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E. coli seen through an electron microscope. In 2013, scientists recoded the genome of this bacteria-and now they want to do the same to human cells to prevent infections. Image:
E. coli seen through an electron microscope. In 2013, scientists recoded the genome of this bacteria-and now they want to do the same to human cells to prevent infections. Image:
It's called Project Recode, and it's a downsized version of Human Genome Project-Write, or GP-Write. Originally, the leaders of the project, including Harvard geneticist George Church, biotechnology lawyer Nancy Kelley, and NYU Langone Medical Center geneticist Jef Boeke, wanted to synthesize an entire human genome from scratch-a formidable project that would have required an exhaustive and exhausting re-think of the 3 billion DNA base pairs that currently describe the human genome.
But as Nature News reports, GP-Write hasn't been able to secure the $100 million required for the project, prompting the downgrade to Project Recode. Now, instead of re-writing the entire human genome, the geneticists want to make human cells immune to viral infections.
Comment: This consortium think parts of our genome are 'superfluous', similar to those who thought much of our DNA was 'junk', and who have now been proven wrong. Attempting to edit or re-write the genome, to essentially play god, before we even understand it, seems to be quite a perilous endeavor indeed.
Especially when we consider that recent discoveries have shown the symbiotic relationship between human biology and viruses could actually be a significant contributor to life itself, see: Part human, part virus: The body's intimate relationship with viral DNA