Sat, 25 May 2013 02:28:02 -0700 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/ Lussumo Vanilla 1.1.4 & Feed Publisher http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8870&Focus=259216#Comment_259216 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8870&Focus=259216#Comment_259216 Mon, 06 Sep 2010 00:40:01 -0700 Brandon Seifert

From the Wikipedias:
"A gene gun or a biolistic particle delivery system, originally designed for plant transformation, is a device for injecting cells with genetic information. The payload is an elemental particle of a heavy metal coated with plasmid DNA. This technique is often simply referred to as bioballistics or biolistics."

Let me repeat that, in all capital letters. BIOBALLISTICS.

Also from the article:

"The earliest custom manufactured geneguns (fabricated by Nelson Allen) used a 22 caliber nail gun cartridge to propel an extruded polyethylene cylinder (bullet) down a 22 cal. Douglas barrel. A droplet of the tungsten powder and genetic material was placed on the bullet and shot down the barrel at a lexan "stopping" disk with a petri dish below. The bullet welded to the disk and the genetic information blasted into the sample in the dish with a doughnut effect (devastation in the middle, a ring of good transformation and little around the edge)."

Your word of the day is "transfect." Your concept of the day is FIRING A GUN AT SOMETHING TO CHANGE ITS DNA.

(Appropriately enough, I first heard about gene guns from a drunken lady research scientist who dresses like this. It was her birthday, and I was buying her drinks and we were geeking about about SCIENCE. I was telling her about horizontal gene transfer from bloodfeeding parasites to their vertebrate hosts, and she told me about gene guns.) ]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8870&Focus=259217#Comment_259217 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8870&Focus=259217#Comment_259217 Mon, 06 Sep 2010 00:46:01 -0700 Fan http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8870&Focus=259223#Comment_259223 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8870&Focus=259223#Comment_259223 Mon, 06 Sep 2010 01:53:05 -0700 jonah http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8870&Focus=259244#Comment_259244 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8870&Focus=259244#Comment_259244 Mon, 06 Sep 2010 06:30:40 -0700 Verissimus http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8870&Focus=259592#Comment_259592 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8870&Focus=259592#Comment_259592 Wed, 08 Sep 2010 09:53:10 -0700 John Skylar
Just to dispel some myths:

-The current tech has no military applications. This is for firing single plasmids into single cells. They express some protein for a few days, and that's that. It's not going to kill anybody or make them turn on their buddies. It also needs like a hundred billion attachments to work right, so the resemblance to a gun is...spiritual, at best.

-It barely has scientific applications...it's useful mostly for plant biologists as I understand it. Pesky cell walls make traditional transfection a pain. I think some insect cell culture uses it too.

Anyway, it's still pretty badass. But it's been around for awhile and you don't need to run for the hills just yet.

BUT YOU DO WHEN I INVENT GENE ARTILLERY

There was something really hackey and intense about the early ones, because basically you've got a .22 rifle with some suppressive attachments and it's delivering DNA coated glass beads, with all kinds of tubes and bells and whistles. I envision Theodore Roosevelt on the back of a mutant zebrhinoceroncephalopod carrying one every time I picture it. ]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8870&Focus=259595#Comment_259595 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8870&Focus=259595#Comment_259595 Wed, 08 Sep 2010 10:12:09 -0700 COOP http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8870&Focus=259597#Comment_259597 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8870&Focus=259597#Comment_259597 Wed, 08 Sep 2010 10:38:23 -0700 Artenshiur http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8870&Focus=259642#Comment_259642 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8870&Focus=259642#Comment_259642 Wed, 08 Sep 2010 14:59:56 -0700 Nygaard

Haven't figured out where to put the rhino bit; needs enourmous hornage, or possibly noseage. What would a cephalopod snout look like? Anyway, need sleep. Will have to wait.

Rhino-horned tentacles? ]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8870&Focus=259717#Comment_259717 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8870&Focus=259717#Comment_259717 Thu, 09 Sep 2010 05:55:41 -0700 Paprika http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8870&Focus=259721#Comment_259721 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8870&Focus=259721#Comment_259721 Thu, 09 Sep 2010 06:51:19 -0700 Greasemonkey http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8870&Focus=259958#Comment_259958 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8870&Focus=259958#Comment_259958 Fri, 10 Sep 2010 09:45:23 -0700 John Skylar
Awe.some. ]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8870&Focus=260002#Comment_260002 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8870&Focus=260002#Comment_260002 Fri, 10 Sep 2010 12:43:33 -0700 Artenshiur http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8870&Focus=260024#Comment_260024 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8870&Focus=260024#Comment_260024 Fri, 10 Sep 2010 15:14:45 -0700 Brandon Seifert http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8870&Focus=260548#Comment_260548 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8870&Focus=260548#Comment_260548 Tue, 14 Sep 2010 18:39:20 -0700 city creed http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8870&Focus=260552#Comment_260552 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8870&Focus=260552#Comment_260552 Tue, 14 Sep 2010 19:09:06 -0700 John Skylar http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8870&Focus=260672#Comment_260672 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8870&Focus=260672#Comment_260672 Wed, 15 Sep 2010 15:03:22 -0700 D.J.