Why It Might Change Your Life!

By C. Rhein - Hazelwood Central

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Teacher’s Page• The learner will be able to learn about a current

biological event that is happening internationally and in the St. Louis area.

• The learner will be able to talk about information from credible sources.

• The learner will be able to comprehend that social and economic forces impact the path that science and technology follow.

• This is to be used in conjunction with a science journal.

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In Your Science Journal,write any thoughts about

what the Human Genome Project might entail?

A Human is in the genus and species: Homo sapiens!

A Genome is the genetic pattern of a human!

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What is the Human Genome Project?

• The Project aims to decipher the genetic code hidden in our genes, the basic units of heredity.

• It will help us understand how genes determine what we look like, how we develop, and what diseases we get.

In the Science Journal, write:

What is a gene?NextGo Back

What is a Gene?

Gene: a segment of double - stranded DNA.

• Within the double strand is the formula for making proteins, which control your traits; such as hair color, shoe size, facial features, and tendency toward certain diseases.

• How many genes are in the human body? NextGo Back

• First we must remember, how many chromosomes are in your body cells (somatic cells)?

Click to find answer

• From whom do you inherit your chromosomes?

Click to find answer

23 pair of chromosomes!

1 pair from the biological mother. 1 pair from the biological father.

NextGo Back More info about the Project

• Each of the 46 chromosomes (23 pair) in your cell, contain thousands of genes made up of DNA!

• The human genome project is laying out a biological map of the 3 billion base pairs that make up all human genes.

• Human DNA is so similar, that only 1 in every 1,000 base pair differs.

• Have the genes of any of the chromosomes been completely mapped out?

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• So far, in November of 1999, scientists have laid out the order of about 545 of the estimated 700 genes on chromosome 22, which has only about 1.1 percent of the genes in the human body?

In your, science journal, write:

• Why would it be beneficial if humans had a complete map of all the genes for all of the chromosomes?

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Why is the Human Genome Projectgoing to change lives?

• Hopefully, it will open new ways to diagnose, treat, and prevent the estimated 4,000 genetic diseases in humans, such as cancer, diabetes, muscular dystrophy, cystic fibrosis, etc.

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What University in the St. Louis Area is part of the Human

Genome Project?Click to Find the Answer

The project is international and started in 1990 and is estimated to be finished in spring 2005. “Washington

University has played a leading role in producing many of the ideas and much of the technology,” said

David Schlessinger, former director of the university’s Center for Genetics in Medicine.

Washington University in St. Louis

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What Does The Future HoldIf the Human Genome Project is

Completed?

• Cures for Defective Genes!

• Blood tests would be able to predict your chances of having health problems by detecting faulty genes!

• Humans could be cloned!

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Something Troubling You?Write these questions in the Science Journal with answers. They will be collected and discussed tomorrow!

1. Should Human Beings be cloned?

2. Should faulty genes be replaced or fixed, or should nature run its course?

3. Should it be legal for an employer or health insurer to cut off someone found at risk of having a disease?

4. Should humans manipulate genetic codes in the developmental stages of an embryo, so that a child could be born with specific traits?

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