According to the controversial Harvard geneticist, Professor George Church, advances in DNA technology will soon change the way we live.
The scientist is currently working on creating pigs that grow human-compatible organs for transplants, as well as mini-brains that grow in a Petri dish.
In a new interview, he said that his work – along with other gene editing projects – could help prolong human life and even reverse the aging process
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Humans will someday grow pigs for organs and use brain transplants to cure Alzheimer's disease. That's according to the controversial Harvard geneticist Professor George Church (file photo), who says that advances in our understanding of DNA will soon change the way we live.
Speaking to medium, he claimed that several biological pathways are being explored to reverse the effects of
This includes attempts to increase the survival of our telomeres – fragments of DNA that protect the ends of chromosomes and degrade as they age.
But despite a number of promising advances, Professor Church warned, "It would be naïve to think that there is going to be a magic bullet, a simple food or drug or an absence of food that is going to do it by itself, "he said.
"Many [techniques] have been shown to work on mice.
"I like the approach of gene therapy.
Part of Professor Church's work is to modify pork DNA to allow mammals the organs that can be used in the scientist – who was among the first to use the tool of 39; Crispr gene editing to modify animal cells – said that genetic modification could someday reverse the aging process (stock image) ” class=”blkBorder img-share” />
The scientist – who was among the first to use the tool of 39; Crispr Gene Editing to Modify Animal Cells – This Genetic Modification Could One Day Reverse the Aging Process (Stock Image)
The Harvard Team Led by the 63-year-o ld used Crispr gene editing technology to generate more than a dozen pigs Some researchers believe that some organ-to-human organ transplant assays could take place by 2021 , a breakthrough that promises to significantly shorten the transplant lists [196]. 59002] Speaking of research, the geneticist told Medium: "We have started testing on non-human primates of organs from engineering pigs.
"Some people say," Oh, you should not improve [genetic] ". thing that we do improvement all the time – to some extent, any reversal of aging is improving. Vaccines are improved.
Professor Church is also involved in a research project to grow bouquets of brain tissue in the laboratory known as "organoids"
. a cerebral organoid that has developed its own blood vessels – a vital step towards fully functioning transplants.
The scientist said, "The largest structures we have made are in the order of half a billion cells, which is larger than a mouse brain.
"This is not really a macho-sized thing at the moment;
Professor Church said that organoids could one day be used to develop treatments for Alzheimer's disease as well as other new drugs and therapies.
It could also be used to treat Parkinson's disease. replacing lost cell clusters with degenerative disease.
The scientist claimed that the use of this technique to strengthen the brain tissue and improve the IQ of someone would be "quite safe"
WHO IS HARVARD GENETICIST GEORGE CHURCH? George Church is a controversial geneticist at Harvard University
The 63-year-old scientist was among the first to modify animal cells using the Crispr-Cas9 gene editing tool.
He is currently working on a number of projects the goal is to use genetic modification to develop advanced medical treatments for humans.
Part of Church's work involves modifying pork DNA to allow mammals to develop human-compatible organs that can be used in life The Harvard team, led by the scientist, used the gene editing of Crispr last year to generate more than a dozen high pigs without some viruses that had rendered many of their organs unusable for human transplantation
. Human organ transplantation trials could take place by 2021 – a breakthrough that promises to significantly shorten the transplantation lists.
Professor Church is also involved in a research project to grow masses of brain tissue in the laboratory called "organoids".
His team announced in September that they had successfully produced a brain organoid that grew its own blood vessels for the first time – a vital step toward functional transplants.
But its breakthroughs have caused some controversy, questioning the ethical ramifications of the work of the Church.
Professor Church was among the first to modify animal cells with the help of the controversial Crispr-Cas9 gene editing tool. The scientist claims that he can insert mammoth genes into an Asian elephant embryo to create a mammoth-elephant hybrid by 2020.
The researchers have called the mammoth-elephant gene 39 "huge ethical question" and questioned how the new animal would fit into modern ecosystems.
His controversial projects made headlines for more than four decades
. Church was among the first to modify animal cells with the help of the controversial Crispr-Cas9 gene editing tool, and is the lead scientist of the Woolly Mammoth Revival project that aims to use the Tool to resurrect the vanished creature.
He can insert gigantic genes into an Asian elephant embryo to create a mammoth-elephant hybrid by 2020.
The researchers described the effort of "Huge ethical question" and questioned the way the new ani Professor Church has already stated that the study of Neanderthals cloned from the old bone DNA could help scientists to better understand the workings of the human spirit.
Such experiences would pose a host of ethical problems – including being treated as mere subjects of study or as beings with their own rights.
WHAT IS CRISPR-CAS9?
CRISPR-Cas9 is a tool for making precise modifications in DNA, discovered in bacteria
The technique involves a DNA cutting enzyme and a small label that tells the enzyme where to cut
The CRISPR / Cas9 technique uses labels that identify the location of the mutation, e t an enzyme that acts like tiny scissors. , to cut DNA in a specific place, allowing to remove small portions of a gene
By editing this label, scientists can target the enzyme on specific regions of DNA and make precise cuts where they want
It was used to "silence" genes – effectively extinguishing them.
When cellular machines repair the breakage of DNA, they eliminate a small DNA break
.
The approach was used previously to edit the HBB gene responsible for a disease called β-thalassemia.
