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2002 Conference Summary April 18-19, 2002 |
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| Morning Keynote Speaker Describes Exciting Genetic Work Done at ORNL's Mouse House | |
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2002 Conference Summary April 18-19, 2002 |
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| Morning Keynote Speaker Describes Exciting Genetic Work Done at ORNL's Mouse House | |
Dr.
Dabney Johnson manages
a group at Oak Ridge National Lab containing 75 people and
75,000 mice. Known
in Oak Ridge as the “Mouse House” this facility was
established over 50 years ago to measure the effects of
exposure to radioactivity on mammals and their offspring.
Dr. Johnson explained how this original mission
evolved into the study of the effects of chemotherapy, and
most recently into the effects of defects in genes.
She explained that mice provide a pretty good model
if your main interest is humans because 85 percent of mouse
genes are identical at the functional level to human genes,
and 13 of the remaining 15 percent are nearly identical.
Another advantage of using mice in research is that
her group creates identical copies of mice with the same
genetic material, permitting controlled experiments to
identify the effects of genetic function and the effects of
genetic defects. Dr.
Johnson used effective illustrations in her description of
the methods her group uses to screen mice for
characteristics and behavior possibly resulting from genetic
damage. She
also gave examples of the work scientists do to link a
specific gene to the observed problems observed in the mice. Dr.
Johnson’s very presence at ORNL indicates it is never too
late to develop a science career.
She was over 40 years old when she started her Ph.D.
program and has made impressive accomplishments in spite of
her late start in her field. |
