'm excited about what is
coming in health care. No, not nationalized health care, which may impede
potential developments, but the general future of health care. Current
health research presents an optimistic picture of the earth's population
enjoying healthier, longer lives.
What do you think of when you hear of biotechnology or genetic engineering? Maybe you think of someone bringing to life a dinosaur from an ancient piece of DNA, the idea in the recent movie Jurassic Park. More realistically, you may think of a medical researcher using aborted fetal tissue or people trying to pre-select children with certain desirable traits. As with any area of exploration, the potential for deliberate immoral behavior or simple blunders is ever present.
But genetic engineering also holds out the potential for great good. Hemophiliacs, for example, who previously had to expose themselves to the AIDS virus when receiving a blood clotting factor isolated from human blood, can now obtain the clotting factor from a process using recombinant DNA. [1] Geneticists can now insert a piece of DNA containing the information for a particular protein or protein-like product into something like a bacterium, which is then harnessed as a tiny microbial factory to produce the needed product. A great number of items may eventually be produced in this way.
Consider, also, vaccines. Some researchers are exploring the possibility of putting the genetic information necessary to induce an immune response, in effect a vaccine, into certain plants. The long- range goal would be to make taking a vaccine as simple as eating a few slices of fruit or putting some special alfalfa sprouts on a sandwich. This strategy would avoid many of the steps of isolation, purification of serums (which may not always be successful), refrigeration requirements, etc., that make vaccines expensive and reduce their availability. While these vaccines are only on the horizon at this point, antigens for cholera, which were shown to be active when taken orally by mice, have been produced by genetically altered alfalfa plants. [2]
Gene therapy is another strategy in primitive infancy. Instead of placing genetic information into other organisms such as bacteria or plants, it might make sense to insert it directly into targeted tissues of individual patients to replace damaged, defective, or missing DNA. The idea is to supply the body with the missing cellular information that it needs to combat diseases or conditions. Such therapy has potential for a host of diseases, including diabetes, cancer, and lupus.
Even the more conventional fronts of drug development and chemistry are gathering important data from biological insights. The Lord apparently created living things in such a way that the three-dimensional structure of a molecule is central to its functioning. Having the same general structural formula is not enough. Molecules with a particular group on one side of the main group versus the other, or molecules with mirror-image groups can result in drastic differences in biological activity. Chemists are now recognizing that such differences are crucial for creating synthetic medicines and vitamins. Synthetic vitamin E is less effective than natural vitamin E because it is made up of several similar compounds, only one of which is the most effective natural one. In certain cases, some researchers now think that various drugs removed from the market because of their side-effects may have simply had mirror image chemistries where one molecule had the desired effect and the other had toxic effects. Chemists are making great strides in their ability to identify, design, and synthesize more specific molecules for drug purposes. With specific discoveries in the processes controlling diseases like Alzheimers and even flu viruses, chemists have even more specific aims.
Geneticists are also making important advances in understanding the genetic basis of aging. Though in its infancy, research indicates that aging has no single "master switch" but is instead a complex phenomenon. Researchers have identified some of the genes that influence aging in various model systems such as yeast, fruit flies, nematodes, and cell culture. In some cases, life spans have been increased by up to fifty percent. [3] Other research is focusing on the steps involved in normal memory loss associated with aging.
In addition to work on human systems, scientists are also examining improvements in our food supply. Many researchers are focusing their efforts on maintaining a fresher, more nutritive food supply. Wonder about all those additives and preservatives on the labels of many foods? We may someday replace them with natural "biopreservatives." We're seeing similar insights into reducing pesticide use through more natural biocontrol strategies, along with improved waste management and toxic pollutant control research.
This is an exciting age to be a scientist.
Will future generations have healthier, longer lifetimes than what we currently experience? We know that at some point the "earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea" (Is. 11:9) and that he who dies at one hundred will be thought to be a mere youth (Is. 65:20). The connections are worth pondering.
