|
|
NOVA scienceNOW: Profile: Pardis Sabeti
|
|
|
|
Program Overview
|
|
|
Dr. Pardis Sabeti is a professor of genetics and an infectious
disease specialist at Harvard University. She developed an effective
way to track the spread of genes in a population, providing insight
into natural selection. Currently she studies how the malaria
parasite develops drug resistance. She's also is a singer,
songwriter, and guitarist in a rock band.
This NOVA scienceNOW segment:
-
reviews that DNA mutations occur at a high frequency in a
population; mutations that help an individual survive in a
specific environment are considered beneficial.
-
explains that beneficial mutations, such as those that enabled
humans to digest milk, are passed down to offspring at a greater
frequency than non-beneficial ones and "spread" quickly through
a population.
-
reports that Dr. Sabeti developed an algorithm identifying genes
that spread rapidly in a population. Scientists now scan the
human genome using this algorithm and learn more about natural
selection and evolution.
-
considers how Sabeti's family experiences affected her character
and work: Her family fled Iran during the 1979 Revolution and
lost all their possessions. Later, Sabeti's father nearly died
in a car accident, and after apprenticing with her father's
doctor, she decided to study medicine.
-
reports that Pardis's current research involves understanding
how the parasite that causes malaria becomes resistant to the
drugs commonly used to fight it.
Taping Rights: Can be used up to one year after the program
is taped off the air.
|
|
