Medical+Applications

=Medical Applications= Elena Mingora and Cate McCullum

SNP- (single nucleotide polymorphisms) They are single base-pair variations that occur once in every 1,000 base pairs. They are 99.9% identical to every human on the earth. These SNP are used to mark sites in the human DNA so we can learn more about our genome.



DNA technology is making enormous contributions in the medical field. DNA technology is used to be able to identify and diagnosis infectious diseases.

They use a PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) and a nucleic acid to track down certain pathogens in the body, the PCR can be used to amplify and then detect the DNA sequence in the pathogen.

RFLP(Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphisms) markers are also used in medical techniques, RFLP are markers in the disorders that occur in the DNA, these markers can give us the exact place when the gene is not correct. The RFLP markers usually appear when there has been a disease causing allele that has been passed down through generations.

Gene therapy is another way the medical field is expanding with DNA technology, we are now able to manipulate cells that are lacking a certain enzyme that makes it do its specific function, and once the cell is changed, we can reintroduce to the other cells once we have added the genes that make it do its purpose, these cells can then grow and multiply and possibly make all the cells have the new gene.



DNA technololgy is also used in pharmaceutical products, mostly in proteins, you can transfer the gene of a certain protein into a bacterium, yeast or any cell that is easy to grow in a culture, and the cell can then produce the protein that might be present in low quantities naturally. They splice the genes to make hormones, like insulin for diabetic people. DNA can also be used to help fight certain diseases that do not respond to normal treatment, like the treatment of HIV, they can mimic the receptors that the HIV binds to and prevent it from entering the bloodstream

Also in the use of vaccines, vaccines are a harmless variant of the pathogen to help your immune system fight the pathogen off. Scientists can genetically engineer the genes in the pathogen to make it not harmful. Scientists can also mutate the pathogen to make it not harmful, but the gene splicing is usually more helpful in the use of vaccines.