Gene editing cures to bioweapon's nightmare: Mark Buchanan

Although a study published last month raised the possibility that technology could also cause cancer in human cells, experts believe that this problem is probably only a slowdown on the path of a medical revolution.

The other side of biotechnology. (Bloomberg peak)

ALBERTA: The latest craze for biotechnology investments excites Crispr, a technique that facilitates and clarifies the work of gene editing, which biologists have already used to eliminate pathogenic genes from human embryos and slow down the growth of genes. cancer cells. Although a study published last month raised the possibility that technology may also cause cancer in human cells, experts believe that this problem is probably only a slowdown on the road to life. A medical revolution.

More worrisome is what Crispr and the new biotechnologies could do for the engineering of new biological weapons. A report from a committee of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that it will not be easy to find effective countermeasures, and details a list of possibilities to raise hair to show how new technology could reverse our biological mechanism against us.

Directed research appears weekly. At the end of last month, for example, researchers reported using the technique to greatly accelerate the engineering of genetically engineered mice that develop diseases similar to those of humans, and thus facilitate medical research. Crispr works by adapting sophisticated DNA editing machines that occur naturally in bacteria. By using it, biologists can disable or repair a gene, insert entirely new genetic material in specific positions, or even edit genetic material one nucleotide at a time.

Precision and ease of use of course accompany proliferation. The first thing that Crispr will make possible for a possible bioterrorist is to recreate known pathogens, either viruses or bacteria, whose samples are tightly controlled. It is increasingly possible to build the construction of some organisms from scratch, using only their genomic data. Crispr will allow faster engineering by people with less skill. The report suggests that it is now possible to build the genome of virtually any existing virus using data on DNA sequences available in public libraries. In fact, the manufacture of the body involves a second step called "priming", but this has also been done for many viruses

Therefore, it is probably only a question of time before small groups using ready-to-use lab equipment can recreate a range of dangerous pathogens from DNA sequences. Measures to counteract their use will be more or less the same for natural pathogens, including intelligence, immediate availability of vaccines and antivirals, and well-organized public health measures. But that is the easy threat to imagine, and it may ultimately be less significant than a spectrum of advanced biological weapons of a totally new type.

Any living cell is a miniature plant to produce various biochemicals with specific roles, and a biological weapons designer could aim to introduce biochemicals that would effectively reprogram the cell factory – to make cells humans producing toxins, for example, or to block the ability of cells to perform routine tasks. Since the Human Microbiome Project, we have understood that human health depends on a thriving ecosystem comprising up to 1,000 species of intestinal bacteria, and researchers have already demonstrated their ability to manipulate certain human intestinal microorganisms

. a key role in human immunity, disrupting its function could undermine the ability of a population to defend against the disease. A little further, researchers speculate, and it may also be possible to alter the human immune system, or even the genome itself.

None of this is yet possible, thank God, but technology is accelerating capabilities. Genetic engineering is no longer laborious, but runs along an effective cycle of designing, building and testing a prototype, learning its flaws and fitting a design. improved. Progress is becoming faster thanks to computers, laboratory automation and cheap technologies for synthesizing and sequencing DNA. Protecting ourselves will require extensive security policies and, above all, intense efforts to seek countermeasures based on the same new biotechnologies.

The very existence of this report could prompt other countries to invest more in R & D. They may assume that the United States already has or will have it soon. Biological weapons have a long history of use, since the launch of plague-infested corpses on medieval defensive walls across Japan using plague, anthrax and other diseases during the Second World War. What comes next seems certain to bring everything back to a new and less predictable level.