Article Research (:

So on my quest to get caught up before the semester ends I ran across this article about cells and how researchers built genetic devices to program cell's actions. I figured it would go great for one of my standards (research) so I decided to read more on it.

Here is the link: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/66729/title/RNA%2C_obey .... check it out!

I thought it was pretty interesting because a biochemical engineer, Christina Smolke, and her colleagues have created RNA devices that can pretty much be programed the way we can program a computer! They think someday they might be able to do this to plants that way they can alter their cells to make certain protiens during droughts to stay alive. This also may be a cure for cancer because of the way the cells can be programed. They can be "told" to make certain protiens or do certain things that way things with your body go a certain way. Cool right? The new invention is based on eons-old genetic material, or RNA molecules. Since the cells can be altered they had to come up with a sort of "security system" so make sure only one intruder can alter the cells. Their first device made the human kidney cells glow with a fluoresent protien when the RNA deteced a protein from a virus that infects bacteria. These are just examples of what researchers are going to be able to do in the future! It's crazy how far we have came with technology.