The researchers start an ambitious project to build human genetic materials from the zero point to learn more about how the DNA works and pave the way for the next generation of medical treatments.
Scientists in the artificial human genome project (Synhg) will spend the next five years in developing tools and knowledge to build long sections of human genetic code in the laboratory. These will be included in the live cells to understand how the code works.
Armed with visions, scientists hope to develop new radical treatments to treat diseases. Among the possibilities are live cells resistant to immune attack or certain viruses, which can be implanted in patients with autoimmune diseases or with liver damage from chronic viral infections.
“Information from the synthesis of human genomics may be directly useful in generating treatments for almost any disease,” said Professor Jason Chen, who leads the project at the MRC laboratory at the MRC molecular laboratory. biology (LMB) in Cambridge.
Scientists have been able to read DNA for decades. It was the first draft of the human genome It was announced 25 years agoIt is an achievement that paves the way for the continuous hereditary revolution. But while technology has advanced to read genomics, it has proven more difficult.
For the synhg project, researchers will start making sections of human chromosome and testing them in human skin cells. The project includes teams from Cambridge, Kent, Manchester, Oxford and College Imperial universities in London.
The chin team recently combined the full genome of E Coli Bacteria. But while the error genome carries about 4.5 million base pairs, represented by the letters G, T, C and A, the human genome carries more than 3 billion pairs.
“If you are thinking about the human genome, it is more than just a group of genes on a series,” said Dr. Julian Cell, the group leader of the group, said. “There is a lot of genome, which is sometimes called the dark issue of the genome, that we do not know what it is doing. The idea is that if you manage to build genomics successfully, you can completely understand it.”
An integral part of the project is a parallel research effort in social and ethical issues that arise from the manufacture of generations in the laboratory, led by Professor Joy Chang at Kent University. “We are far from the presence of anything tangible that can be used as a treatment, but this is the time to start discussing about what we want to see and what we do not want to see,” said.
Professor Ian Brasington, who is studying Genetic technology ethics At Manchester University, he welcomed the project. While realistic applications in the world are somewhat far from, he said that the work can lead to artificial versions of mitochondria, the small structures that resemble the battery that operates biological cells. It can be used to prevent women who carry mitochondria from their transfer to their children. He said: “The potential mother still needs to undergo egg harvest and IVF, but we no longer need a donor, so we were raising the number of women burdened because of this procedure.”
Brasington added that technology did not constitute problems. It may be possible to make bacteria – thanks to their artificial genomics – can digest petrochemicals, which may be useful for breaking plastic waste and disinfecting oil spills but needs very carefully careful treatment. “Such errors that enter the environment may be disastrous,” he said.
The ghost of designer children is another correct concern. Parents can use technology to form their children before birth, which raises questions about the amount of control they must have. In another idea “a little wild”, Brasington said that celebrities may start “licensing” parts of their genome to allow people to copy their genes.
“There may also be situations in which a man discovers that he is the” genetic “father of a child who did not know anything about,” Brasington added. “This can actually happen, of course, but it currently knows how it happened. Syndna enables us to imagine a position in which a person of a person can be used for a child without a cellular contribution from him at all.”
However, he said: “Generally, I think concerns related to all designed children depend on some somewhat scattered technology. I will not lose much sleep on them.”
