Hear It From a Professional!
Geneen Fitchett is a biology professor at Central Piedmont Community Professor that has agreed to lend some invaluable insight regarding genetic engineering, straight from the mouth of a professional in the field.
1. What university did you graduate from, and what was your major?
"I graduated from Virginia State University. My major for both undergrad and graduate school was biology."
2. How long have you been in the biology field?
"Actually working in the field, and not schooling? About three or four years."
3. Just off the top of your head, what do you know about genetic engineering as it relates to the medical field?
"When I hear the word 'genetic engineering,' I think about stem cell research because I speak a lot about stem cell research in my classes. I know that there's a major controversy about it, but because of my science background I know that it is more beneficial to us than harmful. "
4. From a purely scientific viewpoint, what is your stance on genetic engineering, and why do you think that genetic engineering has such a negative stigma attached to it?
"I think there's this belief surrounding genetic engineering and it's that people will not use it properly. Society tends to abuse things, and people believe that it won't be used properly. When I speak about it in my classes, the first thing people think of is cloning, but it's so much more than that. "
5. What do you think can and should be done to help erase this negative stigma that’s attached to genetic engineering?
"Something like what you're doing is really good. I think more information needs to be given about it, so that people are really informed and aren't just making assumptions. For example, those pamphlets that they have in the doctors office. Things like that that will give solid background information and have people get more information about it. Most people have a lack of knowledge about genetic engineering, and that will have you thinking things that are not true. "
6. Where do you see genetic engineering, gene therapy, and stem cell research taking the medical community in the future?
" I think it will take us to places we've never seen before. I think it will be the solution to a lot of diseases. It is going to change science, it will change my teachings, and if we can get people to understand it, I think it can that the us to a whole new level in the medical field. "
1. What university did you graduate from, and what was your major?
"I graduated from Virginia State University. My major for both undergrad and graduate school was biology."
2. How long have you been in the biology field?
"Actually working in the field, and not schooling? About three or four years."
3. Just off the top of your head, what do you know about genetic engineering as it relates to the medical field?
"When I hear the word 'genetic engineering,' I think about stem cell research because I speak a lot about stem cell research in my classes. I know that there's a major controversy about it, but because of my science background I know that it is more beneficial to us than harmful. "
4. From a purely scientific viewpoint, what is your stance on genetic engineering, and why do you think that genetic engineering has such a negative stigma attached to it?
"I think there's this belief surrounding genetic engineering and it's that people will not use it properly. Society tends to abuse things, and people believe that it won't be used properly. When I speak about it in my classes, the first thing people think of is cloning, but it's so much more than that. "
5. What do you think can and should be done to help erase this negative stigma that’s attached to genetic engineering?
"Something like what you're doing is really good. I think more information needs to be given about it, so that people are really informed and aren't just making assumptions. For example, those pamphlets that they have in the doctors office. Things like that that will give solid background information and have people get more information about it. Most people have a lack of knowledge about genetic engineering, and that will have you thinking things that are not true. "
6. Where do you see genetic engineering, gene therapy, and stem cell research taking the medical community in the future?
" I think it will take us to places we've never seen before. I think it will be the solution to a lot of diseases. It is going to change science, it will change my teachings, and if we can get people to understand it, I think it can that the us to a whole new level in the medical field. "