Among the many entertaining activities that this bit of genetic engineering makes possible is observing drug efficacy in real time. Apparently you can see cells change from blue to yellow as chemotherapeutic pharmaceuticals reach malignant cells with the color-coded Rac receptor. The report says "You can literally watch parts of a tumor turn from blue to yellow as a drug hits its target. This can be an hour or more after the drug is administered, and the effect can wane quickly or slowly. Drug companies need to know these details -- specifically how much, how often and how long to administer drugs.
Immediately above is a microscope photo of mouse breast tumor tissue. The blue areas are where the Rac protein is active. These cells may proliferate in place, building a tumor one fluorescent cell at a time. Rac activity also indicates cells likely to move, and so spread the malignancy to secondary tumor sites. The yellow cells have slurped up some of the chemotherapy drugs, and their Rac proteins—and tumor activity—are constrained.
The report at [1] quotes researchers as saying “the great thing about this mouse is its flexibility”. Brings to mind a sort of “Cirque de Rodente”, with glowing mice, rats, squirrels, capybara, beavers, chipmunks, pocket gophers, porcupines, jumping mice, lemmings, woodchucks, pack rats, and voles on a huge stage, running inside those little wire wheel things, climbing up and down ropes hanging from the ceiling, doing little rodent gymnastics, maybe some rodent pyramids, etc., all to slick synthesized music under creative and dynamic stage lighting.
Maybe not as entertaining as the genetically engineered “glo fish” that are all the rage in the aquarium industry. But possibly more useful in the long run.
Immediately above are some fish whose genomes have been modified so their tissues fluoresce. Sold as “Glo Fish” in the aquarium trade.
Oh yeah. I suppose it was inevitable. Fluorescent glo fish sushi is, of course, becoming more widely available. Personally, I’ll suspend judgment on this development for the moment. I’m guessing if the fish is fresh, the fluorescence won’t hamper its culinary utility. But it may be hard to swallow. You can get an introduction to this particular sideshow to the midway of serious genetic engineering matters at [2].
Immediately above is some glo fish sushi. Yum?
Anyway. I met with my Palliative Care specialist, Dr. S, this week. Recall that his primary role in my medical team is to manage my medicines. I take quite a basketful of meds these days. I think I total out at something like 6 prescription products, with an additional 3 or 4 over-the-counter drugs. I’ve actually been feeling stronger and more functional in the past couple of weeks. Which suggests the drugs are working. Dr. S was happy. I’m sure at some point he’s going to suggest we reassess and work on cutting down the quantity and diversity of pharmaceuticals I ingest every day. Indeed, I experiment with this myself. Even though insurance covers drugs, the $10 co pay is not trivial when you’re slurping 6 drugs a day that need to be renewed every month.
Discussion of medications leads to a critically important quality-of-life issue I’ve been wrestling with. Those of you who know me well know that I love overseas travel, and that traveling well is perhaps my only innate skill. I’ve been trying to figure out whether I could travel safely, where “safety” means both my health and the health of my fellow travelers. So I asked Dr. S if there were any medical constraints on my ability to travel by air.
Dr. S’s jaw dropped and he unsuccessfully tried to suppress a look of horror on his face. When he pulled himself together so he could sound more clinical and less panicked, he said he thought air travel might be a stretch, since I am a walking public health hazard due to my need to incessantly choke up masses of sticky yellow mucous which is often adulterated with blood from my damaged throat infrastructure. When I pressed him to imagine that I could find a way to keep myself from being a high-visibility health threat to others, he admitted that there were no medical reasons that should prevent me from flying.
So there you have it. All my life, I’ve assumed that when and if I got to retire, I would be able to take my idiosyncratic approach to watching the flow of life around me on the road. Should it prove to be impossible for me to do that, I’m gonna be really bummed. But I’m not giving up. I’ll start pursuing technological and medical fixes for the icky slobbering necessitated by the tracheostomy infrastructure. And you can bet that, if I come up with viable solutions, I’ll be in the air and on the road as often as possible.
It’s good to have a clear goal in life. This one might be a challenge beyond my ability to meet. But it’s not impossible that I can solve the problem. In any case, I thank you all for being here for me. You have my gratitude and my love. Rock and roll, everybody. We ain’t gettin’ any younger. Live it while you got it!
Notes
[1] http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/03/140313123131.htm
[2] http://www.glowingsushi.com/
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