Chickens in Science

[Indyshent]

I wasn't sure where to put this, so I put it where the other science-y people are likely to hang out. This thread is about chickens (and other poultry) in science. Feel free to link articles and discuss them here.

I'll start things off with this article I found today: http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150512-bird-grows-face-of-dinosaur

A little info sbout me: I'm a biology major at IUPUI and looking eventually to get into Purdue's veterinary medicine program, but I have to do a capstone paper or run my own experiments as a final big to-do before graduating with a BS. I'm kind of clueless as to what topics I can research and what experiments I could design and run, so I'm looking for ideas and source material, in addition to cool reading material. I love working with all poultry, but have a special fondness for chickens and turkeys.

 

[Indyshent]

The BBC article cleverly pairs with this Ted Talk I bumped into a few years ago. Jack Horner is a HUGE deal in paleontology and has been for many decades. He and Bakker probably furnished the most dinosaur-related sources for Jurassic Park. It's very intriguing that Horner is *trying* to study dinosaurs by messing with developmental genes in chickens, and yet these scientists from the BBC article were trying to study the development of the beak and inadvertently helped Horner in doing so.

https://www.ted.com/talks/jack_horner_building_a_dinosaur_from_a_chicken

 

[centrarchid]

I am of the sciency type. Also a Purdue grad from almost 3 decades back and also familiar with all the links you provided as follow such closely. The lineage including jungle fowl (w/chickens), pheasants, turkeys, peafowl and quail represent something that retains most of the characteristics of those first birds. Those characteristics do not appear to even be on radar of those doing the developmental research.

 

[centrarchid]

I have a senior research project you might consider. As a professor, part of my job involves helping students with projects not unlike you will be doing.

Do you have the ability to house a small number of birds, possibly individually for a few months?

 

[Indyshent]

I couldn't do that at my home, and I'm not sure if a lab would allow me to, but my interest is piqued!

 

[Indyshent]

I found a very neat .pdf earlier when looking for transgenic chicken experiments, but I'm not sure how I would even link it here since clicking the link immediately downloads that article. Fascinating stuff, but part of what what intrigued me was that it only delved into using viral transduction. Going to have to go back and look at the date because I'd expected more on CRISPR-Cas9. Did find one CRISPR article on a cursory search, though it's more a general article on different uses for CRISPR and an overview on the animals which have or may be impacted in the future.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/welcome-to-crispr-s-gene-modified-zoo/

 

[Rubysword]

Not as advanced as you are, but I love science and want to see where this is headed

 

[Indyshent]

I've had a lot of or oboe ms with the site, but I did find a link to the 2012 article on transgenic chickens. I'm finally getting to the point where I can understand 95+% of what's being said in it... as a second term junior on a biology BS... and this article is five years old.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/...ntityKey=c25de354-2206-4bdf-b96c-4787bdba4a36

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

You are my people. I am forever fascinated in research projects, especially anything pertaining to genetics. I'm so stupid obsessed with genetic engineering right now. My brain is always running scenarios in which other poultry DNA might be spliced into the chicken genome to solve modern problems the poultry industry has. Sort of like the salmon/eel pout project that produces much larger fish in less time on much less feed, for example. So many possibilities.

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

Or the biohacking research that has been done on producing runs of only males or only females to improve efficiency for desired outputs.