Dolly the Sheep: her place in history

Broadcaster: BBC Scotland/ BBC Two
Year: 2021
Genre: Documentary, Factual
Duration: 59 minutes
URL: https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/clip/210031

Dolly the Sheep was born on 5th July 1996. She stands as a pivotal breakthrough in cell biology, the first mammal cloned from an adult somatic cell (not, as is sometimes mistakenly thought, the first cloned mammal per se). The BBC took the opportunity of the 25th anniversary to put on record a “behind the scenes story… told in depth for the first time by the scientists who created her“.

In keeping with that description, the programme is principally structured around a combination of recent and archive interviews with various members of the Roslin Institute team involved in the generation of Dolly. The Dolly research itself is presented in the context of the shift from Roslin as an agricultural research facility, to a centre conducting more biomedically-orientated, ‘translational’ research. As such, I think the documentary serves best as an artefact for study of the Sociology of Science or the History of Molecular Biology.

Genetic Dreams, Genetic Nightmares

Matthew Cobb is Professor of Zoology at Manchester University, and author of several popular science books. He has produced a terrific three-part documentary Genetic Dreams, Genetic Nightmares on the potential and the risks of Genetic Modification (GM).

Each thirty minute episode takes us through a different phase in the first fifty years since the development of “genetic engineering”. Below I will give links to the episodes on BoB. Since, at the time of writing, they are also available on BBC Sounds I shall also cite those.

Episode 1 focuses on the origins of what became known as “recombinant DNA technology” and includes discussion of the famous 1974 conference in Asilomar, that introduced guidelines on safe research
Available on BoB: https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/clip/201952
Also on BBC Sounds: https://tinyurl.com/GDGNe1

In Episode 2, attention turns to commercial uses of GM and the role of venture capitalists in starting the world of biotechnology. The controversy of GM crops is discussed. 
Available on BoB: https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/clip/201953
Also on BBC Sounds: https://tinyurl.com/GDGNe2

In Episode 3, Cobb considers the new potential for genome editing, including the ability to alter the human genome.
Available on BoB: https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/clip/201954
Also on BBC Sounds: https://tinyurl.com/GDGNe3

The Gene Revolution: Changing Human Nature (Storyville)

Broadcaster: BBC4

Year: 2020

Genre: Documentary

Duration: 90 minutes

URL: https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/clip/163119

This is an exceptional documentary, and I do not say that lightly. An absolutely terrific introduction to the history and potential of CRISPR-based genome editing. A well-spent hour and a half for anyone interested in molecular biology at any stage of their career.

The programme is divided into six chapters and I have prepared a set of structured notes with associated questions. Available via this link.

I have also prepared a transcript of the programme (this link).

At the time of writing (until 2020) the documentary is also available at https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000dt7d/storyville-the-gene-revolution-changing-human-nature

The Great Science Publishing Scandal

Broadcaster: Radio 4

Year: 2019

Genre: Investigation, documentary

Duration: 28 minutes

URL: https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/clip/149051

This is a fascinating overview of the complexities of scientific publication. It will serve up few surprises for those who have had experience of the vagaries of how and where to publish their work, but will offer valuable insights for anyone wondering why they cannot access research they would like to read without paying a hefty fee (and despite the fact the work described was often funded by the public). The excluded readers might include members of the public seeking to find out about latest potential cures for an illness they experience, or students writing a dissertation.

In terms of educational uses, I can certainly see listening to this episode as a worthwhile half hour of “guided independent study” before a session on publication, peer review and plagiarism.

See also BBC page for this programme at https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0004l7k

 

 

 

John Burn and the genetics of cancer (The Life Scientific)

Broadcaster: Radio 4

Year: 2018

Genre: Conversation about science and working as a scientist

Duration: 28 minutes

URL: https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/clip/120149
and on iPlayer at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09rxr3t

The Life Scientific is a regular series on Radio 4, in which Physicist Jim Al-Khalili (and regular media contributor) talks to other leading scientists about their work. It is always an interesting listen because it peels away the false impression that science is a coldly calculated process to reveal some of the human experience involved in conducting research.

In February 2018, Prof Al-Khalili spoke with clinical geneticist Sir John Burn about his life and work. Prof Burn manages to juggle a number of roles; he is Professor of Clinical Genetics at Newcastle University, where he combines basic science research at the Life Science Centre, a ground-breaking research institute he co-founded, with clinical work at Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. He is also the Genetics Lead for the UK National Institute of Health Research and chairs spin-out company QuantuMDx, which is developing bedside DNA testing kits that could offer diagnosis in a matter of minutes.

There were many aspects of this episode that make listening to it half an hour well spent for any student of molecular bioscience. In particular, the programme gives a beautiful insight into the impact that genetics and DNA sequencing is playing in contemporary medicine (and the bigger role yet to come). Burn has been a pioneer of genetic testing in medicine and an enthusiast for benefits of routine genomic testing to facilitate personalised medicine (see, for example, his 2013 British Medical Journal article Should we sequence everyone’s genome? Yes).

Should you complete a course of antibiotics?

Broadcaster: BBC1 & Sky News

Year: 2017

Genre: News package

URLs:
(1) https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/clip/101304
(2) https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/clip/101301

Should you complete a course of antibiotics or stop taking them as soon as you feel better? Received wisdom, and current policy, is that you ought to continue the course to ensure that the bacteria causing the problem have been eliminated. However, a new paper The antibiotic course has had its day in the British Medical Journal argues that there is no evidence base for the existing practice and, given the known correlation between exposure to antibiotics and the development of resistance, we ought – as a bare minimum – to be conducting appropriately-controlled trials to examine the impacts (good or bad) of recommending shorter treatment regimes.

The paper received a variety of coverage in both the print and broadcast media. The two links here are to discussion of the work on the BBC Six O’clock News (1, 2.2 mins) and Sky News (2, 2.4 mins). Both clips have their own merits, but if you want to pick one then, on this occasion, I’d go with the Sky News clip. Both packages include historical footage of Alexander Fleming, but the Sky piece has more thorough explanation of the arguments.

For further coverage see my Journal of the Left-Handed Biochemist post on the paper, and this article from the Daily Telegraph.

Antibiotics: Britain’s greatest invention?

Invention or discovery? The case is put that sufficient work needed to be done after Fleming’s observation that the Penicillium mould killed bacteria

Broadcaster: BBC2

Year: 2017

Genre: Factual

URL: https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/clip/99491

This clips (8:50) involves former newsreader Angela Rippon putting the case for antibiotics to be the winner of a poll to identify Britain’s Greatest Invention. She has a vested interest in the choice, having been saved from TB as a child. All other inventions being considered (the jet engine, steam engine, fridge, television, mobile phone and concrete) pale into insignificance, she argues, as you cannot benefit from the other inventions suggested if you are dead. This argument may have prevailed, as antibiotics were declared the winner on the night.

In truth this is not a particularly great clip. The opening gambit that “antibiotics literally kill bacteria” is a simplification and the popular myths surrounding the role played by Alexander Fleming are trotted out. There are, however, two features that might make this worth sharing with students.

The first is the debate over whether antibiotics are a discovery or an invention. This is an example of a broader debate about whether natural products are “invented” (this was also at the heart, for example, of the tensions regarding the legitimacy of patenting human genes). Rippon suggests there was sufficient need to technological innovation for antibiotics to be an invention not a discovery. I would have to concur with this view, especially since the fluoroquinolones, my favourite family of “antibiotics”, are in fact entirely man-made.