Japan bio-scientists produce 'singing mouse'

Japanese scientists said they had produced a mouse that tweets like a bird in a genetically engineered "evolution" which they hope will shed light on the origins of human language.
Japanese scientists said Tuesday they had produced a mouse that tweets like a bird in a genetically engineered "evolution" which they hope will shed light on the origins of human language.

A team of researchers at the University of Osaka created the animal in their "Evolved Mouse Project", in which they use genetically modified mice that are prone to miscopying DNA and thus to mutations.
"Mutations are the driving force of evolution. We have cross-bred the genetically modified mice for generations to see what would happen," lead researcher Arikuni Uchimura told AFP.
"We checked the newly born mice one by one... One day we found a mouse that was singing like a bird," he said, noting that the "singing mouse" was born by chance but that the trait will be passed on to future generations.
"I was surprised because I had been expecting mice that are different in physical shape," he said by telephone, adding that in fact the project had also produced "a mouse with short limbs and a tail like a dachshund".
The laboratory, directed by professor Takeshi Yagi at the Osaka University's Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences in western Japan, now has more than 100 "singing mice" for further research.
The team hopes they will provide clues on how human language evolved, just as researchers in other countries study songbirds such as finches to help them understand the origins of human language.
Scientists have found that birds use different sound elements, put them together into chunks like words in human languages and then make strings of them to sing "songs", that are subject to certain linguistic rules.
"Mice are better than birds to study because they are mammals and much closer to humans in their brain structures and other biological aspects," Uchimura said.
"We are watching how a mouse that emits new sounds would affect ordinary mice in the same group... in other words if it has social connotations," he said, adding that ordinary mice squeak mainly under stress.
Considering that mutant mice tweet louder when put in different environments or when males are put together with females, Uchimura said their chirps "may be some sort of expressions of their emotions or bodily conditions."
The team has found that ordinary mice that grew up with singing mice emitted fewer ultrasounds than others, which could indicate that communication methods can spread in the same group like a dialect.
Uchimura dreams of further "evolution" of mice through genetic engineering.

"I know it's a long shot and people would say it's 'too absurd'... but I'm doing this with hopes of making a Mickey Mouse some day," he said.........

Biochemists And Engineers Create Fast-acting Pathogen Sensor

Engineers invented a device to bring air samples into contact with genetically engineered biosensors in the effort to detect dangerous biological agents. The technology uses multiple collections of altered cell antibodies, each collection designed to respond to a specific pathogen by releasing photons of a unique wavelength upon finding it. Detectors measure the photons' wavelengths and interpret the pathogens they represent.
Anthrax, plague and small pox are some of the possible pathogens terrorists could use against us; but now, researchers say jellyfish are helping prevent these kinds of attacks.
From public transportation to federal and government buildings, experts are naming likely targets of bioterrorism.
Now, this innovative biosensor developed by scientists and engineers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) Lincoln Laboratory can identify harmful bacteria or viruses in the air in less than two minutes.
"It's at least ten times faster than any other automated sensor that's available," says James Harper, a biochemist and engineer at MIT.
In the lab, Todd Rider first developed the CANARY Sensor using jellyfish DNA and a high-voltage electrical charge. "I was in the lab with the electric creator," says Rider, a biologist at MIT. "I had mouse cells and the jellyfish DNA, and I frizzed my hair, said please give me life and pressed the buttons -- and the jellyfish DNA went inside the cells, and we had glowing mouse cells."
The glowing cells reveal the presence of a targeted pathogen. Still, scientists had no way to test air samples for pathogens until Harper created the PANTHER.
Scientists say operation is as simple as loading your DVD player. Disks containing sixteen chambers are loaded into the PANTHER. The machine pulls air through the disk to collect and test any pathogen that might be in the air. "That disk contains the cells that are the key to the canary technology," Harper says. "It releases those cells into the collected particles and looks for the resulting light, and gives you a sense of what's detected."
If a dangerous pathogen is detected, the sensor goes off -- alerting anyone who could be in harm's way.
Scientists and engineers say the CANARY technology can eventually be used for medical diagnostics to test patient samples. It may even be used in food processing plants to identify contaminants like E. coli or salmonella.

The technology is now licensed commercially.

WHAT IS PANTHER? The PANTHER device uses immune cells altered to act as detectors of dangerous biological agents. The device takes in air, runs it past the cells, which are gathered into groups, each designed to react to specific agent. The cells, which are engineered to respond to a specific pathogen, release photons of light when they detect their target. Other detectors recognize the release of light to indicate the pathogen that was detected. Based on the wavelengths of light that were released, the device outputs a list of dangerous pathogens that were found, about three minutes after beginning the test.