VW - WRIT 150

     During these 13 weeks, I have seen my writing style evolve.  I found it difficult in the beginning to adjust to the new writing style that was introduced in this class.  However, this writing style has allowed me to plan and organize my thoughts before writing the actual essays.  The one lesson I will take away from this class is the day we learned how to research our topic.  Learning how to navigate through the library catalog as well as finding other reliable sources has helped me find better information for essays this semester.  Collaborative learning has allowed me to learn through my peers through reading their blogs, speaking about our opinions in breakout groups, and peer editing each others essays.  It was amazing to see how contrasting our writing styles are through reading each others' essays.  This has allowed me to analyze my peers' writing styles and incorporate them with my writing style.     ...

      I have decided to change my topic from animal testing to the ethics behind gene therapy.      Gene therapy is the altercations of one's gene by targeting body cells such as blood cells or bone marrow.  Although this therapy does not allow these genes to be passed down, targeting an egg and sperm cell will allow that child to develop these genes that can be passed down to future generations.  I was amazed to find that this treatment has helped some patients be cured from hemophilia (body does not induce blood clot), neurodegenerative diseases such as Huntington's Disease, certain cancers, and even blindness.  I have found that there are 3 types of disease categories for gene therapy: Monogenic/inheritable diseases, polygenic disease (dependent on environment and lifestyle), and infectious diseases such as HIV.        While gene therapy has found to cure many diseases, this treatment has also raised...

     The topic I have chosen is the ethics behind animal testing for biomedical research.  Although animal testing has lead to various medical discoveries, the ethics behind animal testing is widely debated on.  One clear ethical pillar this topic covers about is non-maleficence.  There have been many cases reported regarding animal cruelty in biomedical research.  These research range from developing new drugs to being experimented on.  Some argue that animals are similar to humans and may suffer physically and mentally from these experiments.  They further state that these research are inaccurate as human and animal bodies may have different reaction to the drug being tested.  This leads to the next ethical pillar, justice.  Regulations are put in place rather than stopping all animal testing.  Animal testing is still allowed as long as these laboratories follow the set guidelines.  Some fight for the justice o...