BioQuakes

AP Biology class blog for discussing current research in Biology

Tag: Bio engineering

The Revolutionary Face Mask

Since the start of the pandemic, society has struggled to develop an efficient way to detect the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the atmosphere around you. Well, this is no longer the case thanks to young inventor Yin Fang. The intelligent Yin Fang has developed a complicated face mask that can detect the virus in the atmosphere, and on the mask. Though this does seem extreme, it is ultimately revolutionary as it will allow the us to detect COVID-19 everywhere, which will help stop the spread of it. 

3M N95 Particulate Respirator

How the virus spreads 

SARS-CoV-2 is an airborne virus that hitches a ride between hosts when we breathe in and out. The virus can spread from an infected person’s mouth or nose in small liquid particles when they cough, sneeze, speak, breathe, ect…

Coughing icon

How the mask works 

The mask uses special sensors that react when the viral proteins connect to the face mask. It uses an extremely thin chamber that is filled with the virus proteins so that they bind together and cause the sensor to activate. When the connection is active, the sensor communicates with an app on your phone, to tell it the virus is present. 

How the face mask works is quite similar to what we have learned in our AP Biology. The protein spikes on the virus bind to the mask, almost like how the COVID-19 virus enters the cell. COVID-19 enters a cell when it binds to a receptor and when it does, it enters the cell through phagocytosis and forms a vesicle around it. Though the virus does not get engulfed on the mask, it binds to the receptor, which activates the alarm on your phone, similar to how a virus binds to a cell. 

Fphar-11-00937-g001

Physical features on the face mask 

According to Fang, the mask is extremely lightweight and portable. It has a similar design to your N95 Which allows for a mixture of protection and comfort while wearing the mask. 

 

The Future of the Mask

The new face mask will ultimately allow us to be in indoor spaces while staying safe during a viral breakout. It will enable us to be cautious of our surroundings if the virus is detected. But most importantly, Fang says “The system on the mask could also be updated with aptamers that recognize different pathogens”

Crispr-Cas9: Coming to a Theater Near You

This sequel to GATTACA is to be released shortly, and this time, they’re transcending the movie screen and bringing the experience to reality!

Crispr-Cas9 is a fairly recent DNA-editing technique that has been developed, and allows for extremely easy and precise gene editing, a development said to be at least on par with PCR for bio engineering. In many ways, this is great. Now biologists won’t have to spend the time nor undergo the difficulty of creating variant DNA through old methods, meaning that all these cool genetic breakthroughs should be happening at an unprecedented pace! The problem is, it may be going too fast for humans to wrap their head around.

Similar to the ethical questions raised by the film GATTACA, countries and scientists are debating what regulations should be put on this new and powerful tool. With Crispr-Cas9, the possibility to genetically modify humans becomes a very real option to consider. Scientists could remove DNA sequences which lead to defects and diseases such as albinism and Huntington’s Disease. Or anything else, really.

(The miracle protein)

The main point of Crispr-Cas9 is not necessarily the ability it gives to scientists to easily modify DNA, but the increased rate at which we can understand what specific sequences of DNA do by altering them. Not only are we more able to modify DNA, we are now able to figure it out at breakneck speed.

 

Where it gets complex is, as always, how humans deal with it. Some people, such as Mark Leach, whose daughter has down-syndrome, believes that children with disabilities not only are still able to live rich lives, but also teach others to be more compassionate. Although debating if I would choose to let my child have down-syndrome or not for that reason seems like an absurd consideration, and most likely a coping mechanism, the point still stands that some people are uneasy with fixing genetic-related problems because “they wouldn’t be the same person.” (That’s the point!)

People are really afraid of change, aren’t they?

 

However, for those on the more lethal/completely disabling part of the genetic spectrum, the answer is more than clear.  Charles Sabine, the brother of the renown British lawyer John Sabine, who both have Huntington’s Disease at varying stages, says “If there was a room somewhere where someone said, ‘Look, you can go in there and have your DNA changed,’ I would be there breaking the door down.” Similarly, Matt Wilsey, a parent of a child with a terminal genetic illness, is awestruck at the ridiculousness of the situation: “As a parent with an incredibly sick child, what are we supposed to do — sit by on the sidelines while my child dies?” The oddity of the situation is, we have the capability to start figuring out how to solve these genetic issues with a very effective and efficient technique, it’s just that humans are riding the brakes, trying to slow down the almost inexorable progress of the freight train that is Crispr-Cas9. The irony is that many are afraid with tampering with the “sanctity” of human embryos. I would agree, except that humans defile it all the time. Birth defects, genetic diseases, miscarriages, etc. Of course, this is not intentional, but the parents have the largest hand in these outcomes, as they provide all the material,genetic and otherwise, to create the embryo, fetus, and eventually child. We are already making horrible mistakes with human embryo’s that cripple or kill the resulting child through the natural birth process. Personally, I would go off of this to say we should at least learn from this, so we could eventually progress far enough to prevent these things from ever happening, but I only ask all of the readers to keep this in mind: Nature (very badly) screws up too.

File:Crispr.png

(The process Cas9 facilitates)

I’m not saying that we should be careless with this new and potentially dangerous or aberrant-spawning technology, but I think it’s time that humans come to terms with the fact that their world, and their lives, are entering a new era of existence. For millennia, structured humans have lived in a world where the outside world is the only thing we can manipulate, but now the very structure and formation of ourselves as well. I understand that such a change from a thousands-year-running viewpoint can be hard to make. We’ve never had to think about these things before as a species, because it wasn’t understood and out of our reach. It is daunting. It is terrifying. Only because it is unknown. But how are we to learn, to benefit, from this great potential, if we are too afraid to explore it? I understand that like any form of potential, it can go either way, but this is a great new time of possibilities that simply won’t go away, but reemerge constantly.

I think it’s time we gathered the courage to face it.

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