2008 National DNA Day Online Chatroom Transcript

This is just one question from an archive of the National DNA Day Moderated Chat held in April 2008. The NHGRI Director and many genomics experts from across NHGRI took questions from students, teachers and the general public on topics ranging from basic genomic research, to the genetic basis of disease, to ethical questions about genetic privacy.

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Besides insulin, what other hormones or proteins do we use Recombinant DNA to synthesize?
     David Adams, M.D., Ph.D.: Studying rare inborn errors of metabolism and other rare genetic syndromes to understand the disease process and identify potential treatments. Lots! Here are some examples: human growth hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone, some blood factors (Factor 8), erythropoietin (famous for sports doping), tissue plasminogen activator (used as a clot-buster for some strokes and heart attacks), interferon and many others! Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_recombinant_proteins for more examples (although I don't vouch for the accuracy of the entire page, there are some nice comments)
Clarkstown High School North in NY (9th grade teacher)

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