Category Archives: Genetic Engineering

Heres the headline:

80% Of Americans Support Mandatory Labels On Foods Containing DNA. DNA!

Hahaha! Americans are so dumb etc etc. As Robbie Gonzalez writes, Not GMOs. DNA, the genetic material contained in every living thing known to science and practically every food . . . The results smack of satire, but theyre real. . . . The results indicate that most Americans do not understand the difference between DNA and a genetically modified food. . . . The survey results are also symptomatic of chemophobia, an irrational fear of chemicals . . .

I dont buy it. I agree with Thomas Lumley, who writes:

Theres no way this is a sensible question about government policies: it isnt a reasonable policy or one that has been under public debate. Most foods will contain DNA, the exceptions being distilled spirits, some candy, and (if you dont measure too carefully) white rice and white flour. Nevertheless, 80% of people were in favour.

There was also a question Do you support mandatory labeling for foods produced with genetic engineering. This got 82% support.

It seems most likely that many respondents interpreted these questions as basically the same: they wanted labelling for food containing DNA that was added or modified by genetic engineering.

As Lumley puts it:

If you ask a question that is nuts when interpreted precisely, but is basically similar to a sensible question, people are going to answer the question they think you meant to ask. People are helpful that way, even when it isnt helpful.

As the philosopher H. P. Grice noted many years ago, people try to give informative answers. And this leads to problems when you try to directly interpret the responses to trick survey questions. The psychologist Gerd Gigerenzer has made related points in the context of tricky psychology experiments that make people look really foolish. Sometimes a respondent will look foolish in the context of trying to solve an artificial problem. Or, as Lumley writes, Ask a silly question, get a silly answer.

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Monkey Cage: Why you can ignore that survey showing Americans want to label food containing DNA

IMAGE:Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking is an authoritative peer-reviewed journal published monthly online with Open Access options and in print that explores the psychological and social issues surrounding the Internet... view more

Credit: Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers

New Rochelle, NY, January 20, 2015--When Facebook users share information on important life events, do they prefer to do so directly (detailed status updated or wall posts) or indirectly (photos, change of job title)? How a person chooses to share such news depends on whether the event is positive or negative, according to a new study published in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking website until February 20, 2015.

In the article "How Are Important Life Events Disclosed on Facebook? Relationships with Likelihood of Sharing and Privacy," Jennifer Bevan and coauthors, Chapman University, Orange, CA, focus on significant life events related to romantic relationships, health, work, and school. They report that the specific event itself did not determine how an individual would share the news on Facebook, rather whether it was positive or negative. Users tended to share positive life events indirectly and negative life events directly.

"As social networking sites become more a part of our daily lives, understanding of the delicate dance between negotiating disclosure while maintaining some level of privacy is vital," says Editor-in-Chief Brenda K. Wiederhold, PhD, MBA, BCB, BCN, Interactive Media Institute, San Diego, California and Virtual Reality Medical Institute, Brussels, Belgium.

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About the Journal

Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking is an authoritative peer-reviewed journal published monthly online with Open Access options and in print that explores the psychological and social issues surrounding the Internet and interactive technologies, plus cybertherapy and rehabilitation. Complete tables of contents and a sample issue may be viewed on the Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking website.

About the Publisher

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including Games for Health Journal, Telemedicine and e-Health, and Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology. Its biotechnology trade magazine, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN), was the first in its field and is today the industry's most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm's 80 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available on the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers website.

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How do people post important life events on Facebook?

IMAGE:Stem Cells and Development is an authoritative peer-reviewed journal published 24 times per year in print and online. The journal is dedicated to communication and objective analysis of developments in... view more

Credit: Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers

New Rochelle, NY, January 20, 2015-- Multipotent cells isolated from the human umbilical cord, called mesenchymal stromal cells (hUC-MSCs) have shown promise for use in cell therapy to treat a variety of human diseases. However, intriguing new evidence shows that hUC-MSCs isolated from women with gestational diabetes demonstrate premature aging, poorer cell growth, and altered metabolic function, as reported in an article in Stem Cells and Development, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the Stem Cells and Development website until February 17th, 2015.

Jooyeon Kim and coauthors from University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Kyung Hee University College of Medicine, and Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seoul, Korea, compared the growth and viability characteristics of hUC-MSCs from the umbilical cords of pregnant women with and without gestational diabetes. They evaluated cell growth, cellular senescence, mitochondrial function-related gene expression as a measure of metabolic activity, and the stem cells' ability to differentiate into various cell types such as bone and fat cells. They report their findings in the article "Umbilical Cord Mesenchymal Stromal Cells Affected by Gestational Diabetes Mellitus Display Premature Aging and Mitochondrial Dysfunction."

"We are only just beginning to scratch the surface of understanding how environmental and gestational stressors of all kinds affect stem cell populations," says Editor-in-Chief Graham C. Parker, PhD, The Carman and Ann Adams Department of Pediatrics, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI. "The work described offers a non-invasive assay to help determine risk of developmental clinical vulnerability."

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About the Journal

Stem Cells and Development is an authoritative peer-reviewed journal published 24 times per year in print and online. The Journal is dedicated to communication and objective analysis of developments in the biology, characteristics, and therapeutic utility of stem cells, especially those of the hematopoietic system. A complete table of contents and free sample issue may be viewed on the Stem Cells and Development website.

About the Publisher

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including Cellular Reprogramming, Tissue Engineering, and Human Gene Therapy. Its biotechnology trade magazine, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN), was the first in its field and is today the industry's most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm's 80 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available on the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers website.

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Does gestational diabetes affect the therapeutic potential of umbilical cord-derived stem cells?

Everybody loves Florida orange juice. Since its emergence in the late 1940s, the sunny beverage has survived hurricanes and anti-sugar diet crazes to become as common on American breakfast tables as scrambled eggs.

But Floridas citrus industry is facing a new existential threat: Citrus greening, a bacterial disease spread by an insect called the Asian citrus psyllid, is killing Floridas citrus trees. The disease emerged in 2005 and since then citrus production has slowed. Last year Florida produced only 104.4 million boxes of orangesits lowest in about 30 years.

Researchers and industry experts say they have a potential solution: genetic engineering. Texas A&M University and University of Florida researchers are separately testing GMO citrus. Erik Mirkov, a plant pathologist at Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center who has been working on solutions to citrus greening for nine years, has developed an approach that uses spinach defensins to strengthen oranges resistance to greening.

Mirkov says if Americans want to keep orange juice on their tables, genetic engineering is the best option. "Greening is in Florida and Brazil, so the two biggest producers of oranges in the world could potentially not be able to grow them anymore," Mirkov says. "In a case like this, its not a nice-to-have, its a must-have."

But will Americans want their OJ with a side of spinach? Thats still up for debate, especially as questions about the safety of GMO foods continue. Opponents say those who want to save the citrus industry need to look elsewhere and explore non-GMO optionssuch as organic growing and using parasites to the kill the citrus psyllidwhich promote sustainable control of the disease. Genetic engineering could be a game-changer for the citrus industry, but it also could be an uphill battle to get GMO oranges from research labs to supermarket shelves to kitchen tables.

Citrus greening is a blow to an already-ailing industry. Orange juice consumption hit an 18-year low this year, and consumers increasingly have more exotic fruit juice options such as acai berry, but lower production also has affected sales.

Citrus greening is undoubtedly part of the problem. Most of the worlds citrus-producing regions, including several Asian countries, Brazil, Florida, Texas and California, have experienced greening. The disease begins in a citrus trees roots, infecting a tree before a grower can do anything to stop it, making an otherwise healthy fruit resemble a weird hybrid of a lime and orange.

"Greening disease has been in the world for a long time. Its been around for as long as it has and we havent found a non-GE cure to date," says Rick Kress, president of Southern Gardens Citrus, the worlds largest supplier of pure Florida orange juice. "Every researcher that is aware of this disease has said the ultimate solution is going to be genetic engineering."

Mirkov and Jude Grosser, a researcher at the University of Florida, agree. Mirkov is working closely with Southern Gardens Citrus, and his approach has been used on the most commonly grown oranges, grapefruits and popular lemon varieties in Texas and Florida. So far, spinach defensins have made many trees resistant to greening and others more tolerant to it, meaning they have the bacteria at lower levels than a conventional citrus tree and can still bear fruit.

Grossers research explores both GMO and conventional breeding approaches. On the GMO side, Grossers team has scoured the plant kingdom to find genes that can be introduced to citrus trees to improve their resistance. Though researchers will need to go through a thorough regulatory process to ensure GMO citrus meets the same standard as the normal fruits, Grosser says only one foreign gene is being added to the plant, so there shouldnt be a significant difference between the two. Whether consumers agree is another issue.

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Does Orange Juice Have To Genetically Modify Or Die?

OMD Genetic Engineering - Saturday Superstore
Here we have a very old and rare clip of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark on the Saturday Superstore and they are doing Genetic Engineering.

By: Neil Taylor

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OMD Genetic Engineering - Saturday Superstore - Video

15 hours ago by Vicky Just The technique can edit DNA at the point of fertilisation, speeding up the process of genetic research

Scientists from our Department of Biology & Biochemistry have developed a new technique that will streamline biomedical research and could in the future prevent genetic diseases before the moment of conception.

In a study published in the Nature Group journal Scientific Reports, the scientists used 'molecular scissors' that can edit the DNA of either the egg or sperm of mice during fertilisation.

The researchers used the enzyme Cas9 to cut a precise point in the genome, enabling them accurately to inactivate a specific gene. This allows scientists to study specified gene function in mice by creating a 'knock-out' in closer to one month rather than the six required using conventional techniques.

This powerful tool should accelerate biomedical research and promises to reduce the number of animals used in experiments to answer fundamental medical questions.

Dr Tony Perry, the study's senior author at the University's Laboratory of Mammalian Molecular Embryology, explained: "We're really excited about this research. Previously, this technique had been demonstrated with established embryos but we've shown that we can accurately edit genes in the sperm or egg around the time of fertilisation, just as the embryo is starting to develop.

"Cas9 works by cutting the DNA at a precise point in the genome. The cell repairs this cut but chews the frayed ends before rejoining them, destroying the function of the gene.

"The technique has many exciting potential applications. It could help to provide disease resistance to livestock or perhaps provide a method for preventing serious genetic conditions in humans at the point of conception - for example by allowing carriers of life-threatening genetic conditions such as cystic fibrosis to conceive healthy babies without the risk of passing on the disease."

Researchers anticipate that the method could also be used to enable the transplant of organs of some large animals into humans without the problem of rejection, by making the organs immunologically invisible.

Dr Perry added: "This is a dream for transplant surgeons and patients awaiting immunologically matched organs. It means that one day it may be possible to transplant these engineered organs - even if only until a suitable human one is found - and save lives."

The rest is here:
'Molecular scissors' could prevent genetic diseases before conception

AP Bio Project Genetic Engineering
It #39;s epic, watch... Ms. Kenna #39;s Class!

By: Jimbo Jones

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AP Bio Project Genetic Engineering - Video

Impacts Of Genetic Engineering On Biodiversity

By: Top Fertilizer for Garden Lawn

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Impacts Of Genetic Engineering On Biodiversity - Video

Over 50,000 people took to the streets of the German capital Berlin on Saturday to demand that the government changes its farming policy and halt the increasing industrialisation of agriculture.

The mass protest against factory farming and genetic engineering of crops was timed to coincide with International Green Week, an agricultural trade fair held annually in the city.

Under the slogan: We are sick of agribusiness, protesters called for a worldwide right to food, legal restrictions to protect food and agriculture from genetic manipulation and an end to the establishment of mega-factory farms.

The protesters marched from Potsdam Square to the Federal Chancellery demanding rejection of the planned Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) agreement between the European Union and the US.

Jochen Fritz, spokesman for the alliance of more than 120 environmental, consumer and development organisations behind the protest, said that TTIP would ruin many farmers livelihoods.

TTIP only serves global concerns and will take away the means of existence from many farms here and across the world, he said.

Mr Fritz added that the agreement would also jeopardise consumer standards and that more than three-quarters of German pig farmers had had to give up their businesses since 2000, with large meat companies increasingly taking over livestock farming.

He called for agriculture to be based on regional markets.

Eating is political. Every single decision I make about what to buy is determined by how the animals are kept or

what grows in our fields, he added.

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Morning Star :: 50,000 protest in Berlin to protect farming from big business

Mystery of the Alien Abduction in Canada (Full Documentary)Corina #39;s amazing true Merle Rey
Mystery of the Alien Abduction in Canada (Full Documentary)Corina #39;s amazing true Merle Rey Mankind #39;s Creation from Alien Genetic Engineering (Full Documentary)Fat pigs - g Merle Rey Mankind #39;s...

By: Donna Anderson

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Mystery of the Alien Abduction in Canada (Full Documentary)Corina's amazing true Merle Rey - Video