Genetics

The Food and Drug Administration recently approved the first drug to be biologically produced from genetically modified livestock. The drug antithrombin, a protein which helps prevent blood clotting, will be produced by goats that have been genetically modified with the human version of the gene.

Cleverly, researchers spliced the gene in a specific part of the goat genome so that the goats would only produce the protein in their milk. It's relatively straightforward to isolate the protein drug from other milk proteins and package it for market.

The New York Times recently featured a comprehensive and well-written article by noted Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker on the rise of consumer genomics. Pinker is a participant in the Personal Genome Project, an ambitious initiative to sequence the DNA of 100,000 volunteers for the purpose of better understanding how genes, health, and behavior are interrelated.