 |
| Ink Drawing by Sabine Fuchs |
One of the most complex discoveries in particle physics, the Higgs boson, recently celebrated its 10th anniversary last July. Miha Muškinja, who is originally from Slovenia, is a postdoctoral researcher in physics at Lawrence Berkeley Lab. Muškinja worked on the ATLAS experiment, which announced the discovery of the Higgs boson, at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN near Geneva, Switzerland. Recently, he moved to Berkeley, California, where he specializes in analyzing the properties of the Higgs boson, in addition to working on algorithms and infrastructure to process data by the LHC. In March of 2023, Muškinja presented The HiggsBoson: 10 Years On at Marin Science Seminar and explained what the Higgs boson is, its significance, and its discovery in 2012.
Q1: How did you become interested in particle physics?
During elementary and high school, I had a strong fascination with mathematics, physics, and chemistry. It became evident early on that I would pursue studies in one of these fields. On July 4th, 2012, I watched the live stream of CERN's announcement regarding the discovery of the Higgs boson, which was delivered by Fabiola Gianotti, the spokesperson of the ATLAS experiment at that time and now the Director General of CERN. This event sparked my interest in particle physics and solidified my decision to study physics with the goal of becoming a scientist at CERN. Although it seemed like an impossible task at the time, my dream came true six years later when I began my Ph.D. in particle physics with the ATLAS experiment at CERN.
Q2: What advice would you give someone interested in pursuing a career in particle physics?
The theoretical framework of particle physics, known as the Standard Model, is built upon a complex mathematical framework called Relativistic Quantum Field Theory (QFT). This theory is among the most difficult you will encounter at any university, so it is crucial to study diligently. You will need to acquire a high level of understanding in both physics and mathematics to be comfortable with the Standard Model. Additionally, programming skills are highly important in particle physics, as in many other research fields today. I would recommend learning programming languages such as Python and C++. Lastly, seek out a university or college that has a particle physics group. During your undergraduate studies, try to engage in research projects related to particle physics. This will provide you with a glimpse into the life of a particle physicist and assist in determining if this career path is the right fit for you. Lastly, keep in mind that the field of particle physics is highly competitive. Only a tiny fraction of particle physics students will ultimately become professors at a university of research scientists at a laboratory such as CERN or LBNL. However, there are many other career paths that you can pursue with a degree in particle physics. The skills you acquire through particle physics research are highly transferable and sought after by employers.
Q3: How would you explain the Higgs Boson to someone with no prior knowledge?
Let's begin with the Higgs Field, which is responsible for imparting mass to certain elementary particles. The Higgs Boson is a particle associated with this field. At CERN's Large Hadron Collider, we create Higgs Bosons by colliding protons at very high energies, causing localized excitation of the Higgs Field. This excitation manifests as a particle, the Higgs Boson, which we can measure and study.
In the immediate aftermath of the Big Bang, when the Universe came into existence, there was no Higgs field (although technically it was present, its value was zero on average). All particles moved at the speed of light. As the Universe expanded and cooled down, the Higgs field suddenly acquired a non-zero value everywhere in the Universe in a process called Electroweak Symmetry Breaking. Some particles began interacting with this Higgs field, which slowed them down (e.g., electrons). The more they interacted, the slower they moved. This interaction is what we refer to as mass. Particles that do not interact with the Higgs field, like photons, continue to travel at the speed of light and have zero mass.
Q4: Are there any controversies surrounding the Higgs Boson? If so, what is your perspective on them?
One of the major mysteries surrounding the Higgs Boson is its mass. Despite being the second heaviest known elementary particle, it remains relatively light. Naively calculating the Higgs Boson's mass using the Standard Model would yield a value 16 orders of magnitude larger than the measured value. This conundrum is referred to as the Hierarchy Problem. Additionally, the small mass of the Higgs Boson leads to other particles being very light as well. Consequently, gravity appears incredibly weak compared to other fundamental forces. The electromagnetic force between a magnet and a paperclip is stronger than the gravitational force between the entire Earth and the paperclip. This significant disparity remains unexplained. However, it serves as a driving force that keeps us motivated and excited to continue studying the Higgs Boson. We are certain that there must be something beyond the Standard Model, which we can explore through experiments like the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.
 |
| The ATLAS experiment at CERN |
Q5: What impact does expanding our knowledge of particle physics have on the scientific community and our daily lives?
Expanding our knowledge of particle physics has profound implications for both the scientific community and our daily lives. Here are some of the impacts.
The natural world is full of unsolved mysteries. Jacob Gorneu and Kate Montana, arachnid researchers at the California Academy of Sciences, disclosed one of the more perplexing enigmas of their studies when speaking at Marin Science Seminar: the fluorescence of scorpions. Fluorescence is when something glows or radiates visible light under black light, which is a type of light that emits ultraviolet (UV) radiation; in the case of these scaly creatures, they turn a bright glowing blue. Yet, there is no conclusive explanation for this phenomenon, merely a myriad of theories exploring the causation, chemical background, and possible uses for this fluorescence.
 |
| Image from Discover Magazine |
Many scientists have wondered why scorpions fluoresce instead of camouflaging themselves. An earlier hypothesis for scorpions' fluorescence was that it is used to attract prey. A study by Dumas Gálvez, Carolina Nieto, and Paola Samaniego in Neotropical Biodiversity, Vol. 6, explored this idea. They compared the activity of crickets near fluorescent scorpions and non-fluorescent scorpions that were painted black. However, no differences between the florescent and non-florescent scorpions were observed, and this theory was eventually discarded.
Further, in the American Chemical Society’s Journal of Natural Products, a group of researchers reported having found evidence that scorpions’ fluorescence might ward off parasites. β-carboline and 7-hydroxy-4-methylcoumarin were the only previously identified components of fluorescence in scorpions’ exoskeletons. Masahiro Miyashita and his colleagues decided to conduct further research, wondering what other chemical components contributed to the fluorescence of the hard outer shell. Using chemical conditions unlike to previous experiments, they took molted shells from the scorpion Liocheles Australasia and isolated compounds. After purifying one that showed strong fluorescence, they discovered its structure was a phthalate ester that has anti-parasitic properties. While this same molecule has been found in other species of scorpions, it likely contributes weakly to the exoskeleton’s fluorescence.
In a Marin Science Seminar interview conducted by Sabine Fuchs, Jacob Gorneau, a research assistant in the Entomology department at the Academy of Sciences in San Fransisco, was asked about his opinion on the myriad of theories for scorpion fluorescence.
“I think the fluorescence might more likely be a tool for simply detecting light,” says Gorneau. “There have been a few studies showing this, and this idea makes sense to me because it seems like a good way for a scorpion to detect the time of day by the amount of sunlight present, as well as being able to detect when it has found shelter, such as in a burrow.”
Currently, this is one of the most compelling explanations for scorpions' fluorescence. Scorpions are nocturnal creatures, and the light predators use to find them is that of the moon and stars, a component of which is ultraviolet light. UV light is also the same light that illuminates their mysteriously fluorescent bodies. Douglas Gaffin, a Biologist at the University of Oklahoma, proposed the hypothesis that scorpions’ exoskeletons function as an “alarm system” that alerts them when they are exposed to predators. “You eventually wonder, ‘How do they find that one blade of grass and stay under it?’” said Gaffin in an interview with WIRED. Gaffin noticed while collecting scorpions that Paruroctonus utahensis, a grassland species of scorpions, was able to find shelter even in complete darkness. In a study published in Animal Behavior, titled “Scorpion Fluorescence and Reaction to Light,” Gaffin and his colleagues attempted to see if the exoskeleton alone could detect light. Previous studies have shown that scorpions' medial and lateral eyes are most sensitive to green light and less so to UV. Further, it is known that scorpions are negatively phototactic, meaning they move away from light. From this information, Gaffin and his colleagues predicted that the Paruroctonus utahensis would respond maximally to green light and minimally to UV light. However, in this study, they observed that the scorpions responded with abrupt bouts of locomotory activity to both green light and UV light. Next, the researchers covered the scorpion’s eyes with foil and again exposed them to UV and green light. The scorpions with blocked eyes still moved away from UV light but moved much less under green light than those without covered eyes. Gaffin and his team proposed that the exoskeleton functions as a photon collector that transforms UV light into cyan-green light before relaying it to the nervous system. Another study conducted by Carl T. Kloock, Abraham Kubli, and Ricco Reynolds, titled Ultraviolet light detection: a function of scorpion fluorescence, that was published in the Journal of Arachnology, explored this same idea. By exposing scorpions to prolonged UV light, researchers reduced their fluorescence. Next, they created an arena half in shade and half not. Three different light settings were tested: infrared (IR) light only, IR ultraviolet light, and IR white light. Then, the activity of fluorescent and non-fluorescent scorpions was compared. Under the IR ultraviolet light, fluorescent scorpions stayed more often in the shaded region, whereas the reduced-fluorescent scorpions had increased activity in both regions. However, in the IR only and IR white light, activity between both types of scorpions was the same. The researchers interpreted this as possible evidence that fluorescence aids in scorpions' detection of light.
Even with all of this research, the reason for scorpion fluorescence remains unclear. In this day and age, it is easy to think we have discovered all there is to know about the natural world. After all, we have bombs that can blow up cities, methods to reach other planets, and the capability to genetically engineer. Yet, the phenomenon of scorpion fluorescence makes it clear that there is still so much we have yet to know.
Author links open overlay panelDouglas D. Gaffin et al. “Scorpion Fluorescence and Reaction to Light.” Animal Behaviour, 19 Dec. 2011, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0003347211005069?via%3Dihub.
Dailymail.com, Stacy Liberatore For. “Brown Scorpion and Its Babies Glow Stunning Shades of Blue and Purple under UV after Light.” Daily Mail Online, 21 July 2021, www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-9811411/Brown-scorpion-babies-glow-stunning-shades-blue-purple-UV-light.html.
Full Article: Test of the Prey-Attraction Hypothesis for the Scorpion ..., www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23766808.2020.1844991. Accessed 1 Aug. 2023.
Kloock, Carl T., et al. “Ultraviolet Light Detection: A Function of Scorpion Fluorescence.” BioOne Complete, bioone.org/journals/the-journal-of-arachnology/volume-38/issue-3/B09-111.1/Ultraviolet-light-detection-a-function-of-scorpion-fluorescence/10.1636/B09-111.1.short. Accessed 31 July 2023.
Mosher, Dave. “Glowing Scorpion Exoskeletons May Be Giant Eyes.” Wired, 30 Dec. 2011, www.wired.com/2011/12/scorpion-fluorescence/.
Scorpion Fluorescence and Reaction to Light | Request PDF - Researchgate, www.researchgate.net/publication/256654998_Scorpion_fluorescence_and_reaction_to_light. Accessed 1 Aug. 2023.
“Scorpions Glow in the Dark to Detect Moonlight.” New Scientist, 8 Dec. 2010, www.newscientist.com/article/mg20827903-700-scorpions-glow-in-the-dark-to-detect-moonlight/.
“Scorpions Make a Fluorescent Compound That Could Help Protect Them from Parasites.” American Chemical Society, www.acs.org/pressroom/presspacs/2020/acs-presspac-march-4-2020/scorpions-make-a-fluorescent-compound-that-could-help-protect-them-from-parasites.html. Accessed 31 July 2023.
By Sabine Fuchs, Katherine Branson School
Spiders and scorpions and arachnids, oh my! The study of these “creepy crawlies,” their evolution, habitat, and, for some, their mysterious bioluminescence, is explored by Jacob Gorneau and Kate Montana at the California Academy of Sciences. Gorneau, who received his bachelor’s in entomology from Cornell University and his master’s in Biology at San Fransisco State University, is a research assistant in the Entomology department at the Academy of Sciences. Montana, who received her undergraduate degree in biology and anthropology, is currently a graduate student researcher in the arachnology lab at the California Academy of Sciences. Gorneau and Montana have worked together using morphological and molecular data to revise the evolutionary history of the marronoid clade of spiders. Jacob and Kate presented Arachnophilia! Using Museums to Understand and Conserve Arachnids at Marin Science Seminar on February 8, 2023. Kate and Jacob were kind enough to answer some questions about their fascinating work surrounding arachnids.
 |
| Kate Montana in the field. |
1. Jacob: You discussed how scorpions are found in a wide variety of climates. What traits do scorpions possess that make them so adaptable? Are there large differences between scorpions that live in a forest compared to those that live in the desert?
Physically, scorpions are quite similar even though they are found in a wide range of habitats and climates — fossils of scorpions from nearly 400 million years ago look exactly as scorpions look today! The main exception is some cave-dwelling scorpions no longer have eyes, which is a common phenomenon in animals that exclusively live in caves. Scorpions do, however, have specific habitat preferences that we call microhabitats, and these are generally pretty consistent regardless of the climate and often involve darker spaces like burrows that are, in the case of deserts, generally slightly more humid than the surrounding landscape. This also helps them escape the extreme weather conditions that they can experience in deserts. Scorpions also have a strong exoskeleton that prevents them from losing too much water, and they are so efficient at this that they usually get enough water from their food and never need to drink water.
2. Kate: Since your work centers around fieldwork, what practices do you implement to ensure that the environment is not negatively affected by your studies?
We take care to be as minimally invasive as possible. We do often collect spiders and scorpions that will be sacrificed for DNA extraction, but we only sample populations that are not in danger of being depleted. We try our best to only take the focal species that we need, though some bycatch does occur. When we do catch something that we did not intend to catch, we reach out to colleagues to find out if it might be useful for their research so as not to waste the specimen. We spread out our sampling geographically, which helps get a wide range of geographic representation as well as keep our sampling to a minimum at any particular site.
3. Jacob: There is a lot of uncertainty and debate over why scorpions fluoresce under ultraviolet black light. As scientists and researchers, what explanation(s) are you most drawn to?
Thoughts about why scorpions fluoresce range from allowing scorpions to navigate using the sky, to recognize members of the same species, or to detect light. While I personally find the idea that scorpions can use fluorescence under ultraviolet light to somehow navigate using the stars or moon really exciting, I think the fluorescence might more likely be a tool for simply detecting light. There have been a few studies showing this, and this idea makes sense to me because it seems like a good way for a scorpion to detect the time of day by the amount of sunlight present, as well as being able to detect when it has found shelter, such as in a burrow.
 |
| Jacob Gorneau in the field. 4. Kate: What does the process of revision of the evolutionary history of a species look like, and how does this revision impact the scientific world? We start with a thorough search of the scientific literature to find out all we can about what is already understood about a particular species, genus, family, or other designation of a group of organisms. We use tools like Google Scholar or the library to find papers that contain this information. Then we can decide which samples we need in order to answer our question about how one particular species or genus is related to others in the spider tree of life. In addition to the samples that we are directly interested in, we need outgroups—taxa whose relationship we already know to our focal species in order to root the tree. Then we can collect both molecular data through DNA sequencing and morphological data through careful observation of the physical characteristics of the organisms. We take these data and run various computational analyses in order to produce a phylogeny that will visualize the evolutionary relationships between species. The scientific community can then use this tree of life to inform questions about behaviors, range of species, species interactions, and morphological characteristics. Since evolution is the process by which all organisms come to be the way they are, we need a solid understanding of the intricate evolutionary relationships between organisms in order to fully understand how they came to be. 5. Jacob: You explained that cattle grazing has impacted scorpion habitats since it compacts the earth, which prohibits scorpions from burrowing. In what other ways are humans negatively impacting scorpions or their habitats? In California, there are two other main threats to scorpions and their habitats: wildfires and land development. Firstly, while wildfires are an important and natural part of California’s ecosystem, the way that humans manage land today has resulted in wildfires larger in scale and intensity than they have ever been before. We don’t know if scorpions can survive these wildfires. Since scorpions are slow dispersers, meaning they move through the environment quite slowly and can’t run away from a fire, populations that exist where major wildfires have occurred might go extinct. Similar to how wildfires might block out groups of scorpions, developing land, either because of agriculture or building construction, can also remove important scorpion habitats. One way to combat this issue is contributing to wildlife corridors or making sure that as land is developed, there is enough connected natural land for organisms to move freely. People often think of wildlife corridors in terms of larger animals, but this connectivity of habitats is also useful for scorpions. |
Disha Divakar, San Marin High School
Dog breeding is a well-known process in which certain favorable traits and characteristics of dogs are chosen over others. Over time, people have realized that all dogs are valuable and just as amazing as others even if they come in different shapes and sizes. People have even acknowledged that this type of selective breeding results in unhealthy generations and leads to non-purebred dogs being looked down upon. Similar to this situation exists the developing process of preimplantation genetic testing, PGT for short, and the creation of what we call “Designer Babies”. PGT testing is a developing platform that advances pregnancy opinions and tests for many different conditions. There are three types of PGT-testing: PGT-A to test for aneuploidies, PGT-M to test for monogenetic conditions, and PGT-P for polygenic conditions. It does, however, come with a fair share of ethical concerns.
Featured in this essay is the perspective of a genetic counselor, Liya Rabkina. Rabkina is a licensed and board-certified genetic counselor who is currently working at Igenomix USA in SFO. She holds a B.A. in Biochemistry from Scripps College and M.S. in Genetic Counseling from Northwestern. Through an interview and presentation, she provided insightful information regarding the science of designer babies and the ethics surrounding them.
PGT testing is a novel way to help struggling parents get a better look at their pregnancy. Sometimes families have an increased chance of passing on inherited diseases and conditions to their offspring that may threaten the baby’s life and the pregnancy itself. These can include Down Syndrome, Turner Syndrome, and Klinefelter syndrome. PGT testing helps to test for such conditions. PGT is used in conjunction with in vitro fertilization (IVF) to keep the embryos with the highest chance of survival and the ones with the lowest risks of certain genetic diseases. PGT testing can also be used for the testing of risks of polygenic conditions such as diabetes. One might ask how ethical it is to simply discard embryos that only have a possibility of an inherited illness and may not even be life-threatening.
PGT-A is the more typically used form of PGT testing. PacGenomics, a clinical genetics laboratory, says,” PGT-A, preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidies, is a genetic test performed on embryos created through IVF to screen for chromosomal abnormalities.” PGT-A is specifically to screen for aneuploidies which are generally related to either an excess or loss of a chromosome. According to Igenomix, PGT-A testing helps decrease the chances of miscarriage, increase pregnancy rates, and provides a greater chance of successful implantation. The detection of these abnormalities helps parents exclude embryos with aneuploidy and keep those with the highest success rate. It is understandable how patients would desire an option like this after they struggle with pregnancy. While PGT-A testing may open doors for some, according to the Pacific Fertility Center of Los Angeles, “PGS/PGT-A testing is typically performed during the IVF procedure, which can cost anywhere from $10,000 to $30,000 without a third-party surrogate or egg donor.” Thinking about this, it is clear that the process is no piece of cake. IVF treatment itself is known to be quite long and expensive due to the number of cycles needed to have a successful embryo. So adding a new test, PGT-A, on top of this already complicated process, can add a lot more tension and stress to a family. Liya Rabkina also wishes that people understood the practicality of this process and success as “there are often far fewer embryos than couples are hoping to have available for transfer.”. Another idea to keep in mind is that PGT-A testing can also be used for sex selection which can present ethical and social problems discussed later. Nonetheless, PGT testing can provide IVF patients with a better shot at a viable pregnancy while some families may be left with a lack of resources and embryos!
Another common form of PGT testing is PGT-M which tests for monogenetic, single-gene diseases. This is generally done when families are aware of a specific genetic condition that spreads in the family and want to test for that specific gene in the embryos. Examples of single-gene diseases include cystic fibrosis, breast cancer, sickle cell anemia, and Huntington’s. These diseases are rare and potentially devastating so it is crucial for families to know how they can prepare themselves and possibly prevent these types of inherited conditions.
Both PGT-A and PGT-M show to test for life-threatening and drastic conditions and both are likely to be on the more immediate and life-long side. On the other hand, a more newly emerging technology known as the PGT-P test for polygenic conditions. This testing shows a possible risk that may develop over time. PGT-P tests for conditions like diabetes, heart disease, and asthma. Generally, as mentioned before, these are more of a risk and develop rather than immediately devastating or threatening the life of the child. While these conditions may still be harmful in the long run, it may be unethical to discard these embryos based off of a non-life-threatening risk. More importantly, these eggs are still viable as well which provides another consideration when it comes to discarding them due to the discovery of a future common risk. Aside from health conditions, it can also test for polygenic traits which include height! This can be considered unnecessary when considering the viability and health of an embryo.
Focusing on ethics, many perspectives can be looked at. Even genetic counselors take the role to place checkpoints and make ethical considerations when offering these tests to ensure that they are truly needed. Rabkina stated, “My team screens all referrals and discusses ethical concerns with the ordering clinician. We may even reject a case if our ethics committee believes we should not move forward with testing. That being said, I also use my clinical judgment when I speak with patients, even for cases that pass our ethics evaluation and are approved by the ordering clinician. I provide patients with information that can help them make the decision that is best for their family.” This is because it is understood that discarding eggs simply based on possibly viable chromosomal conditions and perhaps sex has a chance of leading to unnecessary division and an imbalance in society. PGT-A and PGT-M both test for life-threatening conditions which a family may not be able to support and which could potentially risk the life of the offspring. Testing for these conditions truly helps IVF patients have a more successful pregnancy and outcome. But, the cost and time may outweigh these probabilities as IVF itself as discussed before is an extraneous process topped off with the costly PGT tool. On top of that, PGT-A testing opens doors for sex selection which in an extreme case, could cause society to regress in terms of sexism. Unlike the testing mentioned above, PGT-P testing shows several serious ethical concerns. Not only do these polygenic risks have a much lower effect on the embryo's viability, most of the conditions and traits it tests for are not life-threatening or immediate. They tend to be risks far into the future in cases like diabetes and heart disease and they can even be a trait that is irrelevant to the health of the child like height. Eliminating embryos that don’t pose the same drastic risks as aneuploidies and monogenic conditions, opens up the doors to marginalizing those with these common conditions. Rabkina speaks on where she draws the line on ethical considerations saying,” I, personally, struggle when families use information that does not impact the health of their future baby for decision-making.
Overall, PGT-A and PGT-M testing helps provide parents the chance at a successful pregnancy as it provides more viable eggs and a better chance at a healthier offspring. While this is important, it is also important to keep in mind the effects this may have on society. Testing like PGT-P on the other hand may eliminate healthy and perfectly viable embryos and lead to extreme unbalance in society especially when embryos are discarded based on traits such as height or sex, that do not affect the child’s health. It is important to understand the process and ethical considerations of this new biotechnology.
Works Cited
“Genetic Testing and Screening Services for Family Planning by Pacgenomics.” PacGenomics, 9 June 2023, pacgenomics.com/pgt/.
“PGT-A: Selecting Chromosomally Normal Embryos: Igenomix Me.” Middle East, www.igenomix.net/our-services/pgt-a-patients/. Accessed 1 Aug. 2023.
PGT-M & PGT-A: Loma Linda University Center for Fertility & IVF: Ca. Loma Linda University Center for Fertility & IVF. (2020, May 20). https://lomalindafertility.com/treatments/ivf/genetic-testing/pgt-m-pgt-a/
“Testing for Polygenic Disorders (PGT-P).” Virginia Center for Reproductive Medicine, 30 Nov. 2020, www.vcrmed.com/genetic-screening/testing-for-polygenic-disorders-pgt-p/.
by Disha Divakar, San Marin High School
 |
| Liya Rabkina |
What does the PGT testing process look like for your clients? (length, cost, worth, results)
I encourage you to look through our website: https://www.igenomix.com/genetic-solutions/pgt-m/. The timeline can vary from patient to patient but typically takes multiple months. The cost also varies depending on the specific testing ordered for the patient/couple and insurance coverage; it is in the thousands just to test embryos (not to mention the cost of IVF itself).
Which abnormal chromosomes (aneuploidies) are more manageable?
That depends on who you ask and how you define "manageable"! Most aneuploidies do not result in live birth (embryos with these may not implant or may miscarry). There are only a handful of aneuploidies that can result in live birth when present in all or most cells. These are trisomy 21 (Down syndrome), trisomy 13 (Patau syndrome), trisomy 18 (Edwards syndrome), and sex chromosome aneuploidies (extra or missing sex chromosomes). The spectrum of symptoms associated with Down syndrome is vast; some adults can live independently while others will need lifelong support. Babies with trisomy 13 and 18 typically don't survive past infancy. Sex chromosome aneuploidies can also vary in terms of clinical symptoms, but are considered milder (when compared to other aneuploidy syndromes).
When giving your client options, can you explain ethical concerns and your input, or is it all up to the client’s wishes?
My team screens all referrals and discusses ethical concerns with the ordering clinician. We may even reject a case if our ethics committee believes we should not move forward with testing. That being said, I also use my clinical judgment when I speak with patients, even for cases that pass our ethics evaluation and are approved by the ordering clinician. I provide patients with information that can help them make the decision that is best for their families.
What is something you wish people understood better/knew about the moral concerns of this type of genetic testing?
I wish more people understood how challenging this process is for families and had a realistic understanding of the likelihood of success. After testing is complete, there are often far fewer embryos than couples are hoping to have available for transfer. I also wish more families had the resources available to them to understand the breadth of options available to them for family planning. Luckily, there are many checkpoints families go through before they receive a referral for us. So, most requests that the average person would consider to be unethical don't make it to the point of initiating this process.
Where do you draw the line regarding “Designer Babies” and PGT testing? Is there some situations you think are more moral than other?
Life-limiting conditions I strongly feel families should have the option to test for and select against. From speaking with families I know how difficult this can be for the parents and the child. I, personally, struggle when families use information that does not impact the health of their future baby for decision-making. For example, there is a new emerging technology we briefly reviewed during the talk called "PGT-P" which tests for "polygenic" (multi-gene) common conditions/risks. There are lots of societies and professional groups that work to guide the testing of embryos and ensure laboratories are ethical.
What are some alternative approaches for your clients and how can they avoid the ethical concerns of PGT testing? Are there other ways for them to find out about the health of their embryos?
Unfortunately, there is no other way to test embryos (and if there were, the same ethical concerns would apply). If families forgo PGT, they can have diagnostic testing for their pregnancy or at birth. If testing is done during pregnancy, the options are to continue the pregnancy or terminate it. There are, of course, other moral/ethical considerations with terminating a pregnancy. With the current political climate, clinical termination is not always available (or may require a flight and stay in a different state - or could even have legal implications). The families that seek PGT typically want to avoid having to make the decision of whether or not to terminate a wanted pregnancy.
What is your take on the future of this kind of genetic testing and how it may advance?
PGT-P is a hot topic in my industry right now. There are also scientists working on finding ways to "fix" disease-causing genetic variations at the molecular level (rather than test for the condition and select against it). However, this seems to be pretty far off in the future. Ideally, there would be highly effective treatments available for all genetic conditions!
by Samantha Dvorin, Archie Williams High School
Art Wallace is a cardiac anesthesiologist and biomedical engineer who works as a professor emeritus of anesthesiology and perioperative care at UCSF and the Chief of Anesthesia at VAMC SF. He researches drug and device development to reduce perioperative risk. He has a B.S. in engineering and applied science from Yale. He also has an M.D. and Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins Medical School in Biomedical Engineering. On Wednesday, November 30, 2022, Dr. Wallace presented "COVID 19 and Long Covid: Rapidly Developing Therapies For a New Disease" at the Marin Science Seminar. We asked him some questions about his work.
1. How has the world of drug development and research changed since the emergence of COVID-19?
Science has had to speed up dramatically. Normal drug development takes one to two decades. In COVID we had to do it in 1-2 years. Prior to COVID, the fastest any vaccine had ever been developed was 4 years. With COVID, it was done in 1 year! AIDS has been around 40 years and we still don't have a vaccine.
2. Who is most at risk for Long COVID and is it preventable?
Older people, people with co-existing disease, and unvaccinated people. But, young, healthy, vaccinated people, who didn't get very ill with covid can still get Long COVID. Prevention is very simple, don't get COVID and get vaccinated and boosted.
3. What are some common misconceptions people have about COVID, especially Long COVID?
There are several diseases such as myofascial syndrome and chronic fatigue syndrome which we don't understand. We don't know the cause or have any treatment or know if they are really diseases. When a disease is of unclear origin with no therapy there is a tendency to say it is psychosomatic (in your head) or is just depression. When Long COVID came along some people thought it was just depression. Some thought it was psychosomatic. The NIH invested more than 1 billion dollars with the sole question of “is this a real disease?” and gave the grantees four years to figure it out. These grants were not allowed to search for cures for long covid, just ask, does it exist. A month after the request for proposals, an epidemiologist in the VA Al-Aly did epidemiology to show exactly what the symptoms were, how many people got them, and how long they last, essentially making the NIH studies, which hadn't yet even started, useless.
4. Why does every patient experience Long COVID differently and does it have anything to do with previous health issues or the severity of their initial COVID diagnosis?
Long COVID seems to be a multitude of problems. Microvascular damage, autonomic damage, neuroinflammatory processes, cardiac and renal damage, and psychiatric problems. People who get severe COVID have more problems with long covid, but people who get mild COVID can still develop long covid. The exact cause is unclear. It is likely multiple factors including immune response, the severity of illness, microvascular damage with small thrombi causing stroke, neuroinflammation, and maybe some residual virus. The causes are unknown.
5. Does having the COVID vaccine and the subsequent boosters have any effect on the likelihood of getting Long COVID or on the severity of the disease?
Yes. Vaccination reduces the risk of long covid by about 15%.
6. What does a typical day as a cardiac anesthesiologist and biomedical engineer look like?
Get up at 5 am to go to work. Three days a week I work in the OR providing anesthesia care to patients. Two days a week I do administrative work (hire people, get them paid, etc, etc, etc). I then use the rest of the time to do science (figure out how to pay for it, fill out paperwork to get it approved, write grants, develop software, publish papers). Then go home around 7 pm. Oh, then I am on call at night and on weekends when people have a disaster.Dr. Wallace in the operating room
7. What advice would you give a young person interested in medicine or medical research?
Study hard, take science, math, etc classes. Do well in class. Apply to the best college you can get into. Get perfect grades. Then take a year of English, a year of calculus or higher math, a year of chemistry with a lab, a year of organic chemistry with a lab, a year of physics with a lab, biochemistry, psychology, statistics, and then major in something. I was an electrical engineer. Volunteer in hospitals so you can decide if and why you want to be a doctor. Volunteer in a lab doing research to learn how to do research. Then apply to medical school and or an MD/Ph.D.
8. What is your team working on now to advance the drug development process for Covid and Long COVID?
We are looking at publishing continuously a daily update on vaccine efficacy and boosters. We are trying to get funding for the long covid drug development project. Paying for research is the hardest part.
Learn More:
By: Sahiti Namburu School: Terra Linda High School Dr. Kathiriya is a pediatric cardiac anesthesiologist and Professor of Anesthesia at t...
