2. Brief History Of Genetics

• Diagram A

3. Current Applications Of Genetic Engineering

• Plants
• Livestock
• Human Genome Project and Disease Control

4. Cloning Techniques A - Cells

• Definition of Main Terms
• Plasmid Cloning and the Polymerase Chain Reaction
• Diagram A
• Diagram B
• Java Diagram and sound

5. Cloning Techniques B - Animals

• Gurdon’s Trials with Tadpoles
• Cycling Cells
• Roslin’s ReCreation: Connecting the Cell Cycle to Cloning
• Dolly’s Development
• Diagram A
• Diagram B
• Diagram A - With Sound
• Diagram B - With Sound

The use of genetic engineering in humans promises some extraordinary benefits, one of which is cure and prevention of many types of diseases that stem from faulty genes.  Fourteen percent of all newborns are born with a physical or mental problem.  Genetic deficiencies also can cause other problems  later in life. Examples are diseases such as Down's Syndrome, Cystic Fibrosis, and Sickle Cell Anemia.  Scientists expect that if they can diagnose the problem by detecting deficient genes, they can effectively treat it. 

With this goal of treating genetic disorders, research to uncover the entire human genome - a  genetic encyclopedia of a species - has begun in earnest.  Funded by the United States government, a group calling itself "The Human Genome Project" has begun in earnest to map the entire human gene pool.  Already strides have been made in treating cystic fibrosis, as well as new approaches in treating  cancer and predicting disease.  These treatments are often referred to as gene therapy.  There are several  broad categories of gene therapy.  Somatic cell gene therapy introduces genes into somatic cells in order to correct a defect.  Somatic cells are the normal bodily cells of a human such as the cells of the heart and lungs. 

However, even if this type of therapy works within an individual, it will not stop the genetic characteristics of that disease or malfunction from being carried on to the next generation.  Another type of gene therapy, germ-line therapy, seeks to correct problems in the reproductive cells so that even though the trait will still affect the carrier, it will not be passed on to the next generation.  In enhancement genetic engineering, a specific characteristic is improved or enhanced by inserting a new gene.  In eugenic genetic engineering, traits are improved that affect the interaction of genes with the environment. 

The process of gene therapy can be carried out in several ways.  Scientists can program bacteria, fungi, or mammalian cells to produce missing hormones.  Such is the case with insulin.  White cells can also be grown to fight infection.  Vaccines can be produced, human cells can be reprogrammed, and certain genes can be inserted into the embryo. 

Medically, genetic engineering has the potential to improve the lives of humans who are suffering from genetic disorders.   However some claim that eliminating bad genes in a population will only narrow the diversity of the wider human gene pool.  This evolutionary argument claims that the elimination of bad genes is a slippery slope towards our own extiction.  In this view bad genes are believed to be a key part of the long term heath of the overall human population; by ridding ourselves of these bad genes the resulting short term gain will be eclipsed by problems of a greater magnitude.