STS – MIDTERMS 4.

Smaller • Photographic films

5. More durable • Touch screens
NANOTECHNOLOGY
• Convergence of science, technology, and CARBON NANOTUBES (CNTs)
engineering where the observation, • 4 nm width (smaller MAGNETIC RECORDING TAPES
characterization, design, and controlled diameter than DNA) → Magnetic storage technology used for:
fabrication of materials and devices are at • 100 times stronger than • Audiocassettes
the scale of less than 100 nanometers steel (1/6 w eight) • Videocassettes
• 1 nanometer = 10-9 m • Thermally/electrically • Data storage tapes
conductive
HOW SMALL IS NANO-SMALL? • Floppy disks
• Metallic and semi-conductive
• Hard disks
→ Use of Fe oxide or Co-Fe oxide
APPROACHES TO NANOTECHNOLOGY
TOP DOWN SUNSCREEN
• Approach Bulk materials are broken down • UVB Exposure – sunburn and carcinoma
into smaller and smaller particles (Norio • UVA Exposure – melanoma and premature
Taniguchi) aging
→ Nanoscale TiO2 and ZnO particles provide
broad spectrum UV protection in a
transparent formulation

HOW TO VIEW NANOMATERIALS? CNTs for COMPOSITES

BOTTOM UP
• Approach Nanoparticles are built up an
atom/molecule at a time (Richard
Feynman)
→

IMAGING AND DIAGNOSTICS

NANOTECHNOLOGY • Nanoplex biomarker
• Is already making today’s products: detection
1. Lighter TRANSPARENT CONDUCTIVE COATING
→ Silica coated Surface
2. Stronger → Indium tin oxide (ITO)
Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) active
3. Faster • CRTs

1
 metal nanoparticles allow robust, BIODIVERSITY VARIATION OF BIODIVERSITY
ultrasensitive, highly multiplexed biomarker • Variability in life forms within and between • Biodiversity varies from place to place
quantitation in any biological matrix, species in an ecosystem • Higher biodiversity in the equatorial region
including blood 1. Species • Polar regions have much lower biodiversity
2. Genetics
PHOTOCATALYSIS 3. Ecosystems THREATS TO BIODIVERSITY
• Photocatalytic reactions can • Climate Change
purify water, air, surfaces, ECOSYSTEM BIODIVERSITY
• Land use changes
and fabrics • Ecosystems or communities of living things
• Pollution
• TiO2 nanocrystals /films are different from one another
• Resource exploitation
→ Tropical rainforest
• Exotic Species
→ Arctic tundra
PROPELLANTS → Desert
• Of the 502, 126 kg of GENETICALLY MODIFIED ORGANISMS
SPECIES BIODIVERSITY SELECTIVE BREEDING
propellant used in the • Variety of species in a particular area
solid rocket boosters of • Is when humans artificially select the
• Species is group of genetically distinct animals or plants they want to breed
the Space Shuttle, 16% is
organisms that can have offspring together so that the genes for a desired
atomized Al powder
• Currently, there are 1.7 million species that characteristic can remain in a population
• Nanoscale Al powder
have been named BIOTECHNOLOGY
have higher burn rates
GENETIC BIODIVERSITY • Use of biological systems, living organisms
DRUG DELIVERT AND DISEASE TREATMENT • Variety of genes among individuals of the or derivatives thereof, to make or modify
same species products or processes for a specific use
• Potential to revolutionize
cancer treatment • E.g. all dogs belong to the same species GENETIC ENGINEERING
there are many different breeds that have • Technique that allows genes and DNA to
• Nanocrystals can be
genes for different traits such as size, color be transferred from one source to another,
effective agents for
and coat type leading to the production of living modified
selective targeting and
AMAZON RAINFOREST organisms (LMOs) or genetically modified
destruction of cancer cells
• One of the most biodiverse regions on organisms (GMOs)
→ Small particle size
earth GENETICALLY-MODIFIED ORGANISM (GMO)
→ Surface functionalization is possible
→ Complex ecosystems • Plant, animal, microorganism, or other
→ Unique properties (magnetic, optical) organism whose genetic makeup has been
→ Huge mix of species
→ Genetic variety within the species modified using recombinant DNA methods

2
ROLE OF GMO IN FOOD AND 4. Increase in food processing
AGRICULTURAL 5. Improvement of desirable characteristics
INDUSTRIES 6. Nutritional and pharmaceutical
1. Pest resistance enhancement
FORTIFICATION
2. Virus resistance
3. Herbicide tolerance • Genetically modified plants fortified with POTENTIAL RISKS OF GMO
4. Fortification certain minerals 1. Inadequate studies on the effects of GMO
5. Cosmetic preservation → Beta-carotene to humans and the environment
6. Increase growth rate → Golden Rice 2. Promotes mutation in organisms, which the
PEST RESISTANCE long-term effects are still unknown
• Genetically modified plants to resist pests 3. Human consumption might have the
BT Corn following effects:
• Gene form bacterium lets engineered → More allergic reactions
plants produce protein that destroys the → Gene mutation
digestive system of specific insect pests COSMETIC PRESERVATION → Antibiotic resistance
• Genetically modified plants resist natural → Change in nutritional value
discoloration
BIOSAFETY ON GMOS
VIRUS RESISTANCE 1. Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex)
• Genetically modified plants to resist responsible for the development of
viruses standards, codes of practices, guidelines,
• e.g. GM Papaya (Papaya Ringspot Virus INCREASE GROWTH RATE and recommendations on food safety (has
PRSV) • Genetically modified plants that has higher developed principles for the human health
yield in growth than normal species risk analysis of GM food products)
2. Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety
international environmental treaty that
HERBICIDE RESISTANCE regulates the transboundary movements of
• Genetically modified plants to tolerate LMOs
herbicide 3. International Trade Agreement on Labeling
• Roundup Ready Soybeans are tolerant to of GM food and food products an
BENEFITS OF GMO agreement that requires exporters of GM
the glyphosate (an herbicide) sprayed
1. Higher efficiency in farming food and food products to label their
into them
2. Increase in harvest products and give rights to importing
3. Control in fertility parties to reject or accept the GM products

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 (consumers have the right to know and the
freedom to choose)
GENE THERAPY
GENES
• Basic unit of heredity
• Carried on a chromosome
• Encode how to make a protein:
DNA→RNA→proteins
• Proteins carry out most of life’s function
• Causes dysfunction of a protein when
altered
• When there is mutation in the gene, then it
will:
→ Change the codon
→ Change the amino acid
→ Change the conformation of a protein
→ Change the function of a protein
→ Results to genetic disorders in the
genome
GENE THERAPY
• Seeks to alter genes to correct genetic
defects in order to prevent or cure genetic
diseases.
HOW IT STARTED
• In the 1980s, Scientists began to look into
gene therapy.
→ They would insert human genes into a
bacteria cell.
→ Then the bacteria cell would transcribe
and translate the information into a
protein
→ Then they would introduce the protein
into human cells
THE FIRST CASE
• The first gene therapy was performed on
September 14, 1990
→ Ashanti De Silva was treated for SCID
(Severe combined immunodeficiency)
→ Doctors removed her white blood
cells, inserted the missing gene into the
WBC, and then put them back into her
blood stream.
→ This strengthened her immune system
→ Only worked for a few months
TWO BASIC TYPES OF GENE THERAPY
1. Somatic gene therapy
→ insertion of therapeutic DNA into body
cells
→ effects of the therapy are confined to
the individual being treated
2. Germline gene therapy
→ Modification of the genes inside germ
cells (sperm or ova)
→ Alters the genome of future
generations to come
TWO APPROACHES OF GENE THERAPY
1. Ex vivo – transfer of genes in cultured cells
and will be reinjected to the body of the
patient.
2. In vivo – introduction of therapeutic gene
into the vector injected directly to the
body.
EX VIVO GENE THERAPY
• Step 1: Treatment begins with cells being
removed from an infected person. These
cells are then grown and multiplies in a
laboratory.
• Step 2: Therapeutic gene will be
introduced into the cultured cells using a
virus called Vector. The virus’s DNA is taken
out and replaced with the one that treats
the patient.
• Step 3: The genetically transformed cells
are selected and reinjected into the
patient’s body. These cells can either
destroy the tumour or they produce the
necessary proteins and hormones for
treatment.
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IN VIVO GENE THERAPY
• Involves direct delivery of the therapeutic
gene into the target cells of a particular
tissue of a patient
→ Potential tissue candidates include liver,
muscle, skin, spleen, lung, brain and
blood cells.
• Can be carried out using viral or non viral
vectors
• Success depends on:
→ Efficiency of the uptake of the
therapeutic gene by the target cells
→ Intracellular degradation of the gene
and its uptake by nucleus
→ The expression capability of the gene
• Vector refers to carrier particles or
molecules used to deliver genes. This
includes:
1. Viral vectors
2. Non-Viral vectors
VIRUSES
• Replicate by inserting their DNA into a host
cell
• Gene therapy can use this to insert genes
that encode for a desired protein to create
the desired trait
• Four different types
CURRENT STATUS
• FDA hasn’t approved any human gene
therapy product for sale
• Reasons:
• In 1999, 18-year-old Jesse Gelsinger died
from multiple organ failure 4 days after
treatment for omithine transcarboxylase
deficiency.
→ Death was triggered by severe immune
response to adenovirus carrier
• January 2003, halt to using retrovirus
vectors in blood stem cells because children
developed leukemia like condition after
successful treatment for X-linked severe
combined immunodeficiency disease
PROBLEMS WITH GENE THERAPY
• Short Lived
→ Hard to rapidly integrate therapeutic
DNA into genome and rapidly dividing
nature of cells prevent gene therapy
from long time
→ Would have to have multiple rounds of
therapy
• Immune Response
→ New things introduced leads to immune
response
→ Increased response when a repeat
offender enters
• Viral Vectors
→ Patient could have toxic, immune,
inflammatory response
→ Also may cause disease once inside
• Multigene Disorders
→ Heart disease, high blood pressure,
Alzheimer’s, arthritis and diabetes are
→ Hard to treat because you need to
introduce more than one gene
• May induce a tumor if integrated in a
tumor suppressor gene because insertional
mutagenesis
GENE THERAPY VS STEM CELL THERAPY
• Importance of Stem Cell Research
New science has presented us with a hope
called stem cell research, which may
provide our scientists with many answers
that have for so long been beyond our
grasp
– Nancy Regan
• “If the potential of stem cell research is
realized. It would mean an end to the
suffering of millions of people. If stem cell
research succeeds, there isn’t a person in
the country who won’t benefit, or know
someone who will”
– Michael J Fox
STEM CELL HISTORY
• 1998 - Researchers first extract stem cells
from human embryos
• 1999 - First Successful human transplant of
insulin making cells from cadavers
• 2001 - President Bush restricts federal
funding for embryonic stem cell research
• 2002 - Juvenile Diabetes Research
Foundation International creates $20
million fund raising effort to support stem
cell research
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• 2002 - California supports stem cell
research
• 2004 - Harvard researchers grow stem
cells from embryos using private funding
• 2004 - Ballot measure for $3 Billion bond
for stem cells
• 2005 –Woo Suk Hwang reports that his
team has used therapeutic cloning. But his
claims turned out to be false later that
year.
• 2006 –Shinya Yamanaka reveals that her
team found a way of making embryonic-
like cells from adult cells –avoiding the
need to destroy the embryo.
• 2007 –Evans shares the Nobel prize for
medicine with Mario Capecchi and Oliver
Smithies for work on genetics and
embryonic stem cells.
• 2009 –President Barack Obama lifts 2001
restrictions on federal funding for human
embryonic stem cell research
• 2010 – A person with spinal injury
becomes the first to receive a medical
treatment derived from human embryonic
stem cells
• 2012
– Human embryonic stem cells show
medical promise in a treatment that
eases blindness
– Yamanaka wins a Nobel prize for
creating induced pluripotent stem cells,
which he shares with John Gurdon
• 2013 STEM CELL CHARACTERISTICS
– Shoukhrat Mitalipov and his colleagues • ‘Blank cells’ (unspecialized)
produce human embryonic stem cells from • Capable of dividing and renewing
fetal cells using therapeutic cloning themselves for long periods of time
– the breakthrough falsely claimed in 2005. (proliferation and renewal)
• 2014 • Have the potential to give rise to
– Charles Vacanti together with Haruko specialized cell types (differentiation)
Obokata and colleagues announced a
revolutionary discovery that any cell can
potentially be rewound to a pre-
embryonic state–using a simple, 30-minute
technique.
– Teams led by Dieter Egli and Young Gie
Chung, independently produce human
embryonic stem cells from adult cells, using
therapeutic cloning.
CLASSIFICATION OF STEM CELLS
– Masayo Takahashi selects patients to be
the world’s first trial of a therapy based
on induced pluripotent stem cells, to treat
a form of age-related blindness.
STEM CELL
• A cell that has the ability to continuously
divide and differentiate (develop) into
various other kind(s) of cells/tissues
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HIERARCHY OF STEM CELLS TECHNICAL CHALLENGES
• Source Cell lines may have mutations.
• Delivery to target areas
• Prevention of rejection
• Suppressing tumors
WHY IS STEM CELL RESEARCH SO
TWO MAIN SOURCES OF STEM CELLS: IMPORTANT TO ALL OF US?
1. Embryonic Stem cells
• Stem cells can replace diseased or
• Derived from a four or five day old damaged cells
human embryo that is in the blastocyst
• Stem cells allow us to study development
phase of development
and genetics
2. Adult Stem Cells
• Stem cells can be used to test different
• Found in tissues such as the brain, bone
substances (drugs and chemicals)
marrow, blood, blood vessels, skeletal
muscles, skin, liver and umbilical cord.
WHY THE CONTROVERSY OVER STEM
CELLS?
BLASTOCYST DIAGRAM
• Embryonic Stem cells are derived from
extra blastocysts that would otherwise be
discarded following IVF.
• Extracting stem cells destroys the
developing blastocyst (embryo).
STEM CELL APPLICATIONS THE INFORMATION AGE
• Tissue repair • Digital Age
→ nerve, heart, muscle, organ, skin • Also called the New Media Age
• Cancers • Last quarter of the 20th century
• Autoimmune diseases • Information became effortlessly accessible
→ diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, through publications and through the
→ multiple sclerosis management of information by computers
and computer networks
• The focus of S&T and society became
“information” itself (handling & conveying
it)
• Progress in electronics and computers
caused information to be one of the most
important commodities
• Advances in biology
• Genetics revolution in information science
(recombinant DNA)
• The immune system - also an information
processing system
INFORMATION & SOCIETY
BEFORE
• During Galileo’s and Newton’s time,
people were viewed as complicated
mechanical machines
• Thomas Alva Edison, Alexander Graham
Bell, and Henry Ford
• Screw and bolt in the Industrial era
• Majority of labor force was into
manufacturing of goods
NOW
• Today, the human mind is pictured as a
complicated computer
• Steven Jobs and William Gates
• Microchip (inventors were awarded a
Nobel Prize in Physics in 2000)
• Majority are engaged in supply of services
INFORMATION & GLOBALIZATION
• Communication worldwide became cheap
(with new phone systems and Internet)
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• Changed the way people work
→ Information based work
→ Business trends
→ Global banking
→ Scientific enterprise/research
PROBLEMS WITH INFORMATION AGE
1. Infringement of personal privacy
2. Excessive use of computers in teaching
young children may impoverish the
development of intellectual capabilities
→ “Knowledge” is replaced by mere
“data”
→ Ideas contain data, but data contain no
ideas
FACTS ON THE INFORMATION AGE
• Information must compete.
• Newer is equated with truer.
• Selection is a viewpoint
• The media sells what the culture buys.
• The early word gets the perm.
• You are what you eat and so is your brain.
• Anything in great demand will be
counterfeited.
• Ideas are seen as controversial.
• Undead information walks ever on.
• Media presence creates the story.
• The medium selects the message.
• The whole truth is a pursuit.
WHAT BROUGHT US HERE?
HISTORY OF INFORMATION
• •“in form” what we are
• “What makes a tree a tree? And not
• cement?”
• For 2000 years, explanation/answers
were based on the head (natural
philosophy/reason)
• Oral tradition fascination with sounds and
words
• Print and written culture printing Press
HISTORY OF INFORMATION
Alan Turing 1912 - 1954
• Alan Turing broke the Nazi code
• Developed the concept of computers
• Father of Artificial Intelligence
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
• use of machines to imitate the way humans
think and behave
• replicate in a computer the actions and
functions of biological neurons found in the
human body
CLIMATE CHANGE
• Martin Hedberg meteorologist Swedish
Weather Center
WEATHER
• Short term changes in atmospheric
variables such as temperature and rainfall.
Natures way of balancing forces in the
atmosphere.
CLIMATE
• Long term state of atmospheric variables
like rainfall and temperature The average
weather pattern over a longer period of
time. 100 years
CLIMATE CHANGE (GLOBAL WARMING)
• A significant change in weather patterns.
• When you put it in the perspective of a
longer period of time you find it has
happened many times before.
• 100, 000 years
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GLOBAL CLIMATE SYSTEM
CAUSES OF CLIMATE CHANGE
• External causes
• Solar activity
• Earths orbit
• Meteorites
INTERNAL CAUSES: NATURAL
• Feedback
• Volcanic eruption
• Ocean circulation
INTERNAL CAUSES: ANTHROPOGENIC
• Emissions of greenhouse gases
• Particles/clouds
• Land change
GREENHOUSE GASES The EARTH HAS WARMED
• (has a warming effect) • The earth’s average temperature has
• Left in the atmosphere for 100 years increased by 0.74°C over the past century
PARTICLES RAINFALL PATTERNS HAVE CHANGED
• (mostly a cooling effect) • The world has seen changes in amount,
• Left in the atmosphere for 1 week intensity, frequency and type of
precipitation
GREENHOUSE GASES Rainfall strongly characterized by variability –
• Acts like a glass year to year variations
GLOBAL SEA LEVELS HAVE RISEN
• Its role is to trap infrared heat energy
trying to escape back to space. • During 20th century average increase was
4.8 to 8.8 inches per century (1.2 – 2.2
• Includes water vapor, carbon dioxide,
mm/year) due to:
methane, nitrous oxide and ozone.
• The expansion of ocean water
Human Activity is changing our climate • Melting of mountain glaciers and small ice
Greenhouse gases are increasing! caps
CO2 TO ATMOSPHERE MORE EXTREME WEATHER
• Human Activity • Tropical storm and hurricane frequencies
→ Combustion: Burning of coal and fossil vary considerably from year to year.
fuels However, evidence suggests substantial
increases in intensity and duration since the
→ Deforestation
1970s
METHANE TO ATMOSPHERE
CHANGES WILL CONTINUE INTO THE
• Human Activity FUTURE
→ Landfills
• Caribbean temperatures will continue to
→ Agriculture (rice) increase to 2099
→ Livestock • Computer models suggest the Caribbean
OTHER GASES TO ATMOSPHERE will warm by 1 to 5°C by the end of the
• Human Activity century
→ Ozone from car exhaust
→ CFC’s from Aerosols
9

• The Caribbean and Jamaica will be drier
by 2099
• Drying will be between 25% and 30% in
the mean for the Caribbean
• Drying will be most severe between May
and November
SEA LEVEL RISE
• Caribbean sea level rise may be higher
than in other regions because of its
closeness to the equator
HURRICANES
• Storms will likely be more intense, with
higher rainfall rates and increased
maximum winds
• It’s getting warmer.
• More evaporation. And more rain. → Re forestation
• Sea levels are rising, Glaciers are melting, → Fruit trees production
• Extreme weather... → Dry farming techniques
• Plants and animals adapt, or disappear. → Drip irrigation
• People and societies adapt.
HUMANITY'S LARGE SELF-DECEPTION
• ”It’s just natural climate change”
• ”When we understand all the physics, we
can stop it”
• ”Somebody else has to lower their
emissions”
→ Many small steps. They all add up.
→ Climate has
→ Long braking distance
→ Domino effects
→ Many irreversible processes
WE MUST CHANGE HOW WE LIVE
• More effective use of energy
• Renewable energy
• Capture carbon dioxide from both bio
fuels and fossil fuels
As an example…
• Community risks:
→ Landslides and flooding from heavy
precipitation
→ Extreme droughts on crop production
• Community response:
→ Contour farming
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