What is cloning? Are there different types of cloning?
When the media report on cloning in the news, they are usually talking about only one type called reproductive cloning. There are different types of cloning however, and cloning technologies can be used for other purposes besides producing the genetic twin of another organism. A basic understanding of the different types of cloning is key to taking an informed stance on current public policy issues and making the best possible personal decisions. The following three types of cloning technologies will be discussed: (1) recombinant DNA technology or DNA cloning, (2) reproductive cloning, and (3) therapeutic cloning.
The terms "recombinant DNA technology," "DNA cloning," "molecular cloning," and "gene cloning" all refer to the same process: the transfer of a DNA fragment of interest from one organism to a self-replicating genetic element such as a bacterial plasmid. The DNA of interest can then be propagated in a foreign host cell. This technology has been around since the 1970s, and it has become a common practice in molecular biology labs today.
Reproductive cloning is a technology used to generate an animal that has the same nuclear DNA as another currently or previously existing animal. Dolly was created by reproductive cloning technology. In a process called "somatic cell nuclear transfer" (SCNT), scientists transfer genetic material from the nucleus of a donor adult cell to an egg whose nucleus, and thus its genetic material, has been removed. The reconstructed egg containing the DNA from a donor cell must be treated with chemicals or electric current in order to stimulate cell division. Once the cloned embryo reaches a suitable stage, it is transferred to the uterus of a female host where it continues to develop until birth.
Dolly or any other animal created using nuclear transfer technology is not truly an identical clone of the donor animal. Only the clone's chromosomal or nuclear DNA is the same as the donor. Some of the clone's genetic materials come from the mitochondria in the cytoplasm of the enucleated egg. Mitochondria, which are organelles that serve as power sources to the cell, contain their own short segments of DNA. Acquired mutations in mitochondrial DNA are believed to play an important role in the aging process.
Dolly's success is truly remarkable because it proved that the genetic material from a specialized adult cell, such as an udder cell programmed to express only those genes needed by udder cells, could be reprogrammed to generate an entire new organism. Before this demonstration, scientists believed that once a cell became specialized as a liver, heart, udder, bone, or any other type of cell, the change was permanent and other unneeded genes in the cell would become inactive. Some scientists believe that errors or incompleteness in the reprogramming process cause the high rates of death, deformity, and disability observed among animal clones.
Therapeutic cloning, also called "embryo cloning," is the production of human embryos for use in research. The goal of this process is not to create cloned human beings, but rather to harvest stem cells that can be used to study human development and to treat disease. Stem cells are important to biomedical researchers because they can be used to generate virtually any type of specialized cell in the human body. Stem cells are extracted from the egg after it has divided for 5 days. The egg at this stage of development is called a blastocyst. The extraction process destroys the embryo, which raises a variety of ethical concerns. Many researchers hope that one day stem cells can be used to serve as replacement cells to treat heart disease, Alzheimer's, cancer, and other diseases
Scientists have been cloning animals for many years. In 1952, the first animal, a tadpole, was cloned. Before the creation of Dolly, the first mammal cloned from the cell of an adult animal, clones were created from embryonic cells. Since Dolly, researchers have cloned a number of large and small animals including sheep, goats, cows, mice, pigs, cats, rabbits, and a gaur.
Hundreds of cloned animals exist today, but the number of different species is limited. Attempts at cloning certain species have been unsuccessful. Some species may be more resistant to somatic cell nuclear transfer than others. The process of stripping the nucleus from an egg cell and replacing it with the nucleus of a donor cell is a traumatic one, and improvements in cloning technologies may be needed before many species can be cloned successfully.
Scientists hope that one day therapeutic cloning can be used to generate tissues and organs for transplants. To do this, DNA would be extracted from the person in need of a transplant and inserted into an enucleated egg. After the egg containing the patient's DNA starts to divide, embryonic stem cells that can be transformed into any type of tissue would be harvested. The stem cells would be used to generate an organ or tissue that is a genetic match to the recipient. In theory, the cloned organ could then be transplanted into the patient without the risk of tissue rejection. If organs could be generated from cloned human embryos, the need for organ donation could be significantly reduced.
Another potential application of cloning to organ transplants is the creation of genetically modified pigs from which organs suitable for human transplants could be harvested . The transplant of organs and tissues from animals to humans is called xenotransplantation.
Reproductive cloning is expensive and highly inefficient. More than 90% of cloning attempts fail to produce viable offspring. More than 100 nuclear transfer procedures could be required to produce one viable clone. In addition to low success rates, cloned animals tend to have more compromised immune function and higher rates of infection, tumor growth, and other disorders. Japanese studies have shown that cloned mice live in poor health and die early. About a third of the cloned calves born alive have died young, and many of them were abnormally large. Many cloned animals have not lived long enough to generate good data about how clones age. Appearing healthy at a young age unfortunately is not a good indicator of long-term survival. Clones have been known to die mysteriously. For example, Australia's first cloned sheep appeared healthy and energetic on the day she died, and the results from her autopsy failed to determine a cause of death.
genomics.energy.gov
Friday, 4 February 2011
Wednesday, 2 February 2011
Fashion through the eras
Introduction to 20th-century fashion
Throughout the 20th century cross-cultural and historical influences have exerted a profound impact upon fashion design. The styles, designs and materials of other times and cultures have become more accessible to designers at first hand as improved travel and communications enable continents to be crossed with ease. With developments in photographic and printing techniques, they have also been able to glean ideas from secondary sources such as lavishly illustrated books, magazines and journals. Certainly since the 1950s European designers need only to look around them to see a rich variety of clothing from all corners of the world.
Early 20th century
Of the early years of the 20th century it is the clothes designed by Paul Poiret and Mariano Fortuny that reveal the richest evidence of historical and multicultural sources. Paul Poiret was much influenced by the art and design of the Middle East and India. In about 1910 he visited the V&A to study Indian turbans and, just weeks later, his haute couture adaptations were on sale in Paris. For his Thousand and Second Night fancy dress ball of 1911, Poiret dressed his wife in a wired lampshade tunic over harem trousers. This was to provide the inspiration for his more restrained `Sorbet' ensemble of 1912.
Fortuny was inspired by a variety of cultures and historical periods and freely combined East Asian, Coptic Egyptian, North African, Classical Greek and Renaissance sources. His finely pleated, black `Delphos' dress derives from a statue of a charioteer found in Delphi. The form of jacket worn with it was said by Fortuny to be suggested by the kimono. When laid out flat the jacket is rectangular in shape; the side seams stop short of the shoulders to create the arm holes. It is made from silk velvet, widely considered to be the most noble of Renaissance fabrics. The small naturalistic design, printed with metallic pigments, was also inspired by 16th-century Italian textiles.
During the early 1920s, couture houses embellished evening dresses with embroidered and beaded decoration in Chinese style or like that in Russian peasant tradition. In direct contrast, fashion in the 1930s saw a move towards a more feminine silhouette, with bias-cut clothes in smooth fabrics emphasizing the natural contours of the body.
The late 1930s and the Second World War
The late 1930s witnessed a move away from this body-skimming line in favour of historically inspired corsetted dresses with crinolines and bustles for evening wear. This trend can be seen in Molyneux's pale-pink ribbed-silk evening dress of 1939 which has a double-tiered full skirt held out by four bone hoops. A less extreme example of the vogue for period revivalism can be seen in Elsa Schiaparelli's black, satin-backed rayon marocain evening suit of 1938. (Marocain is a heavy crepe fabric.) This ensemble's leg-of-mutton sleeves, tight bodice with nipped-in waist, use of marocain fabric and ostrich feather-plumed hat were all features of late nineteenth-century fashion. However, the rayon fibre and the bold plastic 'Lightning' zip from ICI were progressive and characteristic Schiaparelli touches
During the Second World War clothing was subject to quantitative and design restrictions that aimed to conserve scarce resources while also retaining some element of style. These clothes, produced within the Utility scheme in Britain and under L85 regulations in America, do not reveal any marked historical or cross-cultural influences.
After the Second World War
In 1947 Christian Dior launched his New Look collection which, in direct contrast to wartime clothing, revelled in the unashamed luxury and corsetted styles of the late 19th century. His `Bar' suit from the spring of 1947 in cream silk tussore and fine black wool crepe is made to fit a tiny 45.5cm corsetted waist and exploits just under 7.5m of fabric in the skirt alone. Although a minority of women considered it anachronistic, the New Look was a resounding success among the war-weary population, for whom it evoked the stability of a previous era and embodied hopes for a better future. The promotion of an exaggeratedly feminine figure was in keeping with the prevalent view that women should give up the paid employment they had undertaken as part of the war effort and return to the home.
By 1950 revivalist styles, so evident in women's fashions, also invaded the most exclusive levels of menswear. The smart single-breasted grey wool `Edwardian' suit from 1951 - bowler hat, fitted jacket and tapered trousers worn with waisted overcoat and velvet collar - reveals this brief trend. This was to become the source for Teddy boy street styles.
From 1960 to about 1967 fashion celebrated modernity and scientific progress. However, in spite of the use of new materials and space age imagery, the short shift shape of womenswear dominant at this time can be traced back to the 1920s. The surface patterning of this period also had historical sources: the swirling forms of psychedelia had roots in turn of the century Art Nouveau designs.
1960s to 1990s
By the late 1960s optimism turned to concern as rising inflation, unemployment and environmental issues came to the fore. Designers began to look to nations of the so-called 'Third World' for inspiration and nostalgically turned to the past, especially the 1930s and '40s, for stylistic guidance. In the luxurious world of high fashion Bill Gibb became famous for his clothes embellished with applique and embroidered designs. A full-skirted 1972 dress with matching turban reflects the mood for clothing with a gentle ethnic influence. It is made of patchworked cotton fabrics designed by Susan Collier and Sarah Campbell for Liberty and has applied leather thongs and streamers.
After the hard imagery of late 1970s punk, Vivienne Westwood created her nostalgic, neo-romantic Pirate Collection. The pirate outfit, consisting of tunic top and sash, waistcoat, jacket and trousers with bicorne (two-cornered) hat and heavy boots from 1980 draws on a variety of historical and cultural sources. For example, the long slits in the arms of the jacket refer to the 16th- and 17th-century fashion for slashed fabric.
The Japanese designer, Issey Miyake, shows an interesting combination of influences in the 1990 dress `Rhythm Pleats'. The fine pleating is reminiscent of Fortuny. However, the choice of fabric (a hi-tech polyester and linen mix which is baked in an oven to set the pleats) means that the garment forms angular, sculptural shapes on the body, rather than clinging to it as the Fortuny does. The lack of concern with revealing the body and the simplicity of the basic shape - when laid out flat the dress forms a rectangle - are evidence of East Asian traditions.
1990s
In the 1990s fashion design has become increasingly diverse. Christian Lacroix's bridal gown from 1993 combines ideas from the seventeenth-century Spain of Velazquez's Las Meninas with gypsy sources. A Paul Smith suit mixes flamboyant patchwork fabrics from Afghanistan with 1950s tailoring, while a Helen Storey ensemble reveals modern street and sportswear influences mixed with ethnic-inspired embroidered decoration. It uses modern stretchy Lycra fabrics as well as leather.
http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/i/introduction-to-20th-century-fashion/
Throughout the 20th century cross-cultural and historical influences have exerted a profound impact upon fashion design. The styles, designs and materials of other times and cultures have become more accessible to designers at first hand as improved travel and communications enable continents to be crossed with ease. With developments in photographic and printing techniques, they have also been able to glean ideas from secondary sources such as lavishly illustrated books, magazines and journals. Certainly since the 1950s European designers need only to look around them to see a rich variety of clothing from all corners of the world.
Early 20th century
Of the early years of the 20th century it is the clothes designed by Paul Poiret and Mariano Fortuny that reveal the richest evidence of historical and multicultural sources. Paul Poiret was much influenced by the art and design of the Middle East and India. In about 1910 he visited the V&A to study Indian turbans and, just weeks later, his haute couture adaptations were on sale in Paris. For his Thousand and Second Night fancy dress ball of 1911, Poiret dressed his wife in a wired lampshade tunic over harem trousers. This was to provide the inspiration for his more restrained `Sorbet' ensemble of 1912.
Fortuny was inspired by a variety of cultures and historical periods and freely combined East Asian, Coptic Egyptian, North African, Classical Greek and Renaissance sources. His finely pleated, black `Delphos' dress derives from a statue of a charioteer found in Delphi. The form of jacket worn with it was said by Fortuny to be suggested by the kimono. When laid out flat the jacket is rectangular in shape; the side seams stop short of the shoulders to create the arm holes. It is made from silk velvet, widely considered to be the most noble of Renaissance fabrics. The small naturalistic design, printed with metallic pigments, was also inspired by 16th-century Italian textiles.
During the early 1920s, couture houses embellished evening dresses with embroidered and beaded decoration in Chinese style or like that in Russian peasant tradition. In direct contrast, fashion in the 1930s saw a move towards a more feminine silhouette, with bias-cut clothes in smooth fabrics emphasizing the natural contours of the body.
The late 1930s and the Second World War
The late 1930s witnessed a move away from this body-skimming line in favour of historically inspired corsetted dresses with crinolines and bustles for evening wear. This trend can be seen in Molyneux's pale-pink ribbed-silk evening dress of 1939 which has a double-tiered full skirt held out by four bone hoops. A less extreme example of the vogue for period revivalism can be seen in Elsa Schiaparelli's black, satin-backed rayon marocain evening suit of 1938. (Marocain is a heavy crepe fabric.) This ensemble's leg-of-mutton sleeves, tight bodice with nipped-in waist, use of marocain fabric and ostrich feather-plumed hat were all features of late nineteenth-century fashion. However, the rayon fibre and the bold plastic 'Lightning' zip from ICI were progressive and characteristic Schiaparelli touches
During the Second World War clothing was subject to quantitative and design restrictions that aimed to conserve scarce resources while also retaining some element of style. These clothes, produced within the Utility scheme in Britain and under L85 regulations in America, do not reveal any marked historical or cross-cultural influences.
After the Second World War
In 1947 Christian Dior launched his New Look collection which, in direct contrast to wartime clothing, revelled in the unashamed luxury and corsetted styles of the late 19th century. His `Bar' suit from the spring of 1947 in cream silk tussore and fine black wool crepe is made to fit a tiny 45.5cm corsetted waist and exploits just under 7.5m of fabric in the skirt alone. Although a minority of women considered it anachronistic, the New Look was a resounding success among the war-weary population, for whom it evoked the stability of a previous era and embodied hopes for a better future. The promotion of an exaggeratedly feminine figure was in keeping with the prevalent view that women should give up the paid employment they had undertaken as part of the war effort and return to the home.
By 1950 revivalist styles, so evident in women's fashions, also invaded the most exclusive levels of menswear. The smart single-breasted grey wool `Edwardian' suit from 1951 - bowler hat, fitted jacket and tapered trousers worn with waisted overcoat and velvet collar - reveals this brief trend. This was to become the source for Teddy boy street styles.
From 1960 to about 1967 fashion celebrated modernity and scientific progress. However, in spite of the use of new materials and space age imagery, the short shift shape of womenswear dominant at this time can be traced back to the 1920s. The surface patterning of this period also had historical sources: the swirling forms of psychedelia had roots in turn of the century Art Nouveau designs.
1960s to 1990s
By the late 1960s optimism turned to concern as rising inflation, unemployment and environmental issues came to the fore. Designers began to look to nations of the so-called 'Third World' for inspiration and nostalgically turned to the past, especially the 1930s and '40s, for stylistic guidance. In the luxurious world of high fashion Bill Gibb became famous for his clothes embellished with applique and embroidered designs. A full-skirted 1972 dress with matching turban reflects the mood for clothing with a gentle ethnic influence. It is made of patchworked cotton fabrics designed by Susan Collier and Sarah Campbell for Liberty and has applied leather thongs and streamers.
After the hard imagery of late 1970s punk, Vivienne Westwood created her nostalgic, neo-romantic Pirate Collection. The pirate outfit, consisting of tunic top and sash, waistcoat, jacket and trousers with bicorne (two-cornered) hat and heavy boots from 1980 draws on a variety of historical and cultural sources. For example, the long slits in the arms of the jacket refer to the 16th- and 17th-century fashion for slashed fabric.
The Japanese designer, Issey Miyake, shows an interesting combination of influences in the 1990 dress `Rhythm Pleats'. The fine pleating is reminiscent of Fortuny. However, the choice of fabric (a hi-tech polyester and linen mix which is baked in an oven to set the pleats) means that the garment forms angular, sculptural shapes on the body, rather than clinging to it as the Fortuny does. The lack of concern with revealing the body and the simplicity of the basic shape - when laid out flat the dress forms a rectangle - are evidence of East Asian traditions.
1990s
In the 1990s fashion design has become increasingly diverse. Christian Lacroix's bridal gown from 1993 combines ideas from the seventeenth-century Spain of Velazquez's Las Meninas with gypsy sources. A Paul Smith suit mixes flamboyant patchwork fabrics from Afghanistan with 1950s tailoring, while a Helen Storey ensemble reveals modern street and sportswear influences mixed with ethnic-inspired embroidered decoration. It uses modern stretchy Lycra fabrics as well as leather.
http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/i/introduction-to-20th-century-fashion/
Article on fashion photography history
Fashion photography history begins in 1913 when Condé Nast employed Adolphe de Meyer (Franco-British, 1868-1946) to make experimental photographs using a soft-focus lens and backlighting.
Next came Edward Steichen who started photographing fashion models in 1911. He used simple props in a Modernist way combined with classical poses. The fashion magazine Vogue had already been launched in 1892 but they used illustrations for their fashions. Steichen used artificial lighting as well as natural light to create a feeling of sensuality in his pictures and became the most highly paid photographer of the 1930s. The photograph below is simply stunning and shows the quality of work of which Steichen was capable. It is a picture of Thérèse Duncan, the adopted daughter of Isadora Duncan, on the Acropolis in Greece taken in 1921. The title of this remarkable photograph is 'Wind Fire', because of the cracking sound her garments made in the wind.
George Hoyningen-Huene (1900 - 1968) was another famous photographer from this era, travelling and working with Coco Chanel, Greta Garbo, Salvador Dali, jean Cocteau, Cecil Beaton, Marlene Dietrich and Kurt Weill. In the 1920s he was chief photographer for French Vogue and in the 1930s he worked almost exclusively for Harper's Bazaar.
Cecil Beaton and Horst Paul Horst were next on the scene. Beaton's images were influenced by his theatre designs while Horst's leaned towards the surreal, mostly using black and white or monochrome settings and creating a shadowless image through the use of spotlights.
With the advent of colour photography, fashion photography moved up from the realm of commercialism and advertising to high fashion photography which was considered art. During World War II however, the fashion photography industry in Europe suffered due to lack of materials and fashion photography was considered frivolous. French Vogue shut when Hitler invaded Paris and photographers such as Horst fled to America where fashion photography was unaffected.
With the advent of colour photography, fashion photography moved up from the realm of commercialism and advertising to high fashion photography which was considered art. During World War II however, the fashion photography industry in Europe suffered due to lack of materials and fashion photography was considered frivolous. French Vogue shut when Hitler invaded Paris and photographers such as Horst fled to America where fashion photography was unaffected.
After the War, the American photographer Lillian Bassman (born 1917) created a new aesthetic in black and white fashion photography. Her pictures were atmospheric, moody, mostly in black and white, with very high contrast and a grainy appeaerance. She worked for Harper's Bazaar from 1950 until 1965 but after that the geometric style which underpinned her compositions became unfashionable. She was rediscovered in the 1990s when a bag containing hundreds of her photographs was discovered, photographs which she had thrown out 20 years prior. Today she has been rediscovered and given the recognition she rightly deserves as a top fashion photographer.
In the 1940s and 1950s Alex Liberman , painter, sculptor, photographer and graphic designer, influenced a generation of photographers, including Diane Arbus, Bruce Davidson, Robert Frank, Robert Klein and Lisette Model. Irving Penn is another fashion photographer from this era, whose compositions were daringly simple, often isolating his subjects from all props or backgrounds to create a feeling of emotional detachment.
In the 1940s and 1950s Alex Liberman , painter, sculptor, photographer and graphic designer, influenced a generation of photographers, including Diane Arbus, Bruce Davidson, Robert Frank, Robert Klein and Lisette Model. Irving Penn is another fashion photographer from this era, whose compositions were daringly simple, often isolating his subjects from all props or backgrounds to create a feeling of emotional detachment.
60s Fashion Photography
60s fashion photography was highly experimental and photographers found themselves having greater decision-making power with editors. Vogue photographer Bob Richardson was one of the biggest names in high fashion photography at that time. His photographs were influenced mainly by film directors particularly with respect to camera angle and lighting.
If Richardson's creations were a bit too edgy for the editors, Richard Avedon's pictures were a dream come true with models shown smiling and exhibiting emotions, often in action. Avedon is perhaps most famous for his work with Twiggy, the great icon of fashion of the 1960s who was skinny and looked like a boy, a huge difference from the models of the 1940s and 1950s. She was described by Newsweek as "four straight limbs in search of a body".
The photographs of Diane Arbus are not usually associated with fashion photography but she worked for harper's Bazaar in 1962 on a series of photographs of children fashions and also for the New York Times in 1967, 1968 and 1970. The photographs are of outcast children and are very disturbing as fashion photography goes.
David Bailey is another well-known 60s fashion photographer. Bailey photographed actors musicians and royalty as well as fashion models. He captured, and helped to create, the Swinging London of the 1960s, a culture that was noted for its chic fashions. The film Blowup, 1966, was largely based on the character of Bailey played by David Hemmings. He is still working in the field of photography today. Of his work he states: "I've always tried to do pictures that don't date. I always go for simplicity".
In the 1970s, Helmut Newton rose to fame (or should I say notoriety) along with Guy Bourdin who created fashion photographs with aggresive and violence contained within them. His images for Vogue's Story of Ohh! are particularly infamous, based on the French nvoel The Story of O by Pauline Reage (Anne Desclos) in which the main character is a female fashion photographer and a masochist. Newton is perhaps the most copied fashion photographer of the 20th century.In the 1990s high fashion photography was dominated by photographers such as Collier Schorr and Glen Luchford who began to depict young men and women in gender-ambiguous photographs. David Lachapelle, Jurgen Teller and Wolfgang Tillmans are perhaps the most influential photographers of this era. High fashion photography and art photography comingled particularly in the work of Larry Sultan. Photographers such as Paolo Roversi, Peter Lindberg and Mario Testino are reinventing the genre today.
Tuesday, 25 January 2011
FRANCES PELLEGRINI 1950'S
Frances Pellegrini had a successful commercial career in New York from the late 1940's through the 1980's. Pellegrini pioneered her roles as a photographer and an independent business woman. She was a contemporary of the movement that saw photographers like Margaret Bourke White and Walker Evans lend artistic ability to commercial purpose. Pellegrini herself worked for a decade at Harpers' Bazaar with legendary art director Alexei Brodovitch. Her images reflect an elegantly understated style and modern sensibility. Before starting her commercial career, Pellegrini joined the historic Photo League and worked with photographers Dan Weiner and Sid Grossman; their use of photography as a tool for social change and personal expression are ideas found in Pellegrini's early work that never disappear entirely. Pellegrini's street works are intuitive, loosely handled and depict an intimacy with the city.
"I decided to get a camera of my own--a Rolliflex.
My professional career began in photo-reportage--writing and illustrating articles. Soon I gravitated toward fashion. Eventually I set up my own studio with my husband Bruno. We did both editorial and advertising photography. Our editorial clients were magazines such as Harpers' Bazaar, Glamour, Seventeen, Modern Bride & Woman's Day. For fashion work during the 50's the deliverable item was a silver gelatin print. At that time, color was very expensive, so it was simply not used. The client would have some idea of what they wanted, but they gave me quite a lot of latitude.
I didn't crop my images or manipulate them much--nothing more extensive than toning down a white dress that was getting too much light. I have never consciously composed a photograph. I never thought of my photography as art. Certain things were simple. I just wanted to take a good picture." - Frances Pellegrini.
"I decided to get a camera of my own--a Rolliflex.
My professional career began in photo-reportage--writing and illustrating articles. Soon I gravitated toward fashion. Eventually I set up my own studio with my husband Bruno. We did both editorial and advertising photography. Our editorial clients were magazines such as Harpers' Bazaar, Glamour, Seventeen, Modern Bride & Woman's Day. For fashion work during the 50's the deliverable item was a silver gelatin print. At that time, color was very expensive, so it was simply not used. The client would have some idea of what they wanted, but they gave me quite a lot of latitude.
I didn't crop my images or manipulate them much--nothing more extensive than toning down a white dress that was getting too much light. I have never consciously composed a photograph. I never thought of my photography as art. Certain things were simple. I just wanted to take a good picture." - Frances Pellegrini.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)