Synthetic life comes true

Modern genetics allows humanity to develop much more efficiently. Earlier development of new breeds and species of living creatures arise from simple cross-breeding and selection. Nowadays, we live in an era of genetically modified organisms. Such organisms are created by direct intervention in the genes of a living creature; that is the copying and pasting fragments of specific genes. However, this method is limited by it's ability to paste only existing in nature genes.

Dr Craig Venter is one of the first scientists who successfully develop methods of creating of artificial genes. This approach involves computer aided genetic coding (similar to computer programmers who write source codes). This approach radically removes the constraint inherent to traditional techniques of genetic modification of organisms.

Dr Venter: "The first self-replicating species we've had on the planet whose
parent is a computer." [1, 2]

Scientists at the J. Craig Venter Institute successfully carried out a scientific experiment - that aimed to confirm the possibility of creating real genes on the basis of source code developed on the computer (May 2010). Dr Venter's team "booted" the genetic code to the existing bacteria that causes mastitis in goats by way of replacing its native nucleus on artificial one (created in a lab from scratch). Artificial single-celled organism (M. mycoides JCVI-syn1.0) contains four DNA watermarks to help track his descendants: сode table for entire alphabet with punctuations; names of 46 contributing scientists; three quotations; the web address and e-mail for the cell. [3, 4]. Quotations include: "What I cannot build, I cannot understand." by Richard Feynman.

Negatively stained transmission electron micrographs of dividing
M. mycoides JCVI-syn1 (sounds like a computer software program). [3]

Dr Venter offers a competition: scientists can fix the fact of the successful decoding of artificial cell genes by sending a message to the e-mail address, that is encoded in DNA.  This is not the first such competition, which involved Dr. Venter - he is also known for being one of the first who sequenced the personal human genome (in 2007) [5].

Thanks to the work carried out by Dr Venter's team, people obtain unprecedented opportunities. Now possible to implement such technological process as:

• digitization of genes;
• transformation and storing them in the computer's memory;
• physical creation of the new genes from digital data;
• "flashing" of genes to the living recipient cell.

Just imagine, it is now possible to reconstruct even an alien life on the basis of digitized genes derived from interplanetary automatic stations!

References:

1. According to the New York Times "Researchers Say They Created a ‘Synthetic Cell'"

2. ZNANSTVENICI STVORILI PRVI SINTETICKI ZIVOTNI OBLIK (WRITTEN BY ~SENTINEL~ ON 20 MAY 2010. POSTED IN MEDICINA I ZNANOST)
3. Craig Venter Boots up First Synthetic Cell

4. Sample, Ian (May 20, 2010). "Craig Venter creates synthetic life form". The Guardian (London).
5. The Diploid Genome Sequence of an Individual Human

This post was written as part of my homework on the course "Medicine: SciWrite Writing in the Sciences" (Stanford University), which I attend remotely.

Is it possible to ‘learn’ a new sense?

One of the most interesting topics of brain research is the study of the perception mechanisms. There is a theory which states that the brain has a static zones for the processing of individual senses. Neuroscientists consider that the brain is formed in infancy and later can not be changed. Such an approach can not explain the facts sensory substitution, that are observed in patients who have lost one or more of the senses.

The theory of neuroplasticity suggests that in fact the brain interprets sensory input through a multisensory integration, not separately in specific zones. Thus, the appropriate brain tissue are versatile and can handle various senses. This point of view can easily explain the facts of sensory substitution and also implies that a person can develop brand new artificial senses.

Scientists at the University of Osnabrück’s Institute of Cognitive Science [1], supervised by Prof.Dr. Peter König, carries out a scientific experiment, that aims to confirm the theory of neuroplasticity. The experiment lies in inoculation of a new artificial sense to an experimental subject - sense of Earth's magnetic field. The experiment is part of the "feelSpace", which is intended to enable a person to intuitive navigation in space. Experimental subject wears a special belt that vibrates constantly on the north side. The experiment will be considered successful if the experimental subject after 6 months of wearing this belt will be able to walk across test path with his eyes closed.

1. http://cogsci.uni-osnabrueck.de/~feelspace/downloads/feelSpace_finalReport.pdf

This post was written as part of my homework on the course "Medicine: SciWrite Writing in the Sciences" (Stanford University), which I attend remotely.