X-Message-Number: 11271
Subject: fish protein
References: <>
From: "Perry E. Metzger" <>
Date: 15 Feb 1999 19:22:05 -0500

> From: 
> Subject: genetically engineered cryo-protection
> 
> Here's an off-the-wall thought:

Extremely off the wall.

> If scientists could identify that snipit of dna in arctic fish which 
> codes for the very protein which prevents them from becoming "fishicles",
> would it then be possible to impregnate it into a good many cells of
> the human body via the techniques of genetic engineering?

Not using current techniques. Frankly, the idea is pretty damned
"off the wall".

ON THE OTHER HAND, for fairly reasonable sums of money, one could get
bacteria to produce the protein in bulk, making it cheap enough for
incorporation into vitrification solutions. Whether other compounds
are cheaper and/or better or at least sufficiently inexpensive to make
this unnecessary is something the 21st Century Medicine folks will
have to figure out.

Perry

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