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Monday, June 12, 2017

The Genetic Mixture

 While sitting at home one morning drinking his coffee and skimming through his morning newspaper, Dr. Kimble had an idea hit him. He was a brilliant scientist who had been working in genetics and experimenting with ways to cure most earthly diseases. He has not had much success lately but keeps trying harder each time after a failure.
     If you can imagine this five-foot-ten, thin man with curly dark brown hair who wore eyeglasses that were virtually invisible on his face, that would be Dr. Kimble. He graduated from MIT with honors in the field of genetics and has been a respected scientist among his peers.
     This one particular morning when an idea hit him, he sat really seeing it in his mind. He had been trying to find a cure through genetics for most common diseases, but what if the cure wasn't going to be in the genes one one animal itself? What if the cure would be found by incorporating the components from two different genes together to make a cure?
     This pondered in his mind all morning until he got to his laboratory. After situating himself and getting into his lab gear which consisted of his lab coat, safety goggles, and rubber gloves, he did a walk through of his lab investigating all of his experimental subjects. He had little white mice, black and gray rats, a few gray pigeons, and two chimpanzees named Tiberius and Sally. They were a cute couple who were mostly for companionship to the Dr. He also had a few rather large lizards, a couple of bullfrogs, and a cat named Genesis.
     Most of the Dr.'s experiments were on his mice, rats, and lizards. They seemed to be easier to experiment with although the pigeons and bullfrogs held their own with the serums given to them. Each trial to find a cure almost always failed or showed a little response in his specimens. It was rather disappointing time after time, but the good Dr. would not give up. With every failure, he would try harder on the next one.
     Sitting in his laboratory, he began drawing out diagrams of how he would go about splicing genes from two different specimens. At first, he tried drawing out the incorporation of mice and rats but soon figured that they were too close to a family to make a difference. Then, he began looking at his favorite bullfrog, Oliver and drew out the incorporation of his genetic material with one of his mice and it looked to be interesting.
     So, the doctor began his genetic manipulating and once he figured out exactly how to splice the two genes together he proceeded with his testing. Of course, this did not happen over night but he spent every waking moment studying the components of each specimen to the point of taking his work home with him to continue working on until he went to bed.
     He did this almost every night until he figured out how to put the components from each gene into each other combining it into one gene. It sounds confusing but he was able to splice them together and the only thing left was to run testing on different disease specimens. He started with the most common diseases which were cancers and began those trials.
     He tried a few test samples and nothing worked. He ran the tests several times and came up with the same results, nothing. He tried rearranging the gene material to see if it would work and still no change. As many times as he tried testing, he changed the sequences as well that many times. Fifty trials and still no or little change so it was back to the drawing board.
     He figured it was time to try another species of animal and with a process of elimination he kept the mice and mixed them with pigeon genes. Hours beyond hours the Dr. kept his hopes alive that he would soon find a cure for at least one disease. Specimen after specimen, still nothing, but his gut was telling him that he was close.
     One night, the good Dr. took ill and found that his breathing was becoming irregular so he called for his friend to take him to the hospital. After a thorough examination and many tests and labs, the doctors at the hospital came to the conclusion that Dr. Kimble, himself, had small cell lung cancer. The news was detrimental to the Dr. and it gave him a sense of urgency in completing his trials and obtaining a cure.
     Once he was released from the hospital, the Dr. found himself back in front of his drawing board. He stood there looking at all his calculations for many hours. Something struck him awkwardly as he stood as still as possible mesmerized by the numbers on the board. Then, it stuck its face out of the board and stared directly back at him.
     There was a calculation in front of him that he had not tried nor considered. It was the mixing of the chimpanzee and the lizard gene that shined upon him. With that, he turned and looked at Tiberius who reluctantly stared back at him as if he knew.
     He went to his board and began compiling all his data and redoing calculations before coming up with an experiment. He thought it strange at first to combine a chimpanzee with a lizard gene but it was worth a shot. When he finished with his calculations, he went ahead and drew his samples from his specimens and put them under the microscope to examine the architecture of both.
     They seemed to be almost close in structure but he took and broke down the compounds to get the gene from each. Once he had the gene from each sample, he then proceeded to break the genetic material down into components. He stood there when he finished and was amazed by what he was looking at. This could be his cure for cancer.
     Before he began rearranging things, he took a small break for something to eat and drink. His favorite lunch was a peanut butter sandwich and a mellow yellow. He thoroughly enjoyed them and it was always satisfying. He would sit and eat in his rose colored armchair staring at his black chalkboard where he wrote all of his calculations as if it were a lunch and a movie. His obsession was his search for a cure and he felt that he was not good enough of a scientist if he could not find it.
     After eating his lunch, back to his experiments he went. He began switching genetic material between the genes of these two particular specimens. Once he was satisfied with his mixture, he started experimenting with his samples by injecting it into Petrie dishes that contained a few minute cancer cells. He gave it some time to work before looking at them through his microscope.
     It had been about two hours when the Dr. decided to look at his samples to check their status. When he focused his eyes on looking through his microscope he noticed that his concoction was, in fact, attacking and killing the cancer cells. Feeling overjoyed, the Dr. added some of his creation to a few dishes with live human cells to be sure that the mixture would not kill human cells as well.
     A few hours later, he looked through the microscope again to see that none of the live cells were killed. He had accomplished the first stage in his experiments and was very pleased. He then started testing his concoction with other cancer and disease cells. He was finding that his concoction was actually killing most of his disease samples. Could he have found the cure he had been searching for all these years?
     It was several hours of looking and noting his results before he decided to go to bed for the night. He was happy about his findings and felt that he deserved a good night's rest. He put everything away and took great care in putting away his test samples. Then he said his goodnights to all of his animal friends and companions before turning off the lights to his lab.
     The next morning, the doctor got up and headed for his kitchen where he made himself a quick cup of instant coffee while the real coffee was brewing. He took his coffee to the kitchen table where he placed it before heading to his front door to grab his morning paper. He had such a pep in his step as he has never slept better. He accomplished greatness the night before and was excited to get back to work, but not before he had his morning coffee and newspaper.
     He took his paper back into the kitchen and sat at the kitchen table where his coffee was waiting and began skimming through pages of the paper while he sipped his coffee. There was such a huge smile on his face this morning. It seems as if nothing could get him down today. He very much looked forward to getting back to work on his experiments, so he drank his first cup of coffee while reading his paper before grabbing a second cup for the ride to the laboratory.
     Dr. Kimble grabbed hs keys and headed out the door to his car. He unlocked the door and got inside setting his cup of coffee in the cup holder. He reached back and grabbed the seatbelt pulling it across him and buckling it in. Then, he put his keys into the ignition to start the car. When he was ready and situated to go, he backed up out of his driveway and drove down the street still smiling.
     All the way to the laboratory he hummed, smiled at other drivers and even sang a few tunes while driving. Once he got to the laboratory, he went inside and said good morning to all of his animals and companions. He put his research files on his desk and made his way to the closet to pull out food for his friends.
     All of his animals got very excited to see him go to the closet because they knew he was getting their food. As he dug around in the closet, you could hear the chimpanzees yelling at him to hurry. The doctor came out from the closet with handfuls of food for his animals. He went around placing a food dish in each cage smiling as he watched his friends eat their food.
     Once everyone was fed, the doctor made his way back to his desk where his research files lay. He took off his jacket and exchanged it for his laboratory gear before sitting down. He opened his files and began going over his notes taking notice to his experiments from the day before. He was so proud of his accomplishment yesterday that he was ready to return to his experiments today.
     He went over to his small refrigerator to pull his samples from the day before. He took them over to the lab table and began rechecking everything to confirm his findings from yesterday. He viewed under the microscope of the genes attacking the disease cells and everything was looking pretty good. The genetic mixture had eradicated all of the diseased cells on one dish, and when he looked at the live human cells, they were untouched by the genes.
     He now knew that he was on to something big. He pulled out more dishes and began checking all of them before he went into an asthmatic spell because of cancer in his lungs. It took him a minute to gain his composure and after the attack, he felt like he had been beaten up. Then, the idea hit him. Instead of injecting his genes into his animals, he would use himself as a test subject.
     He took a syringe full of his genetic mixture and went over to his table where he sat down. He laid the syringe on the table and reached for a tourniquet. He took off his lab coat and began rolling up the sleeve on his left arm. He took the tourniquet and wrapped it tightly around his upper arm and then started thumping on the veins in his arm.
     Dr. Kimble then took the syringe and stuck it inside his arm releasing the genetic mixture inside his vein. He pulled out the syringe just in time before his arm clenched up from pain and the mixture making its way through his bloodstream. He quickly grabbed his arm waiting for the effects to subside. After a few minutes, the pain went away but he began feeling nausea.
     He sat there in that chair for quite a few minutes to wait for the results to kick in. Before he knew it, the doctor woke up and raised his head off of the table. He had no knowledge of what happened but soon he was able to move around and then reached for another syringe to draw a blood sample with. He stuck the syringe into his vein and pulled the stopper drawing some blood from his arm.
     He quickly took the syringe and placed a sample of his blood onto a microscope slide and placed it under the microscope. When he focused his eyes on looking through the microscope he noticed that the genetic material was replicating at a faster than normal speed and it was attacking the cancer cells in his blood and leaving his healthy cells alone. He watched in amazement as every cancer cell in his blood was being destroyed.
     He made notes on the progress but soon felt the effects of a nonhuman gene in his body. He began feeling weird and having unusual and strange thoughts. At that point, he didn't care about the effects he was feeling because he now had a cure for cancer and if everything went well he could not wait to share it with the world.
     He dabbled a few for a few hours while checking his blood samples every couple of hours. Everything still progressed nicely and he was pleased with his results. Eventually, he made it to the point where he began feeling not like himself. He began picking at his skin and head like he had bugs on him and the occasional craving for flies.
     After the twenty-four-hour mark came and he checked to see the results, the cancer cells were gone from his blood. There were only healthy living cells inside him. With this information, he made an appointment with his doctor to get a second opinion. His only fear was hiding his bug cravings from his doctor or they would lock him away in a mental asylum.
     The next day he went to see his doctor for that second opinion, and after waiting a few hours for the results of his lab work, the doctor informed him that miraculously his body was rid of cancer. He jumped for joy and began thinking about who he could take his cure to.
     He went home to rest and found himself under the weather. He could not figure out why he felt so ill. He took a shower, put on his pajamas and climbed into bed for a healthy night's sleep. Little did he know that his body was changing and that was the reason for his feeling ill.
     Dr. Kimble slept through the night and when he woke up he found it difficult to focus his eyes. The sunlight beaming in through his bedroom window made it hard to open his eyes fully. When he got up from the bed and made it to the bathroom, he looked into the mirror and what he saw staring back at him was frightening.
     Standing there staring into the mirror he saw what look to be lizard eyes. The genetic material he injected himself with was changing the structure of his physical body. He also noticed that he was growing more hair all over his body. He was growing hair in places he never had hair before. He was now at his wits end as to what was happening to him but he knew that he could not allow the public to see him this way.
     Dr. Kimble was now having to isolate himself from the world because of his obsession with finding a cure for terminal diseases. He soon invented a pair of glasses that would cover and shield his eyes from the public and sunlight. He ordered razors through the mail which came on a regular basis as he had to shave his hair almost on an every other day schedule.
     After a few weeks of his transformation, his skin became reptilian with hair. His whole body was changing on a daily basis. He still found time for his work which was moved to his home in a spare bedroom. He continued his work for many years after that trying to correct the abnormal effects of the genetic mixture and eventually corrected it and had a solid cure with minor side effects which was secretly mailed to certain large pharmaceutical companies.
     Dr. Kimble knew it was too late for him but he could still finish his work and save many lives. His cure was successful all across the world and it was about four years after it's mailing that Dr. Kimble died from severe side effects of his mixture. No one will ever know where the cure came from or who found it, but he went to his grave with the satisfaction of his accomplishments.
        

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