SRL Archive - General

How does one get into this field? Any experiences?

For most universities around here, its a graduate program. Usually preceeded by a chemical eng degree with specializations in bio chem. Then graduate studies would be genetics based.

Just what I know

I do genetic engineering in inbred mice, which are a very common research model. Knock-ins, knock-outs, conditional mutations, transgenic animals, etc.

It really depends on what you want to do. If you want to do basic research, genetic manipulations are pretty standard techniques in a lot of areas. Probably the most powerful system available is in budding yeast, S. cerevisiae. The nice thing about starting there is that you would learn the best practices as far as how to design a rigorous experiment involving complementation, etc. If you wanted to move beyond that to a different model system it should be pretty straightforward.

If you want to be involved in more real-world applications like genetically modified plants and farm animals, that would require more specialized training.

But overall I would say that getting a college degree in genetics (or biology with a genetics focus) and then going on graduate school in genetics would be the most straightforward way to do it. Medical school with a focus on human genetics would be another option.

have 3 people in your imediate family be doctors, do good in bio classes and get asked by universities to do some gene assimilation on mice….basically…connections is all i know..

I should have mentioned that genetics is really the "theory" side of it, while molecular biology is more of the "toolkit". The best scenario would be to have expertise in the molecular biology techniques along with good training in the genetics that I mentioned before.

Genetic engineering is latest and upcoming field.I think its most favorable field nowadays.

u cna get into it thorugh biotechnology papaers here in NZ

Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification!It's the most popular and very interesting field.

From: tarajunky
I do genetic engineering in inbred mice, which are a very common research model. Knock-ins, knock-outs, conditional mutations, transgenic animals, etc.

It really depends on what you want to do. If you want to do basic research, genetic manipulations are pretty standard techniques in a lot of areas. Probably the most powerful system available is in budding yeast, S. cerevisiae. The nice thing about starting there is that you would learn the best practices as far as how to design a rigorous experiment involving complementation, etc. If you wanted to move beyond that to a different model system it should be pretty straightforward.

If you want to be involved in more real-world applications like genetically modified plants and farm animals, that would require more specialized training.

But overall I would say that getting a college degree in genetics (or biology with a genetics focus) and then going on graduate school in genetics would be the most straightforward way to do it. Medical school with a focus on human genetics would be another option.

From: tarajunky
I should have mentioned that genetics is really the "theory" side of it, while molecular biology is more of the "toolkit". The best scenario would be to have expertise in the molecular biology techniques along with good training in the genetics that I mentioned before.

Well, the ultimate goal that one day I'd wanna achieve is (although it's being already developed) being able to rather easily program the DNA of plants, people, etc, for everything ranging from making more drought-resistant plants to making cures for stuff. In other words the top-level implementation of gene manipulation…

Gene Therapy in humans is kind of a complicated field right now, and centers mostly around Virology because viruses are used as the delivery vector. Although the basic science side of it wouldn't necessarily require a medical degree, doing anything in humans would.

Discovering mutations that cause genetic diseases in humans is a pretty hot field right now, but technology is progressing so fast that some believe ALL such mutations will be discovered within 5-10 more years. After that, I imagine that there will still be a lot of diagnostics and therapy to do.

Plant genetics is a whole different field, so you should decide early on if you want to go that direction or not. That is also very important work and there are jobs to be had doing that kind of research (Monsanto, etc.)

I've heard of people genetically modifying bacteria to be able to break down industrial waste, fix carbon to pull CO2 out of the atmosphere, etc. The possibilities are endless.

I guess what I'm saying is that you can end up doing genetic engineering in a wide variety of areas. Molecular Biology will be the toolkit in any of these areas.

High school and college students can often get internship positions with research labs. The next step would be a college degree in biology/chemistry/genetics. Then either a job as a technician with a university research lab or biotech company, or Medical/Graduate school. I've seen biotech companies where the chief scientist has a college degree only. A Masters degree would open a few more doors. But to actually be directing science an MD or PhD is usually required.

From: tarajunky
Gene Therapy in humans is kind of a complicated field right now, and centers mostly around Virology because viruses are used as the delivery vector. Although the basic science side of it wouldn't necessarily require a medical degree, doing anything in humans would.

Discovering mutations that cause genetic diseases in humans is a pretty hot field right now, but technology is progressing so fast that some believe ALL such mutations will be discovered within 5-10 more years. After that, I imagine that there will still be a lot of diagnostics and therapy to do.

Plant genetics is a whole different field, so you should decide early on if you want to go that direction or not. That is also very important work and there are jobs to be had doing that kind of research (Monsanto, etc.)

I've heard of people genetically modifying bacteria to be able to break down industrial waste, fix carbon to pull CO2 out of the atmosphere, etc. The possibilities are endless.

I guess what I'm saying is that you can end up doing genetic engineering in a wide variety of areas. Molecular Biology will be the toolkit in any of these areas.

High school and college students can often get internship positions with research labs. The next step would be a college degree in biology/chemistry/genetics. Then either a job as a technician with a university research lab or biotech company, or Medical/Graduate school. I've seen biotech companies where the chief scientist has a college degree only. A Masters degree would open a few more doors. But to actually be directing science an MD or PhD is usually required.

(The bolded part) I guess it's so that whatever in this field you do is sort of a new branch / very specific, meaning whatever you're doing, you probably are some sort of a pioneer in that specific thing…

Ofcourse I want to do something that in the end is going to bring some food into the table, I'm guessing plants are the most industrially concerned field right now…