Genetics Archives - Keith Shields

The Pace of Scientific Advancement

The pace with which scientific and technological advances are happening is astounding. In 2014/2015, researchers had just begun to grasp the potential of the CRISPR/Cas9 system to edit genomes (see my previous blog here). The technology allows scientists to cut out pieces of DNA and replace the displaced DNA with a novel strand. This can…

Otters, Shells, and Genomes

Science News is asking questions about animal intelligence in an article about otters and tool use in a March 21, 2017 article. The article entitled, “Tool use in sea otters doesn’t run in the family,” suggests that using rocks to crack open snails and other shells to get at the rich food inside, may truly be…

JCVI-syn3.0

At a biological level, what is the minimal number of genes needed to sustain life in an organism? That is a question that is being asked by a group of scientists who have been engineering the genome of the bacteria known as Mycoplasma mycoides. For a few years, the team has been taking genes out and…

CRISPR

CRISPR is a relatively new term that describes new discoveries and new technology in the world of genetics. CRISPR stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats and refers to short repetitions of base pair sequences in bacterial genomes which naturally occur as part of bacterial genetic defence mechanisms against invading viruses. These CRISPR sequences…

Results of Tardigrade Paper Questioned

It only took a few days for the results of a new Tardigrade study to be called into question. No one questions the hardiness of Tardigrades, aka Water Bears; but are they the great scavengers of DNA that the Cambridge Researchers suggested? (See the paper by Eyres, et al.) A paper published by researchers at…

Science is Stranger than Screenplays

With Batman and Superman preparing to do battle in our movie theatres[1], perhaps you have wondered, “What is the most invulnerable creature on our planet?” The armadillo? The Blue Whale? Lions? Elephants? No, there is one creature that is much more durable than all of these. It can survive being boiled and frozen; in fact…

Evolution and Christianity: to Kirk Durston

Today I would like to respond to a blog post written by Kirk Durston. I have never met Dr. Durston but I want to say I appreciate the post he has written even as I will disagree with points made within it. The post does a great service by pointing out many of the doctrines…

Gene Therapy

Molecular biologists have been searching for years to find efficient and effective ways of accomplishing gene therapy. None of the attempts thus far have worked. One of the most promising in recent years is explained in an article published in the journal Science in February of 2013. The researchers suggest that using an RNA guiding…

Loving Truth

In 1999 I worked in a genetics lab in Calgary using the latest molecular DNA techniques to diagnose genetic disorders in the families that came into our clinics and other clinics across the country. Families relied on us and used the information we generated to make decisions about their own health and the health of…