Dude we might be able to help you...

[haikuman]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-

12 September 2011 Last updated at 11:38 GMT

Glowing cats shed light on Aids

The cats expressed the fluorescent protein throughout their bodies
Cats that have been genetically modified to glow in the dark are being used to gain insights into Aids.
The scientists inserted one gene into the cats that helps them resist the feline form of Aids.
They also inserted a gene that produces a fluorescent protein called GFP, Nature Methods journal reports.

[timg]

OK, you lost me.

How does making a cat glow in the dark "shed light" on AIDS? Do the researchers not have electricity in their labs? Are they now able to work longer hours "by glowing cat"?

[OWC Jamie]

[C(-)ris]

Where can I get a glowing cat? Would make a great AIDs research fundraiser. I'd take 2.

[Chakravartin]

timg wrote:
OK, you lost me.

How does making a cat glow in the dark "shed light" on AIDS?

Some humans and some monkeys have an innate immunity to HIV.

Scientists are exploring how that immunity works and how it is passed on to the next generation.

They had demonstrated in lab-tests that certain monkey-genes coded for proteins that disrupted the reproductive cycle of HIV viruses and FIV viruses (the feline version of HIV), but they hadn't previously demonstrated that the monkey-genes would be helpful in a complex organism.

They engineered a cat that had both the monkey-genes and the jellyfish-genes in order to track how the genes were passed to offspring.

The offspring that glow have the new genes. The ones with the new genes will be helpful to HIV/FIV researchers. Now they have a breed of cat that has an immune-response to FIV. They can look at how that works and apply what they learn to the treatment of humans.

[haikuman]

timg wrote:
OK, you lost me.

How does making a cat glow in the dark "shed light" on AIDS? Do the researchers not have electricity in their labs? Are they now able to work longer hours "by glowing cat"?

Re: Dude we might be able to help you...
Posted by: C(-)ris [PM] [Ignore this user]
Date: September 13, 2011 02:04PM
Where can I get a glowing cat? Would make a great AIDs research fundraiser. I'd take 2.

Reading the article thoroughly may enlighten you :devil: and help to increase your fundamental understanding :priate:

It feels like there is a method to their madness to me and lives could possibly be saved...

Rudie

[timg]

haikuman wrote:
[quote=timg]
OK, you lost me.

How does making a cat glow in the dark "shed light" on AIDS? Do the researchers not have electricity in their labs? Are they now able to work longer hours "by glowing cat"?

Re: Dude we might be able to help you...
Posted by: C(-)ris [PM] [Ignore this user]
Date: September 13, 2011 02:04PM
Where can I get a glowing cat? Would make a great AIDs research fundraiser. I'd take 2.

Reading the article thoroughly may enlighten you :devil: and help to increase your fundamental understanding :priate:

It feels like there is a method to their madness to me and lives could possibly be saved...

Rudie
Enlightened?? You mean if I read the article, I can glow in the dark too?

[Lew Zealand]

timg wrote:
[quote=haikuman]
[quote=timg]
OK, you lost me.

How does making a cat glow in the dark "shed light" on AIDS? Do the researchers not have electricity in their labs? Are they now able to work longer hours "by glowing cat"?

Re: Dude we might be able to help you...
Posted by: C(-)ris [PM] [Ignore this user]
Date: September 13, 2011 02:04PM
Where can I get a glowing cat? Would make a great AIDs research fundraiser. I'd take 2.

Reading the article thoroughly may enlighten you :devil: and help to increase your fundamental understanding :priate:

It feels like there is a method to their madness to me and lives could possibly be saved...

Rudie
Enlightened?? You mean if I read the article, I can glow in the dark too?
Yes.

Yes that's exactly it.

Or you might lose some weight.

[Paul F.]

They could have spliced lots of traits into the cat DNA for the experiment...
They just knew that a GLOWING cat would be the COOLEST way to get all the good press.

Personally, I think it'd be awesome to have a cat that doubles as a night-light.

[vision63]

Poor kitties.