LINDA AND MY MOM, 1982
Dr. Francis
Collins, head of NIH, could write about the chemistry of floor wax and make it
interesting. He writes a regular blog;
many of you would benefit from subscribing to it. Just Google NIH and go from there.
In his
current blog (below), Dr. Collins describes some NIH-supported research
involving study of non-cancerous pockets of mutated human tissue, using
cadavers. As you almost certainly know,
cells duplicate their DNA when they divide.
Since human DNA consists of over three billion base pairs, the chance
for error is significant. We have
evolved some clever mechanisms for detecting and repairing these mistakes, but
sometimes some survive. These are what
we term mutations. We all have
them. Lots of them. And yet we are walking around, in rude good
health, living our lives. Clearly, not
all mutations are bad.
The work
that Dr. Collins describes shows how some somatic mutations “seed” small clots
of similar – abnormal – cells. Clots, but not tumors.
I don’t see
a direct connection of this research to our primary goal – to cure cancer. But I am sure that the more basic bio-stuff
we learn the closer to that great finish line we are. I am willing to pay taxes to further that
goal. Just don’t spend my money on
border walls or weapons for Saudi Arabia!
If you read
Dr. Collins’ blog (and you should), you might be amused by clicking on some of
the internal “blue passages” (links).
They will provide you with a small taste of the world the cancer
biologists operate in. Thank God this
stuff is filtered through people like Francis Collins before it reaches the
rest of us.
No comments:
Post a Comment