Image source, Getty Images
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- Author, Pallab ghosh
- Author's title, Science correspondent
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- Author, Gwyndaf Hughes
- Author's title, Science videograph
A controversial project has begun to create from scratch the fundamental components of human life, in what is considered a worldwide first.
The research has been taboo so far for fear that design could lead to unprecedented changes for future generations.
But now the largest beneficial medical organization in the world, Wellcome Trust, has contributed 10 million pounds (almost US $ 14 million) to start the project and states that it can do rather than accelerate the accelerate the treatment of many incurable diseases.
Dr. Julian Sale, from the MRC MRC Laboratory of Cambridge, who participates in the project, told BBC News that research is the next great jump of biology.
“Heaven is the limit. We look for therapies that improve people's lives as they age, that allow a healthier and less diseases.”
“We want to use this method to generate diseases resistant to the diseases that we can use to repopulate damaged organs, for example the liver, heart or even the immune system,” he explained.
But critics fear that research opens the way to unscrupulous researchers who intend to create improved or modified human beings.
Pat Thomas, director of the Beyond GM campaign group (beyond transgenics), said: “We like to think that all scientists are there to do good, but science can be reused to harm and for war.”
The details of the project were announced to BBC News on the 25th anniversary of the completion of the Human Genome project, which mapped the human DNA molecules and was also largely funded by Wellcome.
Create Zero DNA
Each cell of our body contains a molecule called DNA that transports the genetic information it needs. The DNA is built from four much smaller blocks called A, G, C and T, which are repeated again and again in various combinations. Incredibly, it contains all the genetic information that makes us physically who we are.
The human genome project allowed scientists to read all human genes as a barcode. The new work that is being launched, called Synthetic Human Genome Project, can be a great step forward: it will allow researchers not only to read a DNA molecule, but to create parts of the same – perhaps every day everything – molecule to molecule from zero.
The first objective of scientists is to develop ways to build increasingly large blocks of human DNA, to the point of having synthetically built a human chromosome. These contain genes that govern our development, repair and maintenance.
Thus you can study and experiment with them to know more about how genes and DNA regulate our body.
According to Professor Matthew Hurles, director of the Wellcome Sanger Institute, who sequenced most of the human genome, many diseases occur when these genes do not work properly, so studies could lead to better treatments.
“Building DNA from scratch allows us to verify how DNA really works and try new theories, because we can only really modify the DNA that already exists in living systems.”
The work of the project will be limited to test tubes and plates, and it will not be tried to create synthetic life. But technology will give researchers an unprecedented control over living human systems.
And although the project seeks medical benefits, nothing prevents unscrupulous scientists from making a misuse of technology.
They could, for example, try to create improved biological weapons or even creatures that had human DNA, according to Professor Bill Earnshaw, a respected genetic scientist at the University of Edinburgh who designed a method to create artificial human chromosomes.
“The genius has left the bottle,” he told BBC News. “We could establish a series of restrictions now, but an organization with access to adequate machinery decided to start synthesizing anything, I don't think we could prevent it.”
Thomas is concerned about how health companies that develop treatments derived from research will market.
“If we manage to create synthetic body parts or even synthetic people, who will they belong to? And who belongs to the data of these creations?” He asks.
Given the possible improper use of technology, the question for Wellcoma is why it decided to finance it. The decision was not taken lightly, according to Dr. Tom Collins, who gave the green light to the financing.
“We wonder what the cost of inaction would be,” he told BBC News.
“This technology will develop one day, so in doing so now we are trying, at least, to do it in the most responsible way possible and face ethical and moral issues in the most direct way possible.”
In parallel to the scientific development of the project, a social science program led by the sociologist Joy Zhang, of the University of Kent will be launched.
“We want to know the opinion of experts, social scientists and, above all, of the general public about their relationship with the technology and the benefits that they can report, as well as their doubts and concerns,” said Zhang.
Image source, Getty Images
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