Gene Therapy Used to Rid Acute Leukemia

On March 20, 2013, an article was published in Science Translational Medicine about how gene therapy was used for curing Acute Leukemia. Gene therapy was used in T-cells that were engineered to attack B-cells in humans. This engineering of the T-cells has caused cases of Acute Leukemia to go into remission in five patients. The patients remission lasted from a range of five months to two years, with a few deaths that haven't been determined whether the treatment was the cause or if the deaths were unrelated. 

I think this article is very interesting because it shows how close scientists are at curing a cancer that causes about 257,000 deaths a year. Even if the scientists aren't able to cure leukemia, they are still getting closer each day and that will help all the people with this cancer to be able to live longer. This study of leukemia will be able to cause the cancer to go into remission for many patients and could eventually help scientists realize what causes other types of cancer and how to use gene therapy to get rid of them as well.

9108605-leukemia-versus-normal-blood-eps8.jpg

References:

1. Yandell, Kate. "The Scientist." The Scientist. N.p., 27 Mar. 2013. Web. 31 Mar. 2013.

2. Brentjens, Renier J., Marco L. Davila, Isabelle Riviere, and Michel Sadelain. "CD19-Targeted T Cells Rapidly Induce Molecular Remissions in Adults with Chemotherapy-Refractory Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia." CD19-Targeted T Cells Rapidly Induce Molecular Remissions in Adults with Chemotherapy-Refractory Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. American Association for the Advancement of Science, 20 Mar. 2013. Web. 31 Mar. 2013.

My favorite class that I have taken at SUNY Plattsburgh was Genetics. I found that being able to see why people are the way they are from the genetic code in DNA so interesting. That is why I chose to write about Francis Collins, because he is the man that cracked the code on genetics. He was able to create a way of looking at DNA by using the positional cloning method. With this method he was able to determine where mutations occur on DNA and with each mutation which disease it is.
The man that "Cracked the Genetics Code", is known scientist, Francis Collins. Francis Collins was raised on a small farm in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley by his Christian believing mother and father. Collins was home schooled by his mother until the sixth grade and graduated from the Robert E. Lee High School at the age of 16. After High School he attended the University of Virginia and earned his B.S. in Chemistry in 1970. Collins went forth with his education and earned his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Yale University. After he graduated from Yale, he enrolled into medical school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and earned his M.D. in 1977.
After obtaining his M.D., he returned to Yale where he was named a Fellow in Human Genetics from 1981-1984. During this time Collins developed innovative methods of crossing large stretched sections of DNA to identify disease genes known as positional cloning. Using the positional cloning method, Collins has uncovered genetic risk factors for many common diseases. Some of these diseases include cystic fibrosis, Huntington's disease, neurofibromatosis, M4 type of adult acute leukemia and multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1.
Collins became the director of the National Center for Human Genome Research in 1993. Over the 15 years while he was director, Collins expanded the NHGRI to overseeing International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium in 1997. In April 2003, Collins and his team identified the genetic basis for Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome. On November 5, 2007 Collins was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. About a year later Collins stepped down from being Director to explore other professional opportunities and work on his publications.

References:
1. Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D.. "Francis S. Collins." National Human Genome Research institute . October 13th 2011.  . October 21st 2012. <http://www.genome.gov/10001018>

2. Georgina Ferry. "Francis Collins biography ."  The Human Genome wellcome trust . 3/19/04.  . October 21st 2012. <http://genome.wellcome.ac.uk/doc_WTD021048.html>.

3. "Francis Collins Biography Presidential Medal of Freedom." Academy of Achievement. Dec 16th 2010.  . October 21st 2012. <http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/col1bio-1>.