Molecular Biology/Medicine

More than 15 years ago the Human Genome Project (HGP) was started as an international effort to decode its billion of bases.

Sep 15, 2003 - Juan C. Mendible

In 1999 wrote three articles about the basic Biochemistry facts of how the body uses the energy that we eat in under the form of carbohydrates, fats and proteins. I discussed why overeating leads to obesity and I also talked a little bit about diets.

Jul 21, 2003 - Juan C. Mendible

In a press release of NewScientist.com, writer Shaoni Bhattacharya, talks about the results of a study published in the volume 24 of the journal Evolution and Human Behavior that suggests that handsome men have the best sperm.

Jun 18, 2003 - Juan C. Mendible

Two years ago I wrote three articles about obesity. In them I described the basic biochemistry facts of fat use and storage. It was a very simplified view, since I described the functions of only three hormones (insulin, adrenaline and glucagon) involved in energy metabolism. There are a few more whose functions are known and undoubtedly others that remain unknown, but for my purposes those three were and still are enough for you to understand the problem.,Two years ago I wrote three articles about obesity. In them I described the basic biochemistry facts of fat use and storage. It was a very simplified view, since I described the functions of only three hormones (insulin, adrenaline and glucagon) involved in energy metabolism. There are a few more whose functions are known and undoubtedly others that remain unknown, but for my purposes those three were and still are enough for you to understand the problem.

May 7, 2003 - Juan C. Mendible

In 2000 I wrote an article on Pharmacogenomics another science born out of the Human Genome Project. It tries to correlate an individual’s genetic make up to his or her response to drug treatment, in other words, personalized medicine. In that article I also discussed how I thought that Pharma companies would go about it. Today, I think that even though my initial approach was right, it was rather naive. It did not take into account the profit factor. That is, I approached it as a scientific problem without considering the economic aspects of it.

Apr 7, 2003 - Juan C. Mendible

After the groundbreaking gene-splicing experiment of Paul Berg in 1972, Molecular Biology exploded. Soon everybody was cloning genes, the biological barriers between all kind of biological barriers were broken with transgenic experiments, the amounts of DNA bases sequenced per day went past the 10,000 in less than five years, and the duplication of DNA in the lab was increased to never undreamed of speeds thanks to the technique of PCR. Soon scientists realized that working one gene at a time was an extremely slow work and the idea was came up: “let's sequenced the whole genome.” Thus was born The Human Genome Project (HGP)and a new science Genomics. Here we will talk about genomes at work.,After the groundbreaking gene-splicing experiment of Paul Berg in 1972, Molecular Biology exploded. Soon everybody was cloning genes, the biological barriers between all kind of species were broken with transgenic experiments, the amounts of DNA bases sequenced per day went past the 10,000 in less than five years, and the duplication of DNA in the lab was increased to never undreamed of speeds thanks to the technique of PCR. Soon scientists realized that working one gene at a time was an extremely slow work and the idea was came up: “let's sequenced the whole genome.” Thus was born The Human Genome Project (HGP)and a new science Genomics. Here we will talk about genomes at work.,After the groundbreaking gene-splicing experiment of Paul Berg in 1972, Molecular Biology exploded. Soon everybody was cloning genes, the biological barriers between all kind of species were broken with transgenic experiments, the amounts of DNA bases sequenced per day went past the 10,000 in less than five years, and the duplication of DNA in the lab was increased to never undreamed of speeds thanks to the technique of PCR. Soon scientists realized that working one gene at a time was an extremely slow work and the idea was came up: “let's sequenced the whole genome.” Thus was born The Human Genome Project (HGP)and a new science Genomics. Here we will talk about genomes at work.,After the groundbreaking gene-splicing experiment of Paul Berg in 1972, Molecular Biology exploded. Soon everybody was cloning genes, the biological barriers between all kind of species were broken with transgenic experiments, the amounts of DNA bases sequenced per day went past the 10,000 in less than five years, and the duplication of DNA in the lab was increased to never undreamed of speeds thanks to the technique of PCR. Soon scientists realized that working one gene at a time was an extremely slow work and the idea was came up: “let's sequenced the whole genome.” Thus was born The Human Genome Project (HGP)and a new science Genomics. Here we will talk about genomes at work.

Mar 11, 2003 - Juan C. Mendible

Today, almost three years after the first draft of the Human Genome Projecte was presented to the world we have a new science: Genomics, that studies how the genome function as whole. The comparison of the functioning of the rat, mice and human genomes, is starting to shed light on how it works in health and disease.

Jan 31, 2003 - Juan C. Mendible

The success of antibiotics has been so spectacular that some doctors said that soon infectious diseases would disappear and would be a thing of the past. However, almost 60 years after the discovery of penicillin we are under attack by new microbes and some of the old ones have become resistant to the antibiotics that used to kill them. What happened?

Jul 3, 2002 - Juan C. Mendible

A unknown number of years ago, perhaps between 3,000 and 12,000, a poxvirus made the jump from its natural host to man. It is now known as smallpox. And it is considered the worst and most dangerous bioweapon in the world. Why is that so?

May 18, 2002 - Juan C. Mendible

In this article I discuss a bioethical aspect of the experimentation with human embryos.

Dec 31, 2001 - Juan C. Mendible

You have probably read about a few couples who have had a baby in order to use his blood to save a sibling's life. In this article I'll explain to you why and how it is done, what are the risks and how much it costs.

Nov 5, 2001 - Juan C. Mendible

Last March the Institute for Reproductive Medicine and Science of Saint Barnabas in West Orange, New Jersey, reported in the Journal of Human Reproduction in the paper: “Mitochondria in human offspring derived from ooplasmic transplantation: Brief communication,” that they had produced 16 babies that had two biological mothers and that here already 30 worldwide. This information caused concern in the medical community because it implicated the modification of the human genome. Before discussing the implications of this fact, let me tell you why and how it was done.

Sep 14, 2001 - Juan C. Mendible

Last June, Transgenic Pets of Syracuse, New York, unveiled its plans to produce cats that do not cause allergic reactions in their owners. That is, it seems that the industry of genetically modified pets to fit their owner’s tastes is about to start.

Jul 13, 2001 - Juan C. Mendible

During the last few years you have heard about "mad cow disease," which not only has wreaked havoc in the British economy but also brought fear into the hearts of the European people because man can be infected by eating contaminated meat.

Jun 12, 2001 - Juan C. Mendible

During the last few months people around the world have been shocked by news that humans are about to be cloned. They come from two sources. An expected one: The Rael Church which made its first announcement less than six months after Dolly's cloning in 1997 and the other from a team of so called scientists, Panayiotis Zavos from the US (Not an MD), Severino Antinori(MD) from Italy and Abi Ben Abraham (MD) from Israel. Is this responsible?

Mar 28, 2001 - Juan C. Mendible

During the last few years hardly a day has passed in which a university lab or a company hasn't announced the discovery of a new disease-associated gene or of the genetic manipulation of one organism or another. Those announcements almost always end with statements like this: "This discovery is very important because it indicates that a possible cure for this or that disease is on sight." Thus, whenever you read that news you think that the problem, whatever it is, is either solved or about to be solved. What worries me, is that a lot of people rushes to make such kind of announcements before they completely understand what they are doing.

Feb 7, 2001 - Juan C. Mendible

If you have read my previous six articles you know about all the scientific efforts that are being done that could lead to the expansion of the human life span. However, all of those are related to high biotech developments: Gene therapy, xenotransplantation, stem cells, artificial organs, human cloning and gene discoveries. Now, what would you say if life span could be increased 40% just by dieting? Wouldn’t it be ironic to spend all those zillions of dollars to find out that by saving them, that is, eating less you could get to be more than 150 years old?

Dec 25, 2000 - Juan C. Mendible

In my previous articles I have told you about the ways they think life will be extended in the near future. They deal with the replacement of cells, organs or disease-related genes. However, those are solutions to the consequences of accidents, diseases and aging. Now I want to tell you about a series of experimental results that strongly indicates that the fountain of youth lies in a set of genes that regulate how we age. Thus, life could be extended if and when the molecular doctors learn how to modulate the action of those genes.

Nov 2, 2000 - Juan C. Mendible

Of all the procedures, gadgets and living parts been explored with the aim of extending human life, the one that I think has the most immediate promising future is provided by the exciting new field of Tissue Engineering, which is what I tell you about in this article.

Sep 16, 2000 - Juan C. Mendible

For centuries man has known that, beyond broken bones, the human body cannot be repaired. That is because there are no spare parts, and the body's defense system rejects any type of tissue not recognized as its own. Will animal organs be used to repair the human body?

Aug 12, 2000 - Juan C. Mendible

In November of 1998 two separate American teams announced an extraordinary breakthrough. One was led by Dr. James Thomson from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the other by Dr. John Gearhart from John Hopkins University. Both teams managed, for the first time, to isolate and to grow indefinitely in the lab human embryonic stem cells (SC). They are the progenitor cells for all specialized cells and, in consequence, capable of producing all the different organs of the body and, thus, having the potential of extending your lifetime.

Jul 17, 2000 - Juan C. Mendible

This is the second article of this series. In it I tell you about how possible is it at this time to clone a human being.

Jun 2, 2000 - Juan C. Mendible

Even though the extraordinary advances in medicine during the last century extended the average human life span from about 30 years at the dawning of the twentieth century to 76 at the beginning of the new millenium, man continues to consider eternal youth as a much longed-for utopia. Lifespan is still limited by the impossibility of finding new organs to replace those damaged by age, accidents or disease and by the lack of cure for cancer and infectious and cardiovascular diseases. However, scientific advances produced during the 1990´s began to plant the idea that, even if eternal youth is not yet within our grasp, extending the lifespan up to 150 years will be a possibility within the next quarter-century.

May 1, 2000 - Juan C. Mendible

In this article, I will tell you about diets and dieting. I will also give you some tips, based on my own experience, that will probably help you lose that extra weight that is bothering you.

Apr 2, 2000 - Juan C. Mendible

This is the second part of a three-part series. It deals with the fact that most obese people are so because of a genetic susceptibility. The susceptibility is brought about because our genes have not evolved to be adapted to an environment in which there is easy access to food rich in energy and very little need of physical work to obtain it.

Mar 1, 2000 - Juan C. Mendible

This article is the first in a series of three dealing with the worldwide problem of obesity. The risks that this disease represent, the fact that there is a lot of ignorance about it and that there are is no magic bullet to rid the world of this major problem.

Feb 2, 2000 - Juan C. Mendible

This article is a brief description of the new science of Pharmacogenomics that will permit the design of medicine specific for a person according to his/her genetic make up.

Jan 3, 2000 - Juan C. Mendible

What we can expect from the human genome project in the near future.

Nov 18, 1999 - Juan C. Mendible