Turning Genes On And Off
- According to Ganesh N. Pandian, Chennai-based researcher, our genes can be tuned on and off, and the process could very well change the lives of people suffering from health disorders.
- He is the member of the team which has proven that the genes can be turned on and off under a valid process of therapeutics. He had lived most of his life in Chennai, and then went to iCeMS (Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences), at Kyoto University, Japan, where he did his PhD.
- He said that there is still a lot more to do on this project. Along with his team, he is trying the ‘a voice’ process, to the silent genes or to turn them on. By resetting or re-programming the cells, it may be possible to treat different diseases.
- They had triggered a gene which was usually silent, and when it was stimulated, they found that the growth of HIV was actually inhibited. Such types of genes are called as the therapeutic genes, and their mutation or non-expression normally results in the disease.
- They have created an ‘artificial switch’ to control the gene expression, activate or deactivate them, in order to cure specific diseases. It is also possible to tweak specific genes in such a way that the cell functions are reset. For example, the skin cells can be tweaked to function as nerve cells or even as the pluripotent stem cells.
- Furthermore, if someone can over-express a specific gene, then it will theoretically be possible to retune his body condition from cancer state to the normal state.
Exams Perspective:
- Gene expression
- Gene Therapy
- Ganesh N. Pandian
- artificial gene switch