Unit 6 Reflection

The main topics that were focused on in this unit were the topics of biotech and bioethics. Biotechnology is the study and manipulation of living things in order to benefit mankind. Biotech mainly focuses on DNA (genomes), proteins (proteomics), and inheritance (genetics). Biotech is split up into four main groups. These groups are Industrial and Environmental, Medical and Pharmaceutical, Agricultural, and Diagnostic Research biotech. Fermentation for foods and beverages, bio-fuels, and biodegradable plastic bio-defense are all examples of Industrial and Environmental biotech. Medicines from plants, fungi, animals, vaccines, and gene therapy are examples of Medical and Pharmaceutical biotech. Breeding of animals and plants, and transgenic organisms agriculture are examples of Agricultural biotech. DNA identification and the compare and contrast of the DNA of organisms are examples of Diagnostic Research biotech. Gene therapy is putting a healthy copy of a gene into cells of a person whose copy is defective. GMO or transgenic organisms are organisms who are a product of recombinant DNA which means that they have had foreign DNA inserted into them. Recombinant DNA was another topic of this unit. Recombinant DNA is when the DNA of one organism is inserted into another. It is often described as genetic engineering. The results of recombinant DNA are transgenic organisms/GMOs. The other main topic of this unit was bioethics. Summed up, bioethics is basically the question in genetic engineering of "just because we can, should we?". There are three main parts of bioethics. They are morals, values, and ethics. Morals are a conviction or justifiable positing, having to do with whether something is considered right or wrong. Values are what we see as important or moral, and are determined by your own personal experiences. Everyone has different values. Ethics is the study of how morals/values influence our decisions. Bioethics comes into play when controversial topics in genetic engineering arise. An example of a controversial topic would be cloning. A strength I had in this unit was when  we linked genetic engineering into real world examples with the articles we read. This helped me a lot because I felt very confused and lost before the real world examples. They helped solidify my understanding of this unit. A weakness I had in this unit was understanding PCR. I was quite confused until we did all of the reading and the labs. One of the labs that we did in this unit was the gel electrophoresis lab. In this lab, we tested the lengths of different artificial dyes compared to known lengths. This lab helped to concrete my understanding of how gel electrophoresis works and what it does. In summary, I feel that I am sticking to my New Years goals by stopping to procrastinate, and to study more thoroughly/effectively for my tests which I have started to do. I do not have any lingering, unanswered questions.

Links to other blog posts from Unit 6:

pGLO Lab: http://willbarthellbiology.blogspot.com/2017/01/pglo-lab.html

Candy Electrophoresis Lab: http://willbarthellbiology.blogspot.com/2017/01/candy-electrophoresis-lab.html

New Years Goals: http://willbarthellbiology.blogspot.com/2017/01/new-year-goals.html

This is a picture from our pGLO lab.                                                       This is a picture from our                                                                                                                Candy Electrophoresis lab.