Ask the Scientist

I asked the scientist some questions about the red cockaded woodpecker but it showed no results for my questions.  I was hoping for some help with my project.  I did not get back what I had expected for these questions.

I asked why no cure for cancer has been developed.  I got back some good suggestions for a cure for cancer.  Lauren, a pharmacologist, stated that she wondered why we couldn't replace the defective cell's entire DNA with a healthy patients DNA.  I think this seems reasonable but it has not been done yet.  I learned a lot about what could be done from this response.  I learned genome replacement has disadvantages as well.  For example a person with cystic fibrosis has a defective CFTR gene in all cells.  This deficiency is observed in a couple of organs despite the fact that all the cells have the same mutation. DNA replacement from one tissue type in these individuals will not correct their disease.  There is a lot that scientists need to learn about gene therapy.

Some other sites for further reading:
http://www.fda.gov/cber/gene.htm

http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/
medicine/genetherapy.shtml