Alissa+Klammer

Week Three: Unsuspected Genetic Heroes
Over the last week in class, we have had multiple discussions regarding gene sequencing, specifically gene therapy and its limitations. In the TED Talk below, Stephen Friend suggests that a possible avenue for genetic research is studying healthy family members instead of those with the genetic illness. He posses the question, Why do inherited diseases affect only some members of a family while others that carry the same genetic risk factors are able to avoid it?

Here is Stephen Friend's TED Talk: media type="custom" key="26159556" There are thousands of human traits with a known molecular basis. This information provides people with knowledge about the risk of going on to get this disease or that disease. It's as if we have the power to diagnose yet not the power to fully treat. "We're just learning the words, the fragments, the letters in the genetic code. We don't know how to read the sentences. We don't know how to follow the narrative." Most diseases are a loss of function, and it's really hard to develop drugs that restore function. In order to develop therapies for prevention, maybe we should study those who don't get sick.

They're going to be those individuals who are carrying a potential future risk, they're going to go on to get some symptom. That's not what they're looking for. What they're asking and looking for is, are there a very few set of individuals who are actually walking around with the risk that normally would cause a disease, but something in them, something hidden in them is actually protective and keeping them from exhibiting those symptoms? So Friend brought together adults who are over 40 years of age and healthy as kids. They might have had individuals in their families who had had a childhood disease, but not necessarily. They then screened those to find those who are carrying genes for childhood diseases. For example, there was a very small set of individuals who had very high levels of HIV and didn't get AIDS.And astute clinicians tracked that down, and what they found was they were carrying mutations.Notice, they were carrying mutations from birth that were protective, that were protecting them from going on to get AIDS.



Remarkable plummeting in the cost allowed scientists to do this type of analysis and data generation.They found dozens of these strong candidate unexpected heroes. "In order for us to get this project to work, we need individuals to step up in a different role and to be engaged, to realize this dream, this open crowd-sourced project, to find those unexpected heroes, looking within ourselves for information we used to say we should go to the outside, to experts, and to be willing to share that with others." -Stephen Friend

Week Two: The Investment Logic for Sustainability
==For the last couple weeks, we have been applying sustainability to a small scale, focusing on our plants and then to the macro invertebrates found in Robbins Park. I ask you to widen your range to focus to a world scale. Sustainability creates and maintains conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony, that permit fulfilling the social, economic, and other requirements of present and future generations. To focus on the economic perspective, Chris McKnett makes the argument that large institutional investors can really make environment progress in leaps and bounds. He points out that a good investor should not only take into account strong financial data, but also their environmental and social structures as well.==

Here is Chris McKnett's TED Talk:
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==McKnett points out the potential dangers of ignoring sustainability issues because they can limit any long term returns. As mentioned before the foundation for progress can be made with the large institutional investors (foundations and endowments).== ==The population is both growing and aging while over consuming natural resources and increasing emissions responsible for climate change. Most of us are tempted in ignore the issue and pretend that we don't play a role in it.==

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Are the investment rules of today fit for purpose tomorrow?
==When looking to invest in a company, people take into account the financial aspect (cash flow, market share), but that's not enough. Investors should also look for performances measures in ESG (environment, social, and governance). Environment includes energy consumption, water availability, waste, pollution, and making efficient use resources. Social includes human capital, things like employee engagement and innovation capacity, as well as supply chain management and labor rights and human rights. An governance relates to the oversight of companies by their boards and investors. ESG is the measure of sustainability; limiting future risk by minimizing harm to the people and the planet, and it means providing capital to users who deploy it toward productive and sustainable outcomes. In the private sector, about 80% of global CEOs see sustainability as the root to growth in innovation and leading to competitive advantages in their industries. These institutional investors have the money to make a difference - the global stock market is 55 trillion dollars. By investing in sustainability, we're creating insurance, reducing the risk to our planet and our economy and at the same time we are not sacrificing performance.==



Week One: Growing New Organs
In class, we watched Pixar's film Wall-e. Wall-e's story line posses the question; does technology allow for further development and advancement in society, or does technology ultimately cripple humanity?Regardless of my view or the view of the Wall-e creators on this question, this film does highlight the impact technology can have on society. To explore this further, I watched a Ted Talk on the development of new technology, such as a 3-D printer, makes growing new organs possible. The generation of new organs can make an impact on everyone carrying a life-threatening condition, from cancer to organ failure.

Here is the link to the Ted Talk: <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">[|https://www.ted.com/talks/anthony_atala_growing_organs_engineering_tissue#t-1052201]

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Around the world there is a major shortage of viable and functioning organs. In the last decade alone, the number of people on the transplant list has doubled, while the number of actual transplants has remained unchanged. As medicine improves, generations of people are able to enjoy a longer lifespan. But as the population continues to age, their organs grow weaker until they begin to fail. In the Ted Talk above, Anthony Atala points out that every thirty seconds, a patient dies from diseases that could have been treated with a tissue replacement. He points out that our organs are in fact capable of regenerating - that our heart, kidneys, bones, all have a conglomerate of cells ready to take over at a moment of injury. Upon injury, the organ's first reaction is to seal itself off from the rest of the environment or the rest of the body using scar tissue as a from of protection against further harm. Scientists are able to harness this power to bring able regeneration of tissues. The have found that body cells can regeneration, just over smaller distances - about one centimeter can bridge the gap over time.

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<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">The question arises of how to bring about regeneration for greater distances - those over one centimeter.

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<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">If the patient comes in with a diseased or injured organ, scientists can take a very small piece of that organ and then tease that tissue apart to gather the basic components of the patient's own cells. From there, we are able to grow and expand these cells outside of the body in large quantities. Doctors then use materials called scaffolds to transport these cells into the body to generate new tissue.After a couple months, these scaffolds will disintegrate into the body once their job is complete. This technique can be used on both simple and complex structures. Blood vessels, for example are comprised of two types of cells: muscle on the outer layer and blood cells on the inner. The scaffolds are custom made for each patient's size and act essentially as a conduit to allow for the exchange of fluids and nutrients while the cells are regenerate. Hollow organs, such as a bladder, and solid ones, such as an ear, are more complex, but use much of the same process.One strategy for engineering the most complex organs, those that are vascular such as the heart, liver, and kidneys, is a printer filled with cells rather than ink. This process, however, is still experimental and not fully in use for patients even though scientists are proving the functioning ability of these newly formed structures.

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<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Anthony Atala points out, however that technology of this magnitude does have its challenges. 700 researchers have been working across the nation in a twenty year time span to produce these results. Technology advancements can have profound affects, but it takes a lot of time and resources to reach that point. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">"Once you get the formula right, you can replicate it, but it takes a while to get there."