Making Mice Human
-- By Nicholas A. Jew

Scampering around a cage with trembling whiskers and small, beady eyes, the particular mouse in question looks no different from any other mouse to the naked eye, but deep within the molecular makeup of this mouse there lies a key difference. This mouse comprises not only natural mouse genetics and an array of proteins but also human proteins, human DNA sequences, and the potential for human furtherance. Early in January of 2006, Nils Lonberg of Medarex Inc. and Harry Meade of GTC Biotherapeutics created a startling new transgenic mouse [7]. While transgenic mice are not newcomers to the biotechnology and medical research fields, this particular mouse houses a complete human immune system. In the realm of medical sciences, the search for new therapies and miracle cures takes on a life of its own, and medical applications abound with this new possibility on the frontier of genetic engineering. Limitless possibilities for applying transgenic animals to medicine currently exist. These include harvesting human antibodies from chimera milk and the subsequent creation of novel drugs. Fifty biotech and pharmaceutical companies are already pursuing the utilization of these chimeric products.
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A Map of the Heart
-- By Mae Sattam

It is the year 2006, and the colors of the world shine through the windows of the white room. It has just passed the middle of day, as a stocky, middle-aged man wobbles into the triage of the emergency room, a patient’s limbo. He complains to a nurse about his chest pain and shortness of breath. In his own room with curtain walls where the nurse draws his blood and takes an electrocardiograph (ECG) recording, the man waits patiently for the doctor to rid him of his pain. As the sunset drapes its colors over the windows, the exhausted man glimpses across the room to see the doctor strolling through the curtains into the room with the lab results in his hands. He hears foreign words, like myocardial ischemia and myocardial infarction, but he can only notice how he can unusually feel the presence of his heart. Not until a surgery later will he understand that the clogged and stiffened arteries of his heart could have resulted in a fatal heart attack during the six hours he was waiting in the curtained room.
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Skin
-- By Rikin Patel

We were underground. I remember staring at the stone ceiling in lethargic wonder. The sound of dripping water drummed in my ears, but from where I had been seated in the center of the hall, I couldn’t immediately make out the source of the leak. I strained my neck to peer into the dark corners of the chamber hoping to find the trail of falling droplets, but the guards nudged me every time I turned my attention from the grim man glaring at me from across the empty room.
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Cell Classics Introduces… Secret Agent Fe3O4 and His Predecessors
-- By Susannah Payne

A constant pulsating from all around, enemies closing in on all sides, the time for deliberation had come; will the known world’s greatest criminal accept you into his posse? This man has the largest file in the NSA record room (National Security Abdomen) that weighs as heavy as the lower intestines when full; he is on the FBI’s most wanted list (Federal Bureau of Immunotherapy), total stealth is needed in such an assignment. Only now has the detective services of the rodent body found a suitable expert for the job of tracking down, infiltrating, and returning incriminating evidence of the wrong doings of Malignant Cancer HER2 (THE criminal) from directly inside of his midst. Magnetic Nanocrystal Fe3O4 has come to save the day with years of fine tuned experience; MC HER2 has met his match.


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A Problematic Panacea: Alternate Nuclear Transfer
-- By Elijah Atkinson

Genetic diseases, sexually transmitted diseases, viruses, bacterial infections, cancer, and many more problems in human health have plagued mankind for far too long. There have been huge steps in curing these problems with healthcare by means of vaccines, drugs, new technologies, and more. However, sometimes these options fail and it’s usually a problem involving a part of the body that is failing. The obvious answer to this is to repair the part, but when this is not possible it must be replaced. Organ or tissue transplantation provides a viable means to replace a failing part of the body, but the demand for organs and tissues outweighs the supply of them. Many people in these situations are left with only methods of treatment in which the pain is eased or the process of the disease is slowed down. The ideal solution would be to have a tissue or organ that was identical to the part failing except without the defect. Research indicates that stem cells could be used to grow organs or tissues that come from the somatic cell’s of the patient. [1] This would bypass the need for a donor altogether and because it would be genetically similar to the patient, the organ or tissue would exhibit good biocompatibility with the patient.
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Nervous Breakdown
-- By Tsung Tai-Yang

A ficitionalized dialogue between a patient and a doctor about the evolution of methods for repairing damaged nerves in the human body.
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University of Immunoglobin: Class of 97 Commencement Ceremony (Frank Erwin Center, 23 May 1997, 7 pm)
-- By Max Shay

Good afternoon, I’m Rituxan Rituximab.

I must confess, coming up with something important to say to up here was very hard for me. Some of my cellmates suggested that I give the speech entirely in enzymatic reactions or that I recite various cellular cycles from beginning to end. Then I remembered that sometime before entering this school, my friends and I had made lists of things we wanted to accomplish before leaving. Reading over these again, we wanted to do many interesting things… cure cancer and AIDS… become mapped on the human genome… fuse with animal relatives… make fathomless amounts of copies of ourselves… find peace with our mutated enemies… communicate with our teachers in more than just codons and anticodons… fuse with mutated versions of ourselves… be compatible with humans… fuse with each other… do lots of diffusing, and fusing too.
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Coding for Color
-- By Rachel Smallwood

Once upon a time, there was a zebrafish, me! I’m not just any zebrafish, I’m a special zebrafish. Ok, so all the other fish, especially in other schools, call me a freak or a loser, but I know I am special; I have always known I am special. Recently, however, many people – and fish – learned just how special I am. Let me start at the beginning.
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Chronicles of a Cure: The Development of the Bioartificial Liver Support System
-- By Felicia Ramos

Brrrrring…..Brrrring. Sharply breaking the melodies of floating jazz music, a small black phone rings on a mahogany table next to framed photos of a girl and father. A young woman, dressed smartly in a power suit, picks up the phone.

“Hello? Yes, this is Laura Copalis. What? I see. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

Inside the small hospital room, the air teems with beeps and buzzes from machines, and fluorescent light emphasizes the obligatory sea green paint on the walls. Dark hair, patched with areas of grey, sits matted atop the serene face of the sleeping patient. “Stanley Copalis. 05/19/45. Advanced Liver Failure (Stage III),” reads the laminated bracelet wrapped around his wrist. No longer donning the business casual, the woman in a casual outfit of jeans and a sweater is seated defeatedly on the bed. Uncertain if he can even hear her, she stifles her tears and whispers, “Hello daddy. Sorry I’m late...I know, it’s been a while.”

Suddenly, a few rays of light broke into the room from outside, and the doorway framed the nurse’s silhouette.
“Miss Copalis? We need to go over your father’s health history now.”
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