Mutations and cancer
Characters:
Theme: Mutations
Competencies
Mathematical competence in science, technology and engineering
Personal, social and learning to learn competence
Subjects and year by Educational System
Spain > Biology and geology > 3rd ESO > Health and disease
Spain > Biology and geology > 4th ESO > Genetic and evolution
Enunciation
Charlotte Auerbach (1899-1994). She was a German-Jewish geneticist and zoologist who contributed to the discovery of mutagenesis and its effects. She succeeded in identifying toxic agents capable of producing mutations, in particular she demonstrated that mustard gas was a chemical mutagen.
His studies served as a basis for further studies on mutations and cancer.
fuente: https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-47476328
a) Define "mutation" and "mutagen". Give a couple of examples of mutagenic agents.
b) Justify why children who were subjected to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster have a very high incidence of cancer.
Observations and context
Charlotte Auerbach is also known as the "mother of chemical mutagenesis" for her studies on mustard gas. She was a contemporary of Clara Immerwahr who contributed to her husband's work on the use of chemical weapons in the First World War and the synthesis of ammonia.
Throughout history the field of biology and natural sciences has been littered with women researchers, such as Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) who was one of the most versatile and influential women of the Middle Ages in 12th century Western Europe.
The naturalist Maria Sybilla Merian (1647-1717). The anatomy teacher Anna Morandi Manzolini (1716-1774). Laura Bassi (1711-1778) promoted the constitution of a network of experimenters that connected Italy with the scientific culture of France and England.
Tu Youyou and Josefina Castellví i Piulachs also belonged to her generation. The former is a Chinese scientist, known for discovering artemisinin (also known as dihydroartemisinin), used to treat malaria, which in 2015 won the Nobel Prize in physiology and medicine.
Charlotte Auerbach's studies were motivated by those of Nobel laureate Joseph Muller. They were also the basis for Louis Goodman and Alfred Gilman's studies on a treatment for cancer.
Description
The activity consists of working on the concepts of mutation and mutagen and relating them to cancer.