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Year 12: Term 3: Genetic Engineering

Term 2: Cold War

ONESearch

The ENTIRE collection of resources provided by the BBC Library can now be searched on ONE single, powerful search platform, which retrieves print books, eBooks, database articles and websites. Click HERE for assistance.










Suggested Websites/Online articles

The following websites and articles will not provide all the answers you require to complete your assignment.  However, they will provide you with an excellent start to your research needs. All sites and documents were found using the Research Hints listed on this Research Guide.

CRISPR

CRISPR - key reads : Nature International Weekly Journal of Science

CRISPR - gene editing is just the beginning : Nature International Weekly Journal of Science

Questions and answers about CRISPR :  The Broad Institute

The promise of Gene editing : BBC news

Folder with relevant articles

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Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPS cells)

The promise of Induced Pluripotent stem cells :  National Institute of Health, USA

Progress towards the clinical application of patient-specific pluripotent stem cells : JCI The Journal of Clincial Investigation

Induced pluripotent stem cells — opportunities for disease modelling and drug discovery : Nature Reviews

Folder with relevant articles

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RNA therapeutics

RNA Therapeutics Institute - University of Massachusetts Medical School

Searching the Deep Web

Try using a University site or a well-known Education/Government site which specialises in your topic and provides links to free web sources.

Search within the website – Genome editing / CRISPR etc.

 

Stem Cells Australia

CSIRO

National Library of Medicine – US  

National Institute of Health - US

PubMED  - US

Cochrane Library (Clinical Trials) 
Full text available for those articles with DOI link (digital object identifier).

 

Research Tips

Some research tips to get you started

  1. Use the resources provided by your library - the databases provide online access to current science journals.
     
  2. Access via the ONESearch for a broader search of the multiple databases listed (specifiy database articles).
     
  3. Access the database Access Science for excellent introductions and overviews of both topics
    a) If the database provides the option, narrow your search by using a 'Subject' search -  CRISPR, Induced pluripotent stem cells and RNA therapeutics are subject terms.
    c)  Widen your search by using a 'Keyword' Search.
    d) Note that databases provide both magazine and academic journals.
     
  4. Use Google Advanced Search or Google Scholar  when searching the Web.
     
  5. a)  Google Advanced Search provides the opportunity to place your terms as a "phrase search", narrow by date and by domain eg educational (.edu) or government (.gov).  Take a look at a quick video overview here.
    b) Google Scholar is highly academic - only articles which show a link on the right hand side of the article provide full access.

Hints:

  • Ensure you critically evaluate the quality of the information, looking at the article's source, author, currency, purpose and bias.
  • If you find an article online which only allows you to look at a citation, copy the title and search in Google Scholar.  Other sites can offer the full-text version for free.

Referencing:

For all the information you require when referencing at BBC - go to the Referencing Help page created by Ms King.

Video Introductions

 

Creating iPS cells : Eli and Edythe Broad Stem Cell Research Center at UCLA

Genome editing with CRISPR - Cas9 :  McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT

CRISPR - The new tool in the gene revolution explained : ABC Science

CRISPR - A word processor for editing the genome : iBiology

Jennifer Doudna explains the birth of breakthrough technology CRISPR Cas9 : iBiology

RNA Interference : Nature Research

 

CLAIM 1: CRISPR is the only gene editing tool that is necessary to eliminate genetic disease

CLAIM 2: If you have the gene for a cancer, you will get cancer

CLAIM 3: Health insurance premiums should be determined based on the conditions your parents and grandparents were treated for

CLAIM 4: Spiderman's origin is plausible, but the Hulk is just not possible

Useful Databases

We recommend the following databases for this assignment.
When you are away from the campus you will need to login using the appropriate username and password - previously sent to you by email from Ms King

Sample articles from BBC Databases

CRISPR

CRISPR Cas9 gene editing (2017) - Access Science

DNA Revolution (2016) – Science Reference Centre
Excellent diagrams and the article discusses the emergence of the revolutionary technology CRISPR-Cas9 and gene drive combination which can be used in altering, deleting and rearranging the DNA of living organisms

The original CRISPR (2017) – ANZRC

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Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPS cells)

Ten years of progress and promise of induced pluripotent stem cells: historical origins, characteristics, mechanisms, limitations, and potential applications (2018)  - Gale:  Expanded Academic ASAP

The discovery of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) by Shinya Yamanaka in 2006 was heralded as a major breakthrough of the decade in stem cell research. The ability to reprogram human somatic cells to a pluripotent embryonic stem cell-like state through the ectopic expression of a combination of embryonic transcription factors was greeted with great excitement by scientists and bioethicists. The reprogramming technology offers the opportunity to generate patient-specific stem cells for modeling human diseases, drug development and screening, and individualized regenerative cell therapy

Induced pluripotent stem cells – Access Science
Introduction to technology with diagram.

All Eyes on Stem Cells – ANZRC
Biologist Masayo Takahashi at the Riken Center for Developmental Biology in Kobe, Japan discusses why the first ever human study using induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells is such a big deal, how would treatment with iPS cells work, and dangers associated with iPS cell treatments

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RNA therapeutics

Overcoming cellular barriers for RNA therapeutics (2017) - Gale: Expanded Academic ASAP

RNA-based therapeutics, such as small-interfering (siRNAs), microRNAs (miRNAs), antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs), aptamers, synthetic mRNAs and CRISPR–Cas9, have great potential to target a large part of the currently undruggable genes and gene products and to generate entirely new therapeutic paradigms in disease, ranging from cancer to pandemic influenza to Alzheimer’s disease.

 

RNA Therapeutics in Cardiovascular Precision Medicine (2018) - Gale: Expanded Academic ASAP

 

Since our knowledge on structure and function of messenger RNA (mRNA) has expanded from merely being an intermediate molecule between DNA and proteins to the notion that RNA is a dynamic gene regulator that can be modified and edited, RNA has become a focus of interest into developing novel therapeutic schemes.