McGill professors presented their scientific research to crowds of students in the Redpath Museum at the 29th iteration of Soup and Science from Jan. 13–17. After snacking on complementary soup and sandwiches, writers from The McGill Tribune compiled highlights from the week. Nutrient cycling and ecosystem science Fiona Soper, assistant professor in[Read More…]
Tag: genetics
VARS gene a new link to a harrowing group of brain diseases
At only two and a half months old, a baby girl named Mathilde Poliquin passed away at the Montreal Children’s Hospital from an unknown neurodevelopmental pediatric disorder. Her head was much smaller than normal, and her brain had not developed properly. Six years later, a group of doctors from the[Read More…]
McGill hosts speakers on the ethical and legal ramifications of stem cell research
On Nov. 1, the McGill Journal of Law and Health hosted a speaker series with the goal to explore the ethical and legal ramifications of stem cell research. Michel Tremblay, a professor in the Department of Biochemistry at McGill, was the first speaker. Tremblay began by giving the audience a[Read More…]
Designer babies in the age of CRISPR
A powerful gene-editing tool, known as CRISPR, has been developing, promising new approaches to treating various illnesses and even modification of children by their parents. Yet, it seems society still hasn’t addressed fears about the possible misuse of such technology—technology that research labs around the world have already started using. CRISPR[Read More…]
What’s the deal with CRISPR?
CRISPR offers the potential to cure presently untreatable cancers and diseases. Moreover, it could revive an extinct organism, such as the mammoth, using tiny bits of genomic information that scientists have collected through their serendipitous discoveries. “CRISPR is a gene editing technique that allows investigators to alter the gene sequence[Read More…]
The case for eradicating malaria with gene-editing technologies
What if we could rid the world of any species that we didn’t like: The annoying ones, the dangerous ones, and the disease-spreading ones? This seems like a tall order and one that carries a number of ethical quandaries. With the advent of CRISPR/Cas9 gene technologies, the once theoretical bioethics[Read More…]
Taking the next step in developmental biology: Embryonic editing
In April of 2015, researchers in China from Sun Yat-sen University published the results of the world’s first experiment on human embryo editing. The goal of the experiment was to edit a gene containing mutations for a blood disorder called β-thalassemia. The gene is responsible for coding a subunit of[Read More…]
