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 welcome to suggest their own topics.

What types of activities do Biologists pursue as careers? 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?
A microbiologist might work in a clinical lab, a food testing lab, a biotechnology lab, a forensics lab (why?).
Why would a field biologist need to understand geospatial systems AND statistics?

Notes

Forensic scientists might use pet hair, insect hatching and pollen types to identify when and where a victim was killed.

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?
Is there just one type of blight?
Why were American Chestnuts unable to adapt to the blights?
There is the breeding approach and the introduction of foreign genes approach - what are the pros and cons of each?

Notes

If all resistant trees are clonal and carry just one effective blight-resistance gene, how robust is the resistance?

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?
What lab practices protect researchers?
What sanitation practices may not effectively protect citiziens?

Notes

If bacteria/viruses in a water run-off or sewage treatment plants can exchange genetic material what types of events could occur?

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? Do they use the same suite of genes?
Systems Biology studies pathways of genes instead of individual genes - a group of genes that act together may give one general phenotype because of changes in any of the genes in the pathway.
What is synthetic biology?

Notes

Some groups (Venter and Church in particular) have been working to create codons for amino acids not found in nature, and genomes not created by adding or deleting small amounts of existing genomes.

Markers are genetic 'sign posts' that tell you that you are close to something of interest. 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?
WHat markers might you use to make sure an individual tree came from the parents you expect?

Notes

There are a lot of types of markers, from Single Nucleotide POlymorphisms (SNPs) to microsatellites (usats) to AFLPs (amplified fragment length polymorphisms). SOme are only a sequence difference while others combine a sequence and length difference, which allows you to assay them in several ways.

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.

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
Does a patient 'own' her genes? Can she sign them away when they are shared with family members? Should she share in monetary or medical breakthroughs that result from her participation in a study?
How much accurate prediction of the future should we expect of biomedical researchers?

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 that remove blood stains, oil stains, etc- where did they orignate?
The enzyme used to make cheese was cloned - some vegetarians will only eat cheese made with the cloned version (find out where the original comes from).
How much of a protein like an enzyme can be made in an indsutrial bioreactor(the large vessel in which recombinant bacteria are grown)?

Notes

Fermentation science is an indsutrial engineering job that requires a lot of knowledge of microbiology.

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
There is a relatively new technology called CRISPR-Cas that allows researchers to change several genes at once in a highly controlled way, allowing a pathway to be changed together - why might you need to do this?
When do you think the introduction of a new protein in an organisms output might present a danger to consumers?

Notes

Many foods that are allergenic have surfaceproteins that are decorated with sugar molecules - if you recombinant protein enhaced that modification activity you would likely want to test it.

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.