Weekly Research Report

Name: Kai Sunahara

Date:1/30/17
Directions: After reading and annotating, complete the following table and collect it with other weekly reports
to help you develop your findings and prepare for the assessments.
Assignment (what type of source was assigned):
Title: What is genetic engineering
Author/Speaker: Hannah Wilgar
Pages read (if applicable): 5
MLA Citation:
Wilgar , Hannah, and Steve Scott. "What is genetic engineering." Your Genome. Wellcome Genome Campus
in Cambridge, United Kingdom, 19 Dec. 2016. Web. 1 Feb. 2017.

Guiding Question(s): What is genetic engineering?

Summary statements of the author/speakers main ideas

Genetic engineering also known as genetic modification, is when we change the DNA of an organism.
This change can happen by deleting a whole region of DNA. With this technology we can choose which
DNA characteristics that we want to change. This process is currently being used in insulin. With this
technology we are now learning more about Alzheimer's disease. We are able to study the APP gene,
which we think is responsible for Alzheimer's in humans.

Embedded quotation (page #) How does it answer/relate to the Guiding Question?

Genetic engineering, sometimes
called genetic modification, is the
process of altering the DNA in a
organisms genome
This statement helped explain what genetic engineering
is. It is a modification. This is a big difference than a
change because a change could take thousands of
generations while a modification implies that it can be
done on our terms and be done much faster.

Genetic engineering has been used
to produce a type of insulin, very
similar to our very own, from yeast
and bacteria like E. coli
This explains the use of genetically modified medicine
that people are around the world are using. It helps to
bring perspective that this technology isnt new, instead
the advancements and the new things that we can do
with it are.
 The genetic material of C.elegans
can easily be genetically modified to
make the work produce specific
proteins the researchers what to
study
this shows the advancements that we are making using
the genetically modified worms. With this researchers
are more able to look at effects of Alzheimer's disease.

Unfamiliar words Definitions

pancreas A large gland behind the stomach that secretes a

digestive enzyme into the duodenum. Embedded in the
pancreas are islets of Langerhans, which secrete into
the blood the hormones insulin and glucagon.

plasmid A genetic structure in a cell that can replicate

independently of the chromosomes, typically a small
circular DNA strand in the cytoplasm of a bacteria or
protozoan.

bacterium A member of a large group of unicellular microorganism

that have cell walls but lack organelles and an organized
nucleus