Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Websites of note

2002; Wiley; Volume: 30; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1002/bmb.2002.494030050127

1539-3429

Graham R. Parslow,

Genetics, Bioinformatics, and Biomedical Research

This is a new web site with only 53 reviews available when inspected. However it will delight anyone with a general interest in science and love of a good read by accomplished authors. The review of James Watson's The Double Helix (1968) begins, “Oh, to be young, brilliant, and arrogant! This famous memoir about one of the great scientific discoveries gives us a bit of the feeling. James Watson is breezy and engagingly blunt as he recounts his co-discovery, at age 23, of the structure of DNA, which in turn made apparent the mechanism of gene replication and laid the foundation for the cracking of the genetic code. Half Scientific American, half Vanity Fair, The Double Helix is a wonderfully entertaining read as long as you are not one of the people mentioned in it.” The reviews are also apt to point out deficiencies that hindsight and alternate views have unmasked. One such review reads, “Watson's entire portrait of Franklin is a casual dissection of her failures in cosmetics and dress, a few dismissals as an obstreperous feminist, and his own meditations on how much he'd like to see the crystallographic information. A eulogistic epilogue about the difficulties Franklin surmounted in becoming a first-rate scientist seems like too little too late, and unreflective to boot.” Other book reviews that caught my attention include the following: James Burke, The Knowledge Web (1999); Gerald Durrell, My Family and Other Animals (1956); Laura Fermi, Illustrious Immigrants (1971); Richard Feynman, Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! (1985); Stephen Gould, The Mismeasure of Man (1981); Stephen Hawking, A Brief History of Time (1988); Richard Leakey, The Origin of Humankind (1994); Michael Shermer, Why People Believe Weird Things (1997); Dava Sobel, Longitude (1995); Alan Stripp, Codebreakers (1993). I came across this site while looking for a non-specialist explanation of how magnetic resonance imaging works. The result was most satisfactory and left me looking at lists of many devices for which I have furtively wondered what lies behind the panels. The “Science and Technology” choice leads to topics in defined areas including chemistry and genetics. You should be able to locate easily “How DNA Evidence Works,” by Ann Meeker-O'Connell. It starts with an excellent overview of genome structure, although the eye travels immediately to an electrophoresis pattern that reveals “who done it”; the detective in all of us gets immediate gratification from this. The science is very clear with simple, accurate diagrams. “Length Polymorphisms” are described as non-coding DNA with variations in the physical length of regions of the DNA molecule. DNA evidence uses variations from stretches of short, identical repeat sequences of DNA. A particular sequence can be repeated anywhere from one to 30 times in a row, and so these regions are called variable number tandem repeats (VNTRs).1 The size of a DNA fragment depends on how many copies of a VNTR there are. In the case of DNA evidence the number of tandem repeats at specific loci on chromosomes varies between individuals. For any given VNTR individuals will have a certain number of repeats. Homologous chromosomes from mother and father mean that there are two copies of each VNTR locus. Students using this site will readily see how this “stuff” works. For several years I have received the journals Lab Plus International and BioTech International, free from Reed-Elsevier publishers. The format is to package contemporary commentaries on new methodologies and biotechnology with advertising that allows the journals to be sent gratis. You will have to fill in a form that effectively declares that you are a target person of interest to the advertisers. An annual renewal form is sent to maintain a subscription, but this is not much of a chore. I regularly cut articles from these journals and hang them in the student laboratories and corridors to provide color and hopefully inspiration or motivation. Because they are free I have no hesitation in cutting into these journals. Although there is a link between the editorial content and the advertising content, the excellent presentation of the science is complete justification for putting hesitation aside. The dismissive term “junk mail” is not fair to these high quality publications. I have even come to enjoy receiving them as my allotment of tangible mail progressively decreases (advertisements and internal memos telling me of chores now make the bulk of my non-virtual mail). Additional titles that you can choose from are Clinical Laboratory International (for clinical biologists), International Hospital (for healthcare decision makers), Drug Plus International (dedicated to the drug discovery market), and Food Engineering and Ingredients. The company that pushed the completion of the human genome offers a rather starkly clinical face on its web site. The navigation is superficially transparent but poorly structured when trying to get around the site. There are a number of news releases that have interesting information on corporate achievements that are reached by choosing “Press.” However, the hidden gem is reached by choosing “Corporate Info” and proceeding to the frequently asked questions. The first two entries are reproduced here, just in case you had missed this background. Q. What is Celera? A. Deriving its name from the Latin word for swiftness, Celera was formed for the purpose of generating genomic information to accelerate the understanding of biological processes. Celera Genomics was established in May 1998 by the PE Corporation and J. Craig Venter, Ph.D., a leading genomic scientist and founder of The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR). Q. When did Celera finish the human genome? A. Celera announced its first assembly of the human genome on June 26, 2000. The company began the analysis or annotation phase at that time and published the human genome in Science February 16 2001. Now avert your gaze to the right, and you should see “View our Genomics Education Flash media module.” What will reward you is a highly professional animated tour of DNA structure and genes, well suited to introductory courses. The topics are “chromosomal structure,” “DNA sequencing,” “sequencing approaches,” “positional cloning,” “DNA polymorphisms,” “pharmacogenomics,” “drug targets,” and “applications of the human genome initiative” (a little dated). Try to have audio output from your computer to hear the narrative. These tutorials are an excellent teaching resource. This site is of value to those interested in medical genetics and ethics. The Murdoch Institute is a major research institute, with over 450 staff and more than 100 honors and post-graduate students. I can see their building, attached to the local children's hospital, as I look out my window. It was only because a colleague suggested that I include The Murdoch in this article that this review appears. I have added this background to make the point that it is easy to overlook teaching resources, real and virtual, that are located metaphorically under our own noses. Current areas of research and treatment of childhood diseases at The Murdoch include cerebral palsy, cancer, muscular dystrophy, diabetes, asthma, allergies, deafness, infectious diseases, genetic conditions, depression, and behavioral problems. The director, Professor Bob Williamson, is a local public intellectual who is quick to offer media commentaries on any matter medical or genetic. He also appears as a guest lecturer in a number of courses given at my university. Part of his leadership has been to establish an educational unit in his institute to inform the general public and school and university students about leading edge medical matters. One part of this is a well staffed unit to work through ethical questions like the following. Should we clone human beings? Should we produce embryos for research purposes? Should gay women be able to produce children of their own? Should we genetically enhance human beings? You will not find the answers here, of course, only more questions. The education section of the web site was a disappointment, making reference to activities and products but not being a useful primary resource. Because I have seen some of their materials demonstrated I suspect that they are being withheld against potential commercialization. Browsing through summaries of research activities at the institute and following some outside links gave some bonus satisfaction. A gene technology information service, educational materials, and fact sheets are available at this commendably professional site. Biotechnology Australia, which mounts this site, is a collaboration of government departments to provide information on life science research and industry. The site offers a primary resource of material for student projects and references to sources of additional information. An easily assimilated catalogue of information is contained in the fact sheets. For example, the fact sheet on gene technology techniques is further divided into “Genetic Engineering: What is it?,” “Genes, DNA, and chromosomes,” “The discovery of genes and gene technology,” “Techniques of modern gene technology,” “What is genetic engineering used for?,” “Risk and new technologies,” and “Future prospects.” The entries are both succinct and accurate. The total of twenty-six fact sheets also includes the titles “Genetic Testing,” “Prenatal Testing,” “Genetic Privacy,” “Clinical Trials,” “Gene Therapy,” “Human Cloning,” and “Stem Cells.” The section on references gives a catalogue of topics with well annotated summaries of articles that students can obtain either on-line or in readily accessible sources such as Scientific American or New Scientist. Be careful to locate the option to inspect the “Biotechnology Online School Resource,” because this is a portal to substantial additional material. There are ∼150 pages containing research, case studies, and topical issues on biotechnology. To support this information there are teacher notes, 34 student worksheets, six interactive activities, and glossary items. The level is largely pre-university but served to make me reflect on how little my teaching involved direct discussion of societal issues related to biotechnology. The materials can be purchased as a CD-ROM (to avoid on-line delays to a class) with copious printed notes in a well presented folder for around $18. I have a copy of that folder, and it is a remarkable value at barely printing cost recovery. The “interactives” offer a range of animated tutorials on gene manipulation. The interactive on DNA profiling presents DNA found at a crime scene to find out whether a suspect was there, and you can look at blood samples to find out who is entitled to a share of the estate of a dead man. If you want to search for a journal then chances are that it is listed at this site. There is a convenient alphabetic short cut to titles, but if you wish to browse then the list begins with “Acta Crystallographica Section D: Biological Crystallography, ISSN: 0907-4449, Abbrev: Acta Crystal D, Published Bi-Monthly, Editor: J. R. Helliwell (Uni. Manchester), Publisher: International Union of Crystallography.” Each entry has similar details right down to the journal Yeast. A simple click on the journal title takes you to the home page for that journal. A helpful key with each entry declares the provision of full free access to the entire site, full access for subscribers (limited access for rest), on-line version with abstracts or summaries only, and several other variations on access possibilities. The contents do not include this journal (BAMBED), so I will need to contact Jim Beasley, who maintains the page, and take him at his word that comments, corrections, or additions are welcome. Yet another compendium of links but with a little novelty and a bias toward cellular structure and function. The full address of this link has been given, because arriving at this target may be difficult (the site seems to have lost some links from the home page). The cell biology and biochemistry page contains succinct summaries of the contents at each of the original source sites pointed to. Many of the sites have been reviewed previously in “Websites of Note,” but there are many interesting ones left on which to follow up. The titles of the links have many references to topics in metabolism. Returning to the home page will reveal that BIOZONE is a commercial provider of multimedia products, and you may wish to use their virtual shopping trolley to acquire books, CD-ROMs, wall posters, and overhead transparencies. This is a site for diversion, with the excuse that the format is pseudo-scientific. It will seem to any onlooker that you are performing a genetic analysis of chromosomes, but the intellectual level is rather that of the game Tetris. There is little higher scientific meaning although the mental challenge of solving the chromosome puzzles can be argued to have value. A preamble intended to legitimize the game reads, “The human genome contains more than three billion chemical bases, which combine to form our DNA. Scientists first began trying to determine the exact arrangement of these bases in 1990. It took them nearly a decade to figure out the order of 33 million bases that made up 700 genes on a single chromosome! This challenging learning game will help you understand why their task was so difficult.” At the beginning of a game of “Genome Project” a range of genes, marked by shape and color, appear on the four arms of a chromosome. The object is to make the arms identically homologous by flipping segments of genes until the left and right arms match. You can click the “Undo” or “Redo” button if you change your mind. There are 30 levels, with progressively longer chromosomes, and the game keeps track of your personal best result for each level. The accompanying bland music might be regarded by some as a feature. Mathtools is an unusually broad site with lists of links to many subject areas. The lists are annotated with a brief statement of content and seem to grow by latest additions being placed on the top of a list. For the list given by the above URL, the top entry when inspected was “Biochem Basics – A very simple biochemistry page written by a high school student for high school students. Includes clear explanations, original diagrams, and fun animations.” Progressing to a link is not automatic, because Mathtools requires a free registration to progress to the content, with the promise that you will receive the Mathtools News Digest for free. Most of the sites mentioned have been reviewed previously in “Websites of Note,” so I did not avail myself of the registration. Delete “Education” from the end of the URL to move up one level in the site, and you will encounter another relevant list. I found no useful lists at other higher or lower levels.