code for the wrong amino acids and therefore would be inert. There is actually work being done in synthetic biology by my colleague Farren Isaacs of the Church lab, attempting to do this in bacteria.

References http://jp.senescence.info/thoughts/genetics.html http://www.govhs.org/vhsweb/Gallery.nsf/Files/Genetic+Engineering,+a+group+proj ect/$file/med.html http://www.iptv.org/exploremore/ge/uses/use2_medical.cfm http://www.infoplease.com/cig/biology/dna-technology-applications.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_engineering#Applications http://pablosorigins.blogspot.in/2009/12/applications-of-genetic-engineering.html Glick, Bernard R. & Jack J. Pasternak; "Molecular Biotechnology: Principles and Applications of Recombinant DNA" (1998) Lyon, Jeff, Peter Gorner (Contributor); "Altered Fates: Gene Therapy and the Retooling of Human Life" (1996).