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Innovation in Biology Podcasts

Learn about cutting edge technologies by listening to podcasts generated by students enrolled in BIO-220 Innovation in Biology. 

In this course the students approach biology through the lens of innovation – identification of problems and pathways to solutions.  Students identified recent scientific innovations in the news, read up on the original research, and generated podcasts to educate the Ursinus community.  

This project was funded through a grant to Rebecca Roberts from the Ursinus College U-Imagine Center for Integrative and Entrepreneurial Studies.

PODCAST: Mice and Monkeys Show Positive Signs for Potential HIV Treatment

By Rocco Mesoraca, Sarah Wixted, Jaclyn Zaccaro

A potential cure for HIV is in the making, and it could be closer than we anticipated. Previous studies done on modified mice have provided a starting point for scientists, and they have now been able to suppress the HIV virus in primates. They altered a common cancer treatment method to target HIV infected cells rather than cancerous ones.   

PODCAST: Is the Famine Coming Sooner Than We Think?

By Katelyn Klepacki, Sophia Simoes, and Erin Saybolt

CRIPR/ CAS9 is gene editing technology that is cheap, accessible, and efficient. Gene editing has been used in beneficial ways such as modifying monkey embryos in order to understand human embryos, which can lead to eradicating genetic diseases. However, because this technology is so easy and effective it has already been identified as a possible bioterrorist weapon.

PODCAST: SCNT Cloning Technique is Used for the First Time on Primates

By Deniyele Levin, Pat O’Toole, Daniel Powers

A study in Shanghai, China was published in January, 2018 about the success of the first cloned primate by somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). This is the same technique that was used to make Dolly the Sheep and includes taking a nucleus from one cell and implanting it into another organism’s egg cell. This research specifically looked at the success rates of using fetal fibroblast cells and adult cumulus cells to clone macaque monkeys.

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