Dr. Jennifer W Weller @ UNC Charlotte

There are many ethical, social, and legal implications (ELSI) that arise when commercializing the results of biological research. The following are some open discussion questions that we will consider over the three weeks of the course. Students are asked to read the question and be prepared to defend an informed opinion during class discussion.

What types of activities to Biologist pursue? What is Biotechnology? What is Bioinformatics? What sorts of skills do people who use these labels have?

Think broadly: Why might an animal control officer need to understand biology?

Notes

How did the Chestnut Blight affect North Carolina? What industries were the most affected? What other major crop disasters can you find information about?

What causes the Chestnut blight?

Notes

What was the first experiment that showed that genetic material is in DNA and not protein? Was it dangerous? Some gene therapies now use viruses as the way to carry new genes to diseased cells. What types of safety measures are used?

What type of DNA transfer experiment might be dangerous?

Notes

A phenotype is how things look. Some cells/organisms look different because they have completely different genes, and some look different because they turn on a different subset of the same genes. Think of some experiments you could do to gell the difference

Do roots and leaves from one plant have the same genes?

Notes

Markers are sign posts that tell you that you are close to something. There are markers for telling organisms apart, and markers for telling cells within those organisms apart. Give some examples of each. Find an example of a disease marker and explain why it is important

What markers can you think of to tell red blood cells and white blood cells apart?
What markers let you tell the difference between helathy and sickle-cell red blood cells?

Notes

A recent book about Henrietta Lacks makes it clear that her cells were used without the consent of herself or her family. Genes identified with her DNA were patented and products worth a great deal of money and prestige resulted. Find a discussion site where the pros and cons of patenting human genes are discussed. Be prepared to defend a position in this debate.

The company 23&Me recently caused a controversy by patenting gene variants they discovered in the DNA of their customers - find out how each side states its position

Notes

The original products of biotechnology were mostly the enzymes required to do research, and then to modifying them slightly (bio-engineering them) to have better lab properties. From there biotechnology moved to transforming organisms to produce products useful to humans. Find an example of a bioengineered protein and a bioengineered organism to discuss.

Some detergents contain enzymes - where did they orignate?

Notes

Some bio-engineered food organisms are referred to as 'Frankenfoods' by citizens concerned that the process results in 'unnatural' characteristics. Many breeders contend that humans have been forcing selection for traits they prefer for thousands of years. What are the main differences in the way the two processes are carried out? Do you think targeting specific changes is more, less or similarly dangerous in terms of food or environmental safety? Give an example of an unintended consequence to such engineering.

Look at the effects of changing one gene (such as in FLAVR-SAVER tomatoes), using marker-assisted selection to get different color/size tomato fruit, and breeding for disease resistance

Notes

Final assessment - do you now have a better understanding of what biologists do in terms of skills, general knowledge and what sorts of work a biologist is qualified to carry out? Of the various topics we have discussed or types of jobs we considered, tell us which ones inspired you to make biological sciences a stronger focus.

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