Preclinical studies show that gene therapy can improve muscle strength in small- and large-animal models of a fatal congenital childhood disease know as X-linked myotubular myopathy.
The findings, appearing as the cover story in the January 22, 2014 issue of Science Translational Medicine, also demonstrate the feasibility of future clinical trials of gene therapy for this devastating disease. (more…)
Medical research has been studying molecular cloning for centuries. While many remember the Scottish lambs as the first successful cloning, there have been countless medical advances since then. Many of them are not as evident or dramatic as Molly the sheep, they have been blazing the trail for cloning vital organs, DNA strands and chromosomes in hopes of curtailing or even curing the maladies that plague the human race. Plasmids are at the forefront of this research in hopes they can learn how to insert DNA strands and restructure diseases or ailments on a molecular level.
It is difficult to describe what Plasmid is exactly. Plasmid is a biologically engineered DNA strands that are meant to be used in existing organisms as well as creating new ones. There are many aspects of it used in different ways from molecule cloning, manipulating genes or advancing medical research. Plasmids are circular fragments of double-stranded DNA. Plasmids are used in DNA strands and they can be replicated independently of original chromosomal DNA that created them. While they are mainly used for studying purposes at the moment in biological laboratories, they are meant to advance medical research and hopefully be used to prolong human life. (more…)
