"Entrance into the biotechnology field
can begin right after college with the right degree program"
In only a few legal cases out of roughly 3,000 has evidence from
DNA fingerprinting been "thrown out of a courtroom", Biology
Professor David Koetje remarked to his listeners at a recent discussion
group of college science faculty. Dr. Koetje was the featured speaker,
and he was talking about the somewhat simple procedure of matching
select pieces of genetic information (deoxyribonucleic acid, or
DNA) to their host organism.
He and his undergraduates do DNA fingerprinting routinely as part
of their required work in the courses he teaches at the State University
of New York College of Fredonia. It was in this biology department
that the first undergraduate major in genetic engineering was created
in New York State. Courses like the ones Dr. Koetje is teaching
now didn’t exist at Fredonia 20 years ago.
Virtually all areas of the life sciences are being affected by
the application of genetic engineering in solving biological problems.
The need for personnel trained in recombinant DNA techniques continues
to expand as it becomes a key tool in solving problems in medicine,
agriculture, environmental science, industry, forensics and basic
biology. This new science is playing a central role in virtually
all aspects of modern biological research, scientists say.
The basic steps students learn as they acquire skills in cloning,
or recombing genes, are relatively simple, and are being taught
more frequently at the undergraduate level in college campuses,
but not all biology programs offer this program of study as a major.
About a decade ago, DNA fingerprinting was first used as evidence
in a court trial. Since then, there have been thousands of cases
and usually the evidence has been upheld and "very enlightening",
Dr. Koetje said. DNA fingerprinting has also been used as evidence
to "unlink" a person charged with a crime, and has freed
people from prison.
Perhaps more importantly, however, recombinant gene technology
is enabling scientists to find cures for disease. In 1980, a small
company called in Genentech in South San Fransico, Calif., hired
a young scientist, Diane Pennica, who had just finished a post-doctoral
assignment at Roche Institute of Molecular Biology, and was only
a few years out of her Ph.D. program at the University of Rhode
Island. She possessed research, teaching, and publication experience
in a new type of science called recombinant DNA technology, which
is where Genentech was focusing its work.
"When I started at Genentech there were 60 people there,"
she said. Sixteen years later, there were more than 2,000, and the
company credits Dr. Pennica with one of its first breakthroughs
in creating a genetically engineered drug, Activase.
Genetech’s mission was to use biotechnology to discover new
products to treat human diseases, and one of the first things Dr.
Pennica worked on was heart disease, the single largest killer of
men and woman in the U.S.
In a normal artery, blood cells flow freely, and small clots are
normally dissolved by a human anticoagulant called tissue plasminogen
activator, or t-PA. Unfortunately some people have a very extensive
build-up of plaque and cholesterol which clogs their arteries, and
a small clot can become dangerous. The body’s normal supply
of t-PA can’t clear up the clots fast enough when clogged arteries
are involved.
When Dr. Pennica went to Genentech, scientists knew that the body
made t-PA, but that it didn’t make enough to save someone from
a heart attack. "So the question became then, could recombinant
DNA techniques be used to produce large amounts of t-PA?" Dr.
Pennica said. Her first goal was to try and determine the structure
of t-PA, and then secondly, try and produce it in large amounts
by cloning so it could be used to quickly dissolve blood clots to
treat heart attack patients.
"We had no idea whether this was possible to do," she
recalled. "No substance this large had ever been cloned before,
and some sceptics said it couldn’t be done."
Four years later, in 1982, the work was successfully achieved,
but half of that time was just spent looking for the piece of human
DNA that carried the information for t-PA. "It was like finding
a needle in a haystack", she said. T-PA was the largest protein
that had ever been cloned up to that point. After a few years of
clinical trials, Genentech found that, when t-PA was injected intravenously
into the arm, it dissolved clogged arteries in about 90 minutes
and restored blood flow to the heart. It has become a common treatment
in emergency rooms throughout the world.
To a molecular biologist with the specialised skills of biotechnology,
the solution to many health and disease issues is simple in theory.
Even in light of her publicised work in co-discovering a drug that
offers life to victims of deadly heart disease, Dr. Pennica sees
herself first and foremost as a scientist, equal among colleagues
who have enjoyed far less fame. She says the secret is to "work
hard, harder than anybody else."
Dr. Pennica acquired her biotechnology skills right at the dawn
of the technology, in graduate school, but now there are some degree
programs available to students at the undergraduate level, including
the one at SUNY Fredonia. There, the B.S. degree in Recombinant
Gene Technology paves the way for students to directly enter the
exciting areas of molecular biology and biotechnology, teaching
them the skills of DNA cloning, nucleic acid hybridisation, gel
transfers, and DNA sequencing.
All of these skills form the basis of the Human Genome project
and other molecular genetic research. When co-ordinated into a B.S.
program, they give the student a broad, liberal arts education in
the biological sciences that makes him or her an outstanding candidate
for graduate work, entrance to a medical degree program, or into
a laboratory as a research technician.
An undergraduate research experience is also considered essential
to the educational preparation in recombinant gene technology. Students
considering degree programs should look for those which offer at
least one year of undergraduate research in the area of molecular
biology, and where opportunities exist for students to write and
present papers at pre-professional conferences. When undergraduates
team up with their professors to conduct research in the lab or
in the field, their college degree represents much more than the
finishing of the required courses.
Most U.S. colleges welcome applications for admission from international
students. The best ones provide help when it comes to housing, personal
concerns, immigration, and of course academic advising. American
campuses take special interest in students from other countries,
and recognise that they contribute to campus life in unique ways.
The Author
Christine Davis Mantai
This article first appeared in Educational Courses in Britain
