Genetic Science Learning Center Launch Tool The Genetic Science Learning Center is a great place to visit to explore and learn about cells, heredity, DNA, genes, natural selection, etc. The Learn.Genetics part of the site is geared to students, teachers, and the general public. It delivers educational materials on genetics, bioscience, and health topics. The homepage is divided into three main sections: Basics, New & Popular, and a section that highlights a variety of topics, from genetic technology to the new science of addiction. The site uses videos, animations, and interactives to help you explore the different topics. Going Further For Educators In addition to the Learn.Genetics part of the site, you can make use of the Teach.Genetics section, which has resources and information aimed at helping you bring genetics, bioscience, and health alive in the classroom. Teach.Genetics also provides unit plans and other supporting resources, such as talks by scientists with expertise in genetics.
Genome Biology | homepage Sleep & Gene Expression Photo Credit: Clipart.com Just one week of sleep deprivation alters the expression of at least 711 different genes. Transcript Sleep loss affects gene function. Just one week of mild sleep deprivation affects the function of 711 different genes. Archer:The changes are quite large, and they’re comparable to the kinds of differences that you would see if you were to compare, for example, a normal tissue with a diseased tissue. Genes linked to inflammation and stress increased their activity in sleep-deprived people, while master control switches that regulate the whole body became sluggish. Making Sense of the Research It's well known that sleep deprivation can have a wide range of effects, including irritability and depression, memory and cognitive deficits, impaired driving skills, and a higher risk of obesity, cardiovascular disease, and possibly even some kinds of cancer. This study also looked at an increasingly important area of medical research: gene expression. Going Further
A Mendel Seminar Photo Credit: Clipart.com Purpose To learn about Gregor Mendel's discovery of a process of biological evolution: how recessive and dominant traits are passed from one generation of living organisms to the next. Context In middle school, students start to learn about genetic traits (Benchmarks for Science Literacy, p. 108.), where they come from, and how they are passed down from parents to their offspring. The lesson, constructed around Gregor Mendel's 1865 paper, is one in history, scientific inquiry, methodology, classical genetics, and plant biology. You will want to do this lesson with juniors and seniors who have had preparatory college biology classes. You will guide students through a thorough discussion of the (first half of the) paper Mendel wrote about his pea plant experiments. You should be aware of several common misconceptions as you conduct this lesson. Motivation Using the A Mendel Seminar esheet, have students explore Pea Experiment. Then discuss the following: Development
Geniverse | Concord Consortium Research Overview Geniverse research is being led by our research partner, BSCS, with assistance from our evaluator partner, TERC. Our research study is examining how the Geniverse materials affect students’ genetics content knowledge and abilities to engage in scientific argumentation. In addition to pre- and post-tests for content knowledge, we will measure both student motivation and the degree of fidelity of implementation of Geniverse. Student demographic variables (race/ethnicity and gender) are being collected to examine if the Geniverse materials provide equitable opportunities for students to learn. The research study began in the fall of 2012 with 48 teachers. An added feature of our research design is the ability to avoid measuring implementation dip – that is, the effects of immature implementation often measured in randomized experiments. Student Outcome Measures Student Content Knowledge Our primary measure of student achievement employs two sets of test questions. Motivation
Those Old Kentucky Blues Teaching Notes Case teaching notes are password-protected and access to them is limited to paid subscribed instructors. To become a paid subscriber, begin the process by registering here. Teaching notes are intended to help teachers select and adopt a case. They typically include a summary of the case, teaching objectives, information about the intended audience, details about how the case may be taught, and a list of references and resources. Download Teaching Notes Answer Key Answer keys for the cases in our collection are password-protected and access to them is limited to paid subscribed instructors. Get Answer Key
Comments Claire Hoffman I don't see the point in storing the DNA of people like Stephen Hawking. Though he is truly a brilliant man, who is to say that his DNA holds this genius and it was not his life experience that made him so great...if a 'clone' was created then surely it would need the same influences, education and experiences that the original had to become equal to them 🤔 22 · Jun 9 Artu Btu Also read up on "CRISPER" if your interest in DNA has been peaked. you can find it on Wikipedia 1 · Jun 8 Ĵavier Marcelo' Come on you guys, it´s been more than ten years since the discovery of the human genome mapping and this is what you came up with? Juan Romero Lance Armstrong's DNA. 5 · Jun 8 Bill Fields GOD is the Designer and Engineer, the Architect and Master Builder with a purpose and plan.....could we expect less ? 4 · Jun 8
NIH finally makes good with Henrietta Lacks' family -- and it's about time, ethicist says Over the past six decades, huge medical advances have sprung from the cells of Henrietta Lacks, a poor, African-American mother of five who died in 1951 of cervical cancer. But Lacks never agreed that the cells from a biopsy before her death taken could be used for research. For years, her own family had no idea that her cells were still alive in petri dishes in scientists' labs. They eventually learned they had fueled a line called HeLa cells, which have generated billions of dollars, but they didn't realize until this spring that her genome had been sequenced and made public for anyone to see. On Tuesday, the National Institute of Health announced it was, at long last, making good with Lacks' family. The new understanding between the NIH and the Lacks family does not include any financial compensation for the family. It took more than 60 years, but ethics has finally caught up to a particularly fast-moving area of science: taking tissue samples for genetic research.
Air Pollution Causes Epigenetic Changes That May Trigger Asthma Once Nadeau understood the role of the methyl groups in gene expression, all the dots began to connect. She believed that air pollution triggered asthma in her Fresno patients by tagging Foxp3 in immature T cells with methyl groups, switching off its expression. This prevents the cells from maturing into those police officer T-regs that hold T helper cells in check. More exposure to pollution, then, would mean more methyl groups. As it turned out, Foxp3 bore the fewest methyl groups in Palo Alto children without asthma, and more in Palo Alto children with the disease. In Fresno children without asthma — who had grown up with more pollution — the gene had still more methyl groups. Nadeau and Tager published their results in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology in 2010. Smoke Screen Nadeau’s findings revealed that pollution could cause asthma by altering our biology at a fundamental level, changing how our very genes behave.
Study of Holocaust survivors finds trauma passed on to children's genes | Science Genetic changes stemming from the trauma suffered by Holocaust survivors are capable of being passed on to their children, the clearest sign yet that one person’s life experience can affect subsequent generations. They also analysed the genes of their children, who are known to have increased likelihood of stress disorders, and compared the results with Jewish families who were living outside of Europe during the war. “The gene changes in the children could only be attributed to Holocaust exposure in the parents,” said Yehuda. Her team’s work is the clearest example in humans of the transmission of trauma to a child via what is called “epigenetic inheritance” - the idea that environmental influences such as smoking, diet and stress can affect the genes of your children and possibly even grandchildren. The idea is controversial, as scientific convention states that genes contained in DNA are the only way to transmit biological information between generations.
Meiosis Case: SRY not SRY Are your students fascinated by the idea of hermaphrodites? Every year when I talk about worms and other organisms that have both sperm and eggs, I get tons of questions about whether it is possible for humans to have that condition. Sex and gender determination are complicated topics, and I usually just answer with something brief so that my class doesn’t get too far off topic. However, if you wanted to really get into detail about how sex is determined in humans and why it can be complicated, try this lecture case study: “Meiosis: SRY not SRY” In this case, students are given a scenario based on a true story about a female athlete who was stripped of her medal when it was discovered that her cells contain a Y chromosome. Download Worksheet (Questions about the Slides, Discussion, and Essay) Link to Google Slides (download to own drive if you want to make changes) Three hypotheses are explored: Students can take notes on their own or follow the presentation using this worksheet.
Case Study: Why Are There No Male Calico Cats? This presentation case study asks two important questions regarding cat coloration: Why are there no male calico cats?Why is it that clones of calico cats do not look like the original? The case is presented as a slide presentation where students consider evidence and data related to cat coloration and chromosomes. Working in small groups, they discuss the case and eventually answer the two main questions. The activity explores concepts that might not be directly included in typical chapters on meiosis, such as Barr bodies and cloning, though I find students really enjoy talking about cats and looking at cat pictures. Slide Presentations on Google PDF printout of slides Objectives: Understand how genes located on sex chromosomes are inheritedMake predictions about the genotypes of male and female calico catsExamine a karyotype and identify abnormalitiesUnderstand how errors in meiosis can produce these abnormalitiesDiscuss how the inactivation of X chromosomes can affect phenotype
She thought she was Irish — until a DNA test opened a 100-year-old mystery - Washington Post