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Genetic Engineering in Medicine, Agriculture, & Law is a class that examines the historical and scientific study of genetic engineering in medicine, agriculture, and law, including examination of social, ethical, and legal issues raised by new technology. About the Professor: Dr. Bob Goldberg is a plant molecular biologist who specializes in the area of plant gene expression. The goal of his research has been to understand how plant cells ...more
Carnegie Mellon University's 2010 Dickson Prize awardee is chemist and materials scientist Dr. David A. Tirrell, who is world-renowned for his innovative discoveries in polymer chemistry and macromolecular engineering. In his early research, Tirrell made important macromolecular discoveries that have made the development of "smart" materials -- those that respond to external cues like light, pH or temperature -- possible. Most recently, an...more
Capitalism: Success, Crisis and Reform (PLSC 270) Professor Rae discusses the rise of mass affluence, the joint stock corporation, and advertising/consumer culture in America. Gregory Clark's theory of the causes of the Industrial Revolution, including England's "downward social mobility" in the medieval and early modern periods, are explored. According to this theory, the upper classes produced children in greater numbers than in other c...more
In this lecture, Professor Brownell asks whether modern agriculture is environmentally, culturally, and morally sustainable. First, he explores how genetically modified foods both benefit and hinder world sustainability, such as with the case study of BT corn, and contamination to different parts of the environment. Secondly, he discusses the issue of animal welfare and its relationship with sustainability by exploring how modern food cond...more
Professor Saltzman continues his presentation on DNA technology by discussing control of gene expression using two methods of RNA silencing: anti-sense therapy and RNA interference. Molecular cloning techniques to mass-produce proteins using plasmid, restriction enzymes, ligase, and antibiotic selection in bacteria are discussed. Steps and molecules involved in polymerase chain reaction are also described. Professor Saltzman explains how t...more
Professor Saltzman continues his presentation on DNA technology by discussing control of gene expression using two methods of RNA silencing: anti-sense therapy and RNA interference. Molecular cloning techniques to mass-produce proteins using plasmid, restriction enzymes, ligase, and antibiotic selection in bacteria are discussed. Steps and molecules involved in polymerase chain reaction are also described. Professor Saltzman explains how t...more
Of all the diseases studied in this course, malaria has been responsible for the most human suffering. It has evolved alongside humans, and impacted human biology as well as civilization. In the former case, this impact is evident in genetic diseases like sickle-cell anemia which, while increasing vulnerability to a host of other illnesses, has the advantage of conferring substantial resistance to malaria. In social terms, malaria's debili...more
Neutral evolution occurs when genes do not experience natural selection because they have no effect on reproductive success. Neutrality arises when mutations in an organism's genotype cause no change in its phenotype, or when changes in the genotype bring about changes in the phenotype that do not affect reproductive success. Because neutral genes do not change in any particular direction over time and simply "drift," thanks in part to the...more
Genetic transmission is the mechanism that drives evolution. DNA encodes all the information necessary to make an organism. Every organism's DNA is made of the same basic parts, arranged in different orders. DNA is divided into chromosomes, or groups of genes, which code for proteins. Asexually reproducing organisms reproduce using mitosis, while sexually reproducing organisms reproduce using meiosis. Both these mechanisms involve duplicat...more
Development is responsible for the complexity of multicellular organisms. It helps to map the genotype into the phenotype expressed by the organism. Development is responsible for ancient patterns among related organisms, and many structures important to development shared by many life forms have changed little over hundreds of millions of years. Development is expressed combinatorially, allowing a relatively small amount of genetic inform...more
July 6, 2006 presentation by Matthew Scott for the Stanford University Office of Science Outreach's Summer Science Lecture Series. Matthew Scott, Professor of Developmental Biology, Genetics and Bioengineering explains how, through his research, he has discovered that genetic "hardware" - the genes and proteins that do the work - are for the most part dramatically similar among seemingly different animals.
(April 12, 2010) Robert Sapolsky introduces a two-part series exploring the controversial scientific practice of inferring behavior to genetics. He covers classical techniques in behavior genetics and flaws, the significance of environmental factors, non genetic inheritance of traits, and multigenerational effects and relationship to epigenetic differences.
