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Contemporary Biology Archive, Spring 2001 What is Biology Good For?: Biology in the News
A student-created page of tips for doing well
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QUESTION 1: Humulin, a drug made by Eli Lilly, is the human insulin protein made by bacteria. How can a bacteria make a human protein? QUESTION 2: What is the difference between a genomic library cDNA library in terms of their starting materials? Why would a scientist want to work with a cDNA library rather than a genomic library? What is the result of screening a genomic library and a cDNA library - ie: what to you have in your test tube after you are done? QUESTION 3: In your own words, explain how PCR can amplify a molecule of DNA 1 billion times - or more - in just few hours! How many copies of DNA would result if you did 25 cycles of PCR? QUESTION 4: In one sentence each, tell me (a) what sort of science classes you had as an undergrad (b) what made you take Biology 540 over others offered in the same general program or time slot, and (c) what you think about Biology 540 after the first two classes.
Warm Up: Pharmaceutical Industry and Social Responsibility QUESTION 1:One of the controversies about Epogen involves medicare funding for this expensive drug. Medicare would like to keep some anemia patients at a 'sub-optimal' hemacrit (RBC level) to reduce the amount of Epo subsidized by Medicare. These patients would be slightly anemic, weak, and tired, but not as much as if they didn't receive any Epo! Please comment on the on this issue from the perspective of (a) the patient (b) the physician treating these patients, (3) Amgen ? QUESTION 2:Last year, pharmaceutical companies spent over $2.5 billion (in a $122 billion US pharmaceutical market) in Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) advertising on TV and in magazines. DTC works to the advantage of the pharmaceutical companies, as prescriptions written for the top 50 most heavily advertised drugs rose 24.6 %, compared to 4.3 % for all other drugs combined in 2000 (ref). However, the group Pharma maintains that Direct-to-Consumer Advertising strengthens our health care system. Can you think of one advantage and one disadvantage of DTC drug advertising for (a) the consumer (b) their physician? What is Pharma, and do you think they are a reliable, unbiased source of information about the Pharmaceutical industry?? QUESTION 3:Today's New York Times (August 28, 2003; now archived) reports that the United States is "in the embarrassing position of being the lone nation opposing a solution to make vital drugs affordable for the poorest people on earth." However, the article reports, President Bush may soon accept an agreement that exempts poor countries from existing international trade rules, allowing them to buy generic drugs at greatly reduced cost. Why had the U.S. vetoed such an agreement only a few months ago? What concerns of the American Pharmaceutical industry must be met before President Bush will accept this agreement? Do you think that the U.S. has an obligation to be 'socially responsible' and promote world health at the expense of the commercial interests of pharmeceutical companies?
Warm Up: Clinical Trials and Drug Development QUESTION 1:Given that it takes a tremendous amount of time and money to develop a drug, do you think that the ~20 year patent protection fairly covers the property rights of a company? Do you think there are any incentives given to a company to develop drugs that only have a very small market - maybe only affecting ~100 - 200 people a year? QUESTION 2:Before Herceptin was approved for use by the FDA in 1998, breast cancer patients were selected to receive Herceptin via a 'lottery'. The use of Herceptin was granted by allowing 'compassionate access' to this drug. Explain what you think this term means, and why you think Genentech only allowed 25 women at a time to receive Hercptin. QUESTION 3:A New York Times article (2/2002; now archived) recently reported that nearly 9 out of 10 doctors involved in clinical trial protocols had financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry (such as research funding, travel or consulting fees, or personal stock investment). About 6 out of 10 had financial ties to companies whose drugs were either considered or recommended in the clinical trial guidelines they wrote. Do you feel that either situation above constitutes a conflict of interest? Do you feel that physicians should hold stock in the companies they are condicting clinical trials for? What would you recommend to remedy any potential conflict of interest? QUESTION 4:(Optional) : Have you ever participated in a clinical trial, either as a healthy volunteer or as a patient? (I will not use names or nicknames in answers, and will not use your answer in class if you let me know here!)
Warm Up: Drug Delivery, Patents QUESTION 1:The target of most means of drug delivery is to get drugs into the bloodstream. The most direct way to do this is via injection directly into the blood. Why, then, do you think many drugs are taken orally, or are being developed for inhalation or nasal therapy? QUESTION 2:In order for a patent to be awarded, an invention must be novel (new), non-obvious, and must have utility (be useful). Given these criteria, how can ESTs and gene sequences be patented? QUESTION 3:What is the function of a Tech Transfer department at a University? Is this type of department complementary with, or in opposition to, the spirit of goodwill, free exchange of information, and collaboration that we in science value so highly?
Warm Up: Ag-Biotechnology QUESTION 1: If world production of food was such that there was more than enough food for all the people on our planet, why would 40,000 - 100,000 people still die of starvation every day? Please think about this question before answering, and for more info (optional) see Myth or Oxfam International QUESTION 2:Golden Rice holds the promise of preventing millions of deaths every year from Vitamin A deficiency (VAD). Can you think of some reasons why this great crop might NOT save as many lives as it could? Think about the answer first, but if you want more info, please see Golden Rice and Vitamin A. Deficiency. PS. This article is really negative (sorry) but it does bring up some good points. What organization posted this article, and do you think that they are an unbiased source of information about Golden Rice? QUESTION 3:After reading the notes for Part 3 this week, what is a refuge, as it relates to Bt and the ECB? How does the concept of a refuge work, and why does the EPA think that refuges are needed?
QUESTION 4:If you were eating genetically modified (GM) food, would you know it from reading a food label? Or do you think you are already eating genetically modified foods right now? Answer first, but then if you want visit The True Foods shopping List
Warm Up: Investing in Biotechnology QUESTION 1: What is the Rule of 72? If you had $10,000 burning a hole in your pocket and wanted it to double in 5 years (to $20,000), what rate of return would you need to get? What sorts of investment options average that rate of return? How long would it take you to double your $10,000 (to $20,000) in a current ~1.5% interest rate savings account? QUESTION 2: The target of most means of drug delivery is to get drugs into the plasma / bloodstream. The most direct way to do this is via direct injection into the blood. What do you think are two disadvantages of this route of drug delivery? Pulmonary delivery (inhalation into the lungs) is considered to be an effective route into the bloodstream (Why?) - but what do you think are two disadvantages of this route of drug delivery? QUESTION 3: Alza
is a drug delivery company in Palo Alto CA.
Visit their Technology
link and view their 'way cool' Drug Delivery
options. Pick three of these technologies and
discuss a type of drug that might be delivered with
these new technologies. (For instance: Traditional
syringe delivery - a type of drug might be a
recombinant protein like Insulin, which cannot be
taken orally.)
Warm Up: Human Genome Project QUESTION 4:What are the Bermuda Principles? Why do you think that the Human Genome Project scientists support the Bermuda Principles so strongly? Do you think that continuous release of new genetic information to the public at large a good thing for biotechnology? Why or why not? QUESTION 4:What do you think are two main advantages of Whole Genome Shotgun Sequencing? What are two disadvantages? QUESTION 4:What are ESTs and how have they been useful in the Human Genome Project? Why do you think that HGP scientists were initially critical of the technology? QUESTION 4:(Optional): You have probably heard of DNA described as the 'blueprint' for making a human (or any organism). Given that less than 3% of our genome consists of protein-coding genes and about 50% of our genome consists of repetitive sequences, many of viral origin, can you think of a term other than 'blueprint' to describe our current understanding of the genome? (No 'right' answer here; just looking for your ideas).
Warm Up: Mining the Genome QUESTION 1:Why do you think a research scientist at a university lab would be willing to pay DoubleTwist big money (not as much as Celera would charge, but still big money!) for access to the human genome sequence, when the sequence is freely available on BLAST, ENTREZ, and ENSEMBL? QUESTION 2: What are SNPs and why are drug companies interested in studying them? QUESTION 3:What is a DNA chip? Give an example of a way a DNA chip can be used to study gene expression. What is photolithography?
QUESTION 1:What is the G5 and what organizations make up the G5? QUESTION 2: Companies like Celera make their money by selling information (about the human genome). Can you think of other businesses that exist just to sell information? Give an example. QUESTION 3: If the genome is all the DNA of an organism, what is a proteome? Could there ever be a Human Proteome Project? QUESTION 4:(Optional, but I would really appreciate an answer!) a) Did anything we discussed in class on Tuesday make you thing about changing your spending, saving, or investing habits?
Warm Up: human Embryonic Stem (hES) Cells QUESTION 1:Where exactly do Human Embryonic Stem Cells (hES cells) come from (in your own words)? What are some of the ethical implications of using hES cells for medical research? Where exactly do hPG cells come from, and why do you think they are not discussed as much as hES cells? QUESTION
2:Dolly was a clone of a 6-year old sheep,
but she was not an exact replica of her 'nuclear
donor' twin at the cellular level. Why? Why isn't
Cc of an exact replica of Rainbow, her genetic
donor twin? Why is Prometia truly a genetic twin of
the horse she was cloned from? QUESTION 4:(Totally Optional) There are tremendous benefits to developing hES cells for treatment of diabetes, Alzheimers. etc. In your opinion, do these benefits justify their use in medical research, given that a human blastocyst must be used to obtain the cells?? Remember that only surplus embryos can be used to obtain hES cells. Embryos CANNOT be created for the derivation of hES cells. (Your answers will be kept confidential!)
Warm Up: Model Organisms QUESTION 1: In your own words, what makes a good 'model organism'? While primates -like chimps - are very closely related to humans at the level of the genome, they are not used as a model organism species. Can you list some reasons why we do not use primates as model organisms in functional and comparitive genomics? QUESTION 2: What is Tübingen 2000 and why was it an important landmark in the study of functional genomics? QUESTION 3: What is a Morpholino and what is meant by the term "knockdown"? How do you think this differs from the concept of making a "knockout" organisms?
Warm Up: Gene Therapy QUESTION 1:In your OWN words, how are the 3 basic approaches to Gene Therapy similar and different? What is Suicide Gene Therapy and why would this approach be beneficial to a patient? QUESTION 2: Why do viruses seem to be the 'perfect' candidates for gene delivery vectors for Gene Therapy? In reality, however, what are two serious drawbacks of using viruses as gene therapy vectors? QUESTION 3: Do you think scientists and physicians do Gene Therapy Research on the IUPUI Campus? In your own words, who is Mary Dinauer and what sort of research does she do? QUESTION 4:(Optional) Why do you think most gene therapy research is presently done at Universities rather than Biotech companies?
More Questions: QUESTION 1: Aside from your Doctor, who has access to your medical records? Do you know whether your employer has ever seen your medical records? How about your insurance company? Do you know if there is any federal legislation protecting your medical records? QUESTION 2: Assume that a late-onset genetic disease runs in your family like Huntington's Chorea, breast cancer, or Alzheimer's disease. Genetic tests are available for each of these disorders. Would you ask your doctor to test to see whether you carry the gene mutations involved in these disorders? Why or why not? Would it make a difference to you in getting tested if there were no treatments availble to you if you WERE determined to be positive? (like with Huntington's, a fatal degenerative disorder) QUESTION 3: Carrier screening is available to couples wishing to be tested to see whether they carry recessive alleles for many genetic disorders before having children. Suppose you and your SO (significant other) each have a sibling with cystic fibrosis (CF). Would you want to be tested to see whether you were a carrier before having children, knowing that if each of you are carriers, your children will have a 25% chance of having CF? Why or why not? QUESTION 4: According to the reading: Facts about the US pharmaceutical industry, about how much money of every dollar spent on health care is spent on outpatient prescription drugs? How much does the average American spend per day on prescription drugs? In your opinion, is this figure too high or too low (or just right)? Who wrote this article - do you think they are a reliable, unbiased source of information about the Pharmaceutical industry? QUESTION 5: What makes something a 'disease'? How does our society determine who 'has' a disease and who doesn't - and in the case of gene therapy, what should or shouldn't be corrected? QUESTION 6: What is germ-line gene therapy? Is this technique performed today? What are some of the benefits / hazards? (Handout on this in class!) QUESTION 7:
Gene Patents: In order for a patent to be awarded,
an invention must be novel (new), non-obvious, and
must have utility (be useful). Given these
criteria, how can genes be patented? (See readings
for background if you want - but your 'best guess'
is fine) QUESTION 8: Where does a biotech company typically get its money from when it is first starting up as a business (a "start-up")? What is Venture Capital - and who typically has it? (and how can I get some...? just kidding) QUESTION 9: What is an IPO? How does a company determine WHEN to make an IPO? How does TIMING of the IPO relate to the business success (or possibly failure) of a company? QUESTION 10: Dubious reproductive pa5tners...In your own words, what is the purpose of the vasectomized mouse and and the psudopregnant female in producing a litter of transgenic mice?
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Warm Ups:
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