In our second episode concerning the technologies behind medicine, we learn about some of the advances that are being made to tackle diseases and improve health care.
[Episode #1920, First broadcast: 1/29/2002]
First, Sharon Nunes explains how IBM is using computer modeling to simulate human organs. The merger of the information technology in an IBM supercomputer and the biology know-how of Johns Hopkins creates not just visual, but also functional models of organs. Nunes demonstrates how medical researchers use a complex artificial heart model to explore the data and electrical impulses in the heart. This allows researchers to determine the beneficial and adverse effects of various drugs on organs resulting in a speedier process of discovering and approving new drugs.
Next up, a group called BABEC that helps students in the San Francisco Bay Area understand DNA shows us how DNA data applications are being explored in the lab and in classroom. Octavio Rodriguez and a high school student Austen Chin perform a typical lab procedure used to extract and analyze DNA samples. They also explain how DNA is used to make insulin for humans, modify genes, and identify criminals.
Then, we find out how a genetic modification experiment on a Rhyseus monkey will help us understand the causes of diseases and allow us to test innovative therapies that can eradicate them. Researchers Dr. Gerald Schatten and Dr. Anthony Chan from the Oregon Health Sciences University explain how they genetically engineered a monkey to carry a gene normally found in jellyfish. If the experiment is successful, the monkey will produce a protein that will make him glow in the dark.
Nanotechnology, the manipulation of matter at the atomic level, is explored with Dr. Stan Williams from Hewlett-Packard Labs Quantum Science Research Center. Using slides taken through a tunneling microscope, he shows us how certain heated chemicals naturally react on a silicon surface to build nanoscale objects.
