Report comments

Most importantly today, before you complete the questions below, you need to write your comments for your reports.  Use the guide here to help you.
Include your name, as you will email them to me and I need to know who to give them to! Don't use hyphens (-) as they don't get entered to serco.

• Mention a couple of thigns you're happy with so far this year (your assignment work, things you are doing which are helping you succeed etc.)
• Give yourself a target for improving (e.g. attendance, homework, independent or group work).

Once you've done this, email it to me and I'll enter it on serco for you.

Genetics

Today we're going to keep looking at genetics. Complete the following:

1. Define what a somatic cell is.
2. What are stem cells?
3. Explain how stem cells could be used in medicine in the future:
4. Watch this video. What are the issues and benefits of using stem cells in medicine?
5. Describe the steps involved in cloning:
6. Try and clone a mouse! What problems would there be in actually doing this?
7. What genotype gives a tiger resistance to the disease?
8. What kind of characteristics help a population survive longer?

Weekend Homework

This weekend, make sure you have both question sets below this post finished for Monday period 3. If you don't come with work to show me you'll have a non-optional catch up session (similar to a detention) to do so.

This video will help you explain how a virus gets into a cell - it doesn't use keywords like we have in class but the images are ueful:

Genetics

Today we're going to look at gene therapy in more detail. Answer the following in your books:

1. Briefly explain how a virus operates in a cell:
2. What are the different ways that genes can be introduced into cells in gene therapy?
3. Complete this activity, explaining which vector and genes you used to treat your patient using gene therapy:
4. Briefly explain each step involved in electrophoresis:
5. What are microarrays? What can they be used for?
6. Watch the video below, pausing it every few seconds so you can explain the steps involved in pcr. What is it used for?                                                                                                                                                    
7. If you finish early, complete all the questions from the post below.

Genetics

Today we're going to keep looking at genetics in rpeparation for the next assignment.  Answer the following in your workbooks.

1. Make sure you have made some notes about each point in the post below this one. This will be good preparation for the assignment.
2. What is continuous variation?
3. Explain what discontinuous variation is, givng an example:
4. What causes Huntington disease? Describe the symptoms.
5. Is Huntington disease a dominant or recessive condition?
6. What is co-dominance? Give an example of a characteristic that shows co-dominance:
7. What are sex-linked characteristics? Why do they affect males more often?
8. Briefly describe what Haemophilia is:
9. Using the haemophilia pedigree below, explain what a carrier is: 
10. Is haemophilia a dominant or recessive trait? How can you tell?
11. Watch this short video on Huntington disease.  What issues might people have with getting tested for the condition?

Extension - Explain what the Hardy Weinberg principle is, and explain what the criteria are a population must meet to be in Hadry Weinberg equilibrium.

Genetics assignment 3

Today we'll be finishing/improving the old assignments we were looking at lat lesson in w12, or making notes for the next section of the course:

We will be completing the next assignment on genetic crosses, similar to what we started looking at in class before the last assignment. Try and find information about the following points to help you prepare for the next unit -

• What are monohybrid and dihybrid crosses? What ratios can you expect for these?
• Explain the difference between phenotype and genotype, giving examples where relevant.
• Who was Mendel? What did he contribute to genetics?
• Explain the process of electrophoresis, what is it can be used for and why it works so well.