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Survey of Biometric Tools and Big Data
Published in Rodgers Waymond, Artificial Intelligence in a Throughput Model, 2020
Note, that there are some exceptions to using DNA. For example, a person can have a condition called chimerism, which means s/he has two sets of DNA each with the genetic code to make a separate person. The rare condition can happen during fetal development. A chimera is a single organism that’s made up of cells from two or more “individuals”. It contains two sets of DNA, with the code to make two separate organisms. One way that chimeras can happen naturally in humans is that a fetus can absorb its twin. Further, given this condition, a mother given birth may not display the same DNA with the child (https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/3-human-chimeras-that-already-exist/).
An Introduction to VNPs and Nanotechnology
Published in Nicole F Steinmetz, Marianne Manchester, Viral Nanoparticles, 2019
Nicole F Steinmetz, Marianne Manchester
In the 1970s many efforts focused on the production of virus-like particles (VLPs) for use in anti-viral vaccines (reviewed in Garcea & Gissmann, 2004; Grgacic & Anderson, 2006; Ludwig & Wagner, 2007). A VLP is a particle consisting of the capsid but lacking the genome. A VLP is the replication-deficient and thus non-infectious counterpart of a VNP. Chimeric VLPs and VNPs have also been designed. A chimera is a genetically modified version of a naturally occurring particle or cell. In vaccine development, chimeras are used as carriers or platforms for the presentation of antigenic sequences (sequences that induce an immune response) of other pathogens (reviewed in Garcea & Gissmann, 2004; Grgacic & Anderson, 2006; Ludwig & Wagner, 2007]. More details and insights on the use of viruses in vaccine development are given in Chapter 8.
Genetically Engineered Protein Domains as Hydrogel Crosslinks
Published in Raphael M. Ottenbrite, Sung Wan Kim, Polymeric Drugs & Drug Delivery Systems, 2019
Chun Wang, Russell J. Stewart, Russell J. Stewart, Jindrich KopeČek
There are distinct advantages of biosynthesis over chemical synthesis [10]. It is possible to obtain protein products with a very narrow and even uniform molecular weight distribution, whereas chemical synthesis inevitably results in a mixture of products with different chain lengths. In biosynthesis, by defining the DNA sequence of the gene and by changing the cell culture composition, exact control over the composition and stereochemistry of the target protein can be achieved. Through similar methods uncommon amino acids or amino acid analogs can also be incorporated into the protein chains [13]. By cutting and pasting gene segments through routine molecular biology procedures, different protein domains can be easily assembled, rearranged, and modified to generate new chimeras with novel or improved functions [14].
Untangling Twinning: What Science Tells Us about the Nature of Human Embryos
Published in The New Bioethics, 2021
Another issue for twinning is the missing corpse — what happens to the original embryo? Condic argues that monozygotic twinning damages the original organism, which heals. Twinning does not replace the original embryo — it remains and a new embryo develops from the separated part. In other words, the original embryo has ‘budded’ to produce another embryo. True, it may be difficult to distinguish which embryo is the original one, but this is an epistemological question — it does not entail the embryos are identical. Embryo fusion also presents some ontological puzzles. The most difficult case is when two embryos combine to produce a single embryo, known as a chimera. This raises the question of what happens to the original embryo. Condic notes that it is uncertain as to whether this kind of embryo fusion ever occurs naturally, but chimeras are often produced in the laboratory, and so the possibility must be considered. In her view, the two human individuals involved die upon fusion. Their cells combine to produce a distinct third individual, which explains why there is no corpse in this case.