(August 2003) Imagine a typical drive through the countryside. As you look out your window, you notice a farm. There are cows and sheep grazing on grass, chickens in the coop and pigs in the sty. However, this is no ordinary farm. What you don’t see is a blood clotting factor being produced in the cow’s milk, strong yet light-weight spider silk proteins being produced in the sheep, vaccines in the chicken eggs and that the pigs are destined to be a source of transplant organs (xenotransplantation). No, this is no ordinary farm. This farm of the future is actually…

(August 2004) Viruses were first described as agents that were not retained by the unglazed porcelain filters that early researchers used to remove bacteria from solution. In 1898, scientists observed that the agents responsible for foot and mouth disease, as well as tobacco mosaic disease, were filterable. It was discovered that these agents would not grow unless cells were added to the growth medium. Serial dilutions of these infectious agents were performed to rule out toxins as the cause of symptoms. The failure of these pathogens to multiply in solutions in which bacteria were able to grow, as well as…

(August 2003) Prions and prion diseases have been widely discussed in the media in recent years. The interest in prions and prion diseases was stimulated by the outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE or Mad Cow Disease) in Europe in the mid-nineteen-nineties. This is a relatively new area of study. What exactly has been discovered about prions and prion diseases? What Are Prions? Prions are proteins found on the plasma membrane (the membrane that surrounds a cell and defines its physical boundary). In mammals, prions are found in the highest concentration in cells of the central nervous system. In mammals…

(August 2004) Huntington disease (HD) is a rare, progressive and fatal autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disorder, typically of adult onset. In 1872, Dr. George Huntington (1850-1916), a family doctor in the U.S., published the first paper on the disease that he called “Huntington’s chorea” [1]. A chorea is an abnormal, involuntary movement. The name comes from the Greek word chorea, which means dance. In 1983, HD was the first gene mapped to a chromosomal locus using an anonymous marker technique [2]. After a ten-year struggle, during which fundamental strategies of positional cloning were developed, the causative mutation, a CAG trinucleotide repeat…

(August 2004) Of all human infectious diseases, smallpox is believed to have resulted in more human deaths throughout history than from any other single pathogen. The causative agent of smallpox, Variola virus, was eradicated from natural existence in 1977, through a global vaccination effort administered by the World Health Organization (WHO). Currently, the only official stores of Variola are in freezers of two research sites: one at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta, and one at the VECTOR research facility in Russia. The story of smallpox is one with many chapters, of which the end has not been…

(August 2004) On 27th December, 2002, Dr. Brigitte Boissilier, scientific director of Clonaid, claimed the birth of the first cloned human. The announcement was greeted with revulsion from the general public and skepticism among the scientific community. Although the world still awaits scientific verification of this procedure, the claim intensified the ongoing public debate regarding this technology and its potential uses. Cloning has been hypothesized to have the potential to revolutionize at least two aspects of human life. Therapeutic cloning aims to produce embryonic stem cells which, because of their multipotentiality, have been proposed as a source of cells for…

(August 2004) Approximately 23% of Canadians [1] and 200 million [2] people worldwide are considered obese, an increase from 10 years ago. Obesity is usually associated with but not limited to developed nations. In addition to social stigmas, there are significant health risks that come with being overweight. Studies have shown that having excess weight increases susceptibility to diabetes, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure and stroke, as well as certain forms of cancer. What causes obesity? The traditional view is that overeating and lack of exercise are responsible for weight gain. Thus, a greater input than output of energy will…

(August 2004) In the last century, nothing has made a bigger impact on human health than antimicrobial chemotherapy [1]. After 20 years of clinical use, antibiotics have increased the average human life expectancy by ten years while in comparison, curing cancer would only only extend life expectancy by two years [1]. From 1900 to 1990, the average life expectancy of citizens of the U.S. increased a staggering 29 years. In fact, in most of developed countries, mortality due to infectious disease has largely been replaced with mortality due to chronic illnesses such as heart disease, cancer and strokes. Although the…

(August 2004) Introduction to Prostate Cancer The prostate is a small gland about the size and shape of a walnut situated just below the bladder and surrounding the urethra (the vessel that carries urine)(See Fig. 1). The prostate produces the seminal fluid in which sperm is transported. Figure 1. The Prostate Gland A cancer arises when cells stop growing in an organized and controlled manner. Without proper control cells grow rapidly, eventually forming a tumour. This is a common occurrence in the prostates of older men. Prostate cancer usually begins as a small focus, or several foci, of cancerous cells…