BIOL 112 - Cells & Molecules

Paper II: Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering

Below is a list of possible readings for the second paper.  Select your topic carefully.  Some of the Science papers are quite challenging. “I could not understand it” is not an appropriate comment in your papers!!!  If you are having trouble, see me.  Journals containing these papers are on reserve in the Library and posted in the Course Guide for this class.

Published Papers Online

Published Papers

• Trauma in the Family Tree. Rachel Yehuda. Scientific American. July 2022.
• How COVID Changed the World. Special Report. Scientific American. March 2022.
• Genetically Bloated Beasts. Douglas Fox. Scientific American. February 2022.
• Blueberries and Blood: Aging Research Goes from Great Science to Snake Oil. Julianna LeMieux. GEN Biotechnology 1:1. Pp. 3-10.February 2022.
• The Body Against Itself.  Special Report on Autoimmune Disease. Scientific American. September 2021.
• Genomic Visions: Where are we now?  Julianna LeMieux. pp. 20-25. Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News. February 2021.
• Separation anxiety: Phase separation, an idea about how cells organize their contents and functions into droplet-like compartments, has divided biologists. Mitch Leslie. Science.  22 Jan 2021:  Vol. 371, Issue 6527, pp. 336-338
• Viruses Can Help Us as Well as Harm Us: Experts are figuring out how to exploit the 380 trillion viruses that make up the human virome. David Pride. Scientific American. December 2020.
• A Breakthrough in Genetic Medicine for Rare Diseases. A long-disdained therapy that targets RNA is suddenly achieving spectacular success. Lydia Denworth. Scientific American. March 2020.
• The DNA Drug Revolution: By manipulating life's master molecule, scientists are treating the root cause of disease. Josh Fischman. Scientific American. Januar 2020.
• The Power of Spheres: DNA or RNA molecules, arranged into spherical shapes, can attack brain cancers and other illnesses that evade conventional drug design. Chad A. Mirkin, Christine Laramy and Kacper Skakuj. Scientific American. January 2020.
• 23 and Baby: We now have the ability to screen for thousands of genetic diseases in newborns. That may not always be the healthy thing to do. Tanya Lewis. Scientific American. January 2020.
• Gene Therapy Arrives: After false starts, drugs that manipulate the code of life are finally changing lives. Jim Daley. Scientific American. January 2020.
• Fighting Unfairness in Genetic Medicine: DNA-based medicine needs more diversity to avoid harmful bias. One big research project is fixing that. Stephanie Devaney. Scientific American. January 2020.
• Genetically Engineering Wild Mice to Combat Lyme Disease: An Ecological Perspective. ALLISON A. SNOW. BioScience. September 2019.


• A PAINFUL LEGACY: Mice hint at how people’s emotional trauma may affect the biology of their children—and their children’s children. By Andrew Curry. Science. 19 July, 2019.


• ALL THE WORLD’S DATA COULD FIT IN AN EGG: How DNA is used to store—and generate—information at extreme scales. By James E. Dahlman. Scientific American. June 2019.


• New plant breeding technologies for food security: Improved crops can contribute to a world without hunger, if properly managed. By Syed Shan-e-Ali Zaidi, Hervé Vanderschuren, Matin Qaim, Magdy M. Mahfouz, Ajay Kohli, Shahid Mansoor, Mark Tester. Science.


• A Shot at Re-generation: A once abandoned drug compound shows an ability to rebuild organs damaged by illness and injury. By Kevin Strange and Viravuth Yin. Scientific American. April 2019.


• Untangling the Formation of DNA Loops: New discoveries on ancient loops in DNA offer clues into gene regulation. By Erez Lieberman Aiden. Scientific American. March 2019.


• Genetically modified virus to perform gene editing of crops in planted fields. Agricultural research, or a new bioweapon system? Insect-delivered horizontal genetic alteration is concerning. Policy Forum. R. G. Reeves et al. Science. 5 October 2018. P. 35


• RNA modifications modulate gene expression during development. M. Frye et al. (Shaping the body: Special Section on Genes in Development) Science. 28 September 2018. P. 1346.


• Chromatin plasticity: A versatile landscape that underlies cell fate and identity. T. Yadav et al. (Shaping the body: Special Section on Genes in Development) Science. 28 September 2018. P. 1332.


• Should Individuals Share Their Genomic Profiles? Researchers and patient advocates wrestle with privacy and ethical concerns. John H. Tibbetts. BioScience. September 2018.


• Dynamic DNA methylation: In the right place at the right time. C. Luo et al. (Shaping the body: Special Section on Genes in Development) Science. 28 September 2018. P. 1336.


• Emerging applications for DNA writers and molecular recorders. F. Farzadfard and T. K. Lu. (Special section on Technologies Transforming Biology). Science 31 August 2018. P. 870


• CRISPR-Cas guides the future of genetic engineering. G. J. Knott and J. A. Doudna. (Special section on Technologies Transforming Biology). Science 31 August 2018. P. 866


• Daring to Hope: Patients thrill to reports of a promising antisense drug against Huntington disease, but no one is sure yet whether it works. Meredith Wadman. Science. 24 August 2018. P. 742.


• HIV/AIDS: Far from over. Special feature showcasing three places where “ending AIDS” is a distant hope. Science. 15 June, 2018. (Includes Far From Over, Dark Nights, Bright Stars, and Mother of all Challenges)


• Early detection of invasive exotic insect infestations using eDNA from crop surfaces. Rafael Valentin, et. al. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. June 2018.


• Genomic insights into the emergence and spread of antimicrobial-resistant bacterial pathogens. Stephen Baker, Nicholas Thomson, François-Xavier Weill, Kathryn E. Holt. Science. 18 May, 2018.