Friday, April 24, 2015

homo sapiens crafting an exit strategy from pan-troglodytic deuterostems...,


BusinessInsider |  A group of Chinese scientists just reported that they modified the genome of human embryos, something that has never been done in the history of the world, according to a report in Nature News.

A recent biotech discovery — one that has been called the biggest biotech discovery of the century — showed how scientists might be able to modify a human genome when that genome was still just in an embryo.

This could change not only the genetic material of a person, but could also change the DNA they pass on, removing "bad" genetic codes (and potentially adding "good" ones) and taking an active hand in evolution.

Concerned scientists published an argument that no one should edit the human genome in this way until we better understood the consequences after a report uncovered rumors that Chinese scientists were already working on using this technology. 

But this new paper, published April 18 in the journal Protein and Cell by a Chinese group led by gene-function researcher Junjiu Huang of Sun Yat-sen University, shows that work has already been done, and Nature News spoke to a Chinese source that said at least four different groups are "pursuing gene editing in human embryos."




6 comments:

John Kurman said...

NYT article reports "The Chinese researchers did not plan to produce a baby — they used defective human embryos — but did hope to end up with an embryo with a precisely altered gene in every cell but no other inadvertent DNA damage. None of the 85 human embryos they injected fulfilled those criteria. In almost every case, either the embryo died or the gene was not altered. Even the four embryos in which the targeted gene was edited had problems. Some of the embryo cells overrode the editing, resulting in embryos that were genetic mosaics. And speckled over their DNA was a sort of collateral damage — DNA mutations caused by the editing attempt." http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/24/health/chinese-scientists-edit-genes-of-human-embryos-raising-concerns.html?hpw&rref=science&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region&region=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well&_r=0

CNu said...

Yeah, yeah..., they gotta work out a few bugs with the viral epigenetic cohort, but Roy Batty is on his way. Mebbe in time for a 2019 incept date! So we're a bit behind with the off-world colonies and the flying cars and such, but gottdammit man, the cooks are in the kitchen and the replicant stew is aborning in the pot!

https://youtu.be/O5MDGMvrSJc

CNu said...

Soooooo..., many different ways to go with Pandora's tool-kit CRISPR. The noo-evolutionary leapfrog possibilities beggar the imagination. Hope you've been putting radiolab podcasts on in the workshop. http://www.radiolab.org/story/211119-colors/

BigDonOne said...

Open Heart Surgery -- It took 10-15 years to get all the bugs out of the heart-lung machine and nail the procedure for stopping and re-starting the heart. Killed a lot of otherwise-doomed folks getting there and did save many who got lucky during this period. Should not be discouraged by initial DNA repair failures. It is the only hope for Eye.Queue.Seven.Five embryos....

John Kurman said...

I have not. I got my hands full back in the lower neolithic at the moment.

John Kurman said...

"It's not a bug, It's A Feature@ Mr. inside is the immense RNA toolbench. Mr. Outside is the wet chemistry, enzymes and domains and such. Per your later article, tbat's what happens when you fiddle with the atrazine knob.

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