EXTRA CREDIT- Bioethics

Synthetic Rhino Horns

     Can a 3D printed rhino horn stop poachers and save the lives of rhinos? This company, Pembient, is planning to used DNA technology and economics to save rhinos. Since poachers are killing rhinos for their horns, the animals are on the verge of becoming extinct. In the article, Biotech Firm 3D Prints Fake Rhino Horn That's Genetically Identical To The Real Thing, they state "... Pembient argue this is the best bet for the survival of the rhinoceroses in the wild". The last white rhino male is on permanent guard and had part of its horn removed to become less of a target to poachers. Pembient has the idea of taking keratin, the same protein that humans have in hair and nails, with rhino horn DNA and 3D print to make a horn, thus selling them at half the price which will then put poachers out of business (Independent). One problem facing this idea is that poachers realize that they are fake and may move on to other endangered animals which will create more issues later on. The CEO of Pembient created a survey for people that use rhino horns and this is what they found out: "'We surveyed users of rhino horn and found that 45% of them would accept using rhino horn made from a lab, in comparison, only 15% said they would use water buffalo horn, the official substitute for rhino horn'"(PRNewswire). The reward is worth the risk in saving lives of rhinos, there may be hope for these endangered animals and they won't have to suffer any longer than they do right now. Pembient has a very clever idea in stopping poachers, but will it work?




Bibliography:

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/synthetic-rhino-horns-are-being-3d-printed-in-an-effort-to-defeat-poachers-10334751.html

file:///Users/alwhitman/Downloads/Biotech%20Firm%203D%20Prints%20Fake%20Rhino%20Horn%20That's%20Genetically%20Identical%20To%20The%20Real%20Thing%20-%20IFLScience.pdf

https://www.savetherhino.org/rhino_info/thorny_issues/synthetic_rhino_horn_will_it_save_the_rhino

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pembient-purveyor-of-bioengineered-rhino-horn-is-admitted-to-indiebio-accelerator-300026480.html



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Unit 6 Reflection

In this unit, my classmates and I learned about biotechnology, bioethics, and technologies used in biotechnology. Biotechnology is the study and manipulation of living things in order to benefit mankind. In short terms, it is a field that focuses on the comprehension DNA and other things. Bioethics plays a major role in the unit because it is the study of making decisions throughout morals and values the will be used in biology or in technology. Adding on, technology was used in labs that we completed in class. For the gel elctrophoresis lab we used the electrophoresis system to make dye references and dyes that we extracted from candy move across the gel to determine if the candy dye is made up of a certain dye. From this lab I learned a lot more about the technology and the function behind the system and the gel. This link is to the summary in which I created from the lab : http://alyssaleighbio.blogspot.com/2016/01/candy-electrophoresis-lab-questions.html. In the whole unit, my strengths include learning about the recombinant DNA and the technology behind it. Though, my weakness are the diagnostics of biotechnology, I am struggling a little bit with that and also remembering the different technologies that are used in biology. I am reviewing and doing better with my struggles than before, I am proud to say I learned something new. I have no unanswered questions at this point because I study the material in the afternoon and focus on what is ahead of me. I do wonder about the future a lot because there will be so many new things. Looking back at my new year's goals, I am doing my homework every night and keeping up with my schedule and turning things in on time. I am also pushing my phone away when I get home so I will not get distracted when I study or do homework. This concludes my unit 6 reflection.

pGLO Lab Conclusion

pGLO Observations , Data Recording & Analysis

1.

Obtain your team plates.  Observe your set of  “+pGLO” plates under room light and with UV light.  Record numbers of colonies and color of colonies. Fill in the table below. Plate Number of Colonies Color of colonies under room light Color of colonies under   UV light - pGLO LB 0 carpet clear-ish tan light tan - pGLO LB/amp 0 carpet clear clear tan + pGLO LB/amp 75 musky tan color tan color + pGLO LB/amp/ara 250 musky tan color green

2.	What two new traits do your transformed bacteria have? Ampiciline resistance, and the ability to glow
3.	Estimate how many bacteria were in the 100 uL of bacteria that you spread on each plate. Explain your logic. About a thousand bacteria we in the 100 uL that I spread because we equally distributed 25 uL in all 4 dishes and then multiplying it by 10 (amounts of bacteria). 1000.
4.	What is the role of arabinose in the plates? The sugar that makes stuff glow.
5.	List and briefly explain three current uses for GFP (green fluorescent protein) in research or applied science. It can be used to observe host-parasite interactions so scientists can study different pathogens , also can create an image for pathogenic bacteria in which it gives a measurement of bacterial association. It is also an indicator.
6.	Give an example of another application of genetic engineering. Genetic Engineering has many applications including the production of human growth, insulin, vaccines and other types of drugs as well. To discover certain gene functions is the research for organisms that are genetically engineered.

Candy Electrophoresis Lab Questions

1. Some of our dyes did not match the reference dyes including the yellow and blue dye. Though, the red and green dye somewhat matched the reference dyes. None of them ran in the opposite direction to the cathode, but some of the tested dyes were different sizes of the reference dyes. The red dye may be Betanin while the green dye may be Fast green FCF.

2. The two most similar colors of the tested dyes to the reference dyes were Betanin and Fast green FCF. They were similar because they were made of the same elements.

3. Dog manufactures may put dye in the dog food to make the illusion that there are different ingredients for each piece of food making it seem that the dog is eating more than one type of food(meat, veggies, corn, etc).

5. Two factors that control the distance the colored dye migrate include the length of the dye and the color.

6. Electricity (positive and negative), aka electrophoresis system, helps move the dyes through the gel.

7. The positive component (electricity) of the electrophoresis systems makes the dye run through the gel in the longer direction to that positive in which the negative will be on the opposites side of the box.

8. The smaller weights of DNA will move faster than bigger weights and that will separate them into specific groups automatically.

Recombinant DNA Lab

      In this lab, we chose one antibiotic that our plasmid would provide resistance to. Out of tetracycline, kanamycin, and ampicillin, my partner and I chose kanamycin. We randomly chose the antibiotic not knowing what to expect when testing with the recombinant DNA procedure. Restriction enzymes are bacterial enzymes which are the major tools of recombinant DNA technology. My partner and I chose the restriction enzyme called Eco RI. We chose this restriction enzyme because we thought it would be closer to the insulin gene in which we were correct. If I used an enzyme that cut the plasmid in two places, the ring would not be complete in which it is not necessary when you cut the human DNA. This process is important in our everyday life because insulin is the hormone produced that is used to digest sugars. I believe this process can be used to produce phage plaques which contain recombinants. This concludes the summary of the Recombinant DNA lab.

Goals for Semester 2

1. I will succeed in doing my homework every night before the assignment is due the next day. I will keep a schedule of when to do each assignment for every class and I will do the task when it is assigned.
     
2. I will prevent any distractions when studying for a test at home or with a friend by pushing myself away from any electronic distraction. I will put my phone in a different room so it won't distract me when I am in studying hours.