ABSTRACT
But these fears were quietened when scientists like Paul Berg, who won the Nobel Prize in 1980 for his ground breaking work in rDNA research, halted potentially dangerous experiments so that public policy could deal with the quandaries posted by new technological possibilities. At the Asilomar Conference in 1975, the leading recombinant DNA specialists came together in Monterey, California and agreed upon the need for safeguards to prevent any health crises or ecological disasters and to reassure the public that their research would proceed with caution. Other milestones in the development of recombinant DNA include the collaboration between Stanley Cohen and Herbert Boyer in 1972, and the 1976 founding of Genetech, the first company to work with rDNA in its drug development laboratories. In 1978 scientists were able to replicate somatostatin, the protein that regulates human growth hormones. Since then, a host of other drugs have been developed through rDNA research including Herceptin and Epogen. So how does one go about making an rDNA molecule? There are three basic methods: transformation, phase introduction and non-bacterial transformation. No matter which method is used, the goal is to introduce recombinant genes into a host cell
along with the expression factor, so that the host cell expresses the desired protein. In each case, scientists need to ‘turn off’ the signals that tell a host cell to destroy or degrade the genes being introduced(Brown 1995). Recombinant DNA research is a challenging field, but it holds great promise. In the future, rDNA techniques will play a key role in preventing genetic diseases, producing targeted medicines and providing patients with less toxic pharmaceuticals. It will also impact agriculture and livestock as researchers find ways to optimize the genetic codes of plants and animals to resist disease and environmental cleanup.
