What is gene editing? Who did it? And is it true? The controversial experiment of Chinese scientist He Jiankui explained



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<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "The scientific community is largely dismayed by the assertion that a woman in China gave birth to the The first babies in the world genetically modified at the beginning of this month, born from embryos modified to make twins resistant to HIV infection."data-reactid =" 31 "> The scientific community is worried about the claim that a woman in China has given birth to The first babies in the world genetically modified at the beginning of this month, born from embryos modified to make twins resistant to HIV infection.

The announcement was made Monday by Chinese scientist He Jiankui on the eve of the Second International Summit on the Modification of the Human Genome, held in Hong Kong, where the world's leading thinkers converged to discuss technology. and its ethics.

His statement reinforced the sense of urgency surrounding the debate on the morality of gene editing, a debate that has already intensified in recent years with the rapid progress of technology.

<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "Who invested in the new biotechnology companies of the Chinese scientist He Jiankui?
"data-reactid =" 34 "> Who invested in the new biotechnology companies of the Chinese scientist He Jiankui?

Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm "type =" text "content =" This progress is largely due to discovery of a powerful gene editing tool called CRISPR-Cas9, whose gene editing applications were first identified by Jennifer Doudna, biochemist at Berkeley, and Emmanuelle Charpentier, director of the Max Planck Institute of Infection Biology in Berlin."data-reactid =" 35 "> This progress is largely due to the discovery of a powerful gene editing tool called CRISPR-Cas9, whose gene editing applications were first identified by Jennifer Doudna, biochemist at Berkeley, and Emmanuelle Charpentier, director of the Max Planck Institute of Infection Biology in Berlin.

<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "While technologies enabling scientists to modify DNA strands have been in development since the 1970s, the CRISPR-Cas9 discovery has accelerated the ability of these scientists to improve cultures, control infections and eliminate hereditary diseases. This also opens the door to radical changes in human DNA – it's this technology that would have been used by He to prevent newborn twins from inheriting infection from the hepatitis C virus. HIV."data-reactid =" 53 ">While technologies enabling scientists to modify DNA strands have been in development since the 1970s, the CRISPR-Cas9 discovery has accelerated the ability of these scientists to improve cultures, control infections and eliminate hereditary diseases. This also opens the door to radical changes in human DNA – it's this technology that would have been used by He to prevent newborn twins from inheriting infection from the hepatitis C virus. HIV.

<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "What do we know about He Jiankui's claim to have created the first genetically modified babies?"data-reactid =" 54 "> What do we know about He Jiankui's claim to have created the first genetically modified babies?

<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "What is gene editing?"data-reactid =" 55 ">What is gene editing?

Genes are sequences encoded in DNA strands; they determine the characteristics of an organism, its development and, in some cases, the diseases it will contract. Scientists have the ability to modify a DNA sequence, or gene, within a living cell, to "modify" the gene and alter its expression in the body. With gene editing, scientists can exchange the building blocks of a gene's DNA-producing disease against a new genetic code that does not produce the disease.

The term "genome" is a broader term that refers to the entire DNA sequence of an organism or the entire body of an organism. Using techniques such as CRISPR-Cas9, scientists now have the power not only to design the expression of a given gene, but also to target multiple genes along a single strand. DNA, thus creating more impact on the genome.

<h3 class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "Ethics and security are key elements for investigating gene editing claims"data-reactid =" 74 "> The ethics and safety are key elements to investigate the claims of gene editing

<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "What is CRISPR-Cas9?"data-reactid =" 75 ">What is CRISPR-Cas9?

CRISPR-Cas9 is a molecular system that acts as a very precise pair of scissors, locating the right place on a strand of DNA to cut a gene and insert its replacement. This is a tool that has been borrowed from an immune system present in bacteria, where CRISPR molecules have stored the genetic code of past infections in order to defend against them. When they are exploited by scientists, CRISPR molecules can match and find DNA sequences, while Cas9, its associated enzyme, binds and cuts DNA.

Other gene editing techniques using enzymes to target DNA existed before 2012 and are still used, such as zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs) and transcriptional effector type effectors. (TALEN), but are considered less precise and more expensive. laboratories to be used in relation to CRISPR-Cas9.

<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "How advanced is genome modification technology today?"data-reactid =" 98 ">How advanced is genome modification technology today?

The CRISPR technique has already been used to modify plants and animals. Earlier this year, researchers at Imperial College London used the technology to find a key to eliminate the world's population of mosquitoes, while those at the University of Edinburgh produced virus-resistant pigs. There are many agricultural applications, from non-browning mushrooms created by a professor at Pennsylvania State University in 2016, to tomato plants with fewer branches in excess, developed by scientists at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York. The products of these advances are, at this stage, limited to laboratories.

<h3 class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "A Chinese scientist, He Jiankui, reveals that another woman might be pregnant with a gene-edited baby while he's apologized for causing a global controversy"data-reactid =" 100 "> Chinese scientist He Jiankui reveals that another woman might be pregnant with her genetically modified baby while it's apologetic for causing global controversy

The use of CRISPR and similar technologies to combat human diseases is one of the most compelling potential applications, capturing research funding and the attention of scientists. The ease of use of CRISPR means that laboratories around the world use it to study how gene editing can eliminate HIV-related hemophilia diseases. Chinese scientists were the first to experiment with injecting CRISPR-modified genes to cells, directly into humans. They used this technique to eliminate a gene that prevents the immune system from attacking cancer cells in a 2016 clinical trial of a lung cancer patient at Sichuan University. in Chengdu. Last year, a California-based private company tried for the first time to allow proteins to modify genes directly in the body, as opposed to modifying cells and then injecting them, in order to stop the genes responsible for the syndrome. from Hunter. This procedure was not based on CRISPR, but on ZFNs.

The modification of the human embryo is at the forefront of genome editing technology. While this technology evokes the fears of "baby designers" whose DNA is altered to enhance appearance or intelligence, the scientific world has focused its experiments on embryonic experiments on disease prevention hereditary. The first known experiments of embryo modification were published by Chinese researchers at Sun Yat-sen University of Guangzhou in 2015, just three years after the discovery of CRISPR-Cas9 technology. The first embryos were published with CRISPR in the United States last year by a researcher from Oregon Health and Science University, who managed to suppress the genes associated with hereditary diseases.

These exercises were purely experimental until he claimed that he had implanted the modified embryo with a gene for twins in a woman.

<h3 class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "A Chinese scientist, He Jiankui, at the center of a controversy on gene editing, conducted a second experiment on human embryos, reveals a new paper"data-reactid =" 120 "> Chinese scientist He Jiankui at the center of a controversy around gene editing has conducted a second experiment on human embryos, reveals a new document

<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "Why is genetic modification controversial?"data-reactid =" 121 ">Why is genetic modification controversial?

When scientists modify the human embryo, they create changes that can affect the genetic makeup of future generations. Unlike changes to developed human cells, which will only affect the person treated with these cells, changes to sperm, eggs, or embryos can be inherited. Scientific organizations around the world have stated that such an important impact should be carefully considered and deliberated with the public before its use.

In regard to the current controversy around Him, another ethical consideration is health. Because technology is so new, the effects that the editing process can have on DNA and the resulting human life are unknown. Scientists around the world are asking if he has carefully studied the future health of babies before using this new technology.

The birth of twins strikes at the heart of the concerns of "baby designers" often expressed about genome editing. However, physical attributes and personality are usually related to several genes. Thus, although the human genome may be modified, it would be difficult to select such effects. For the moment, science has oriented its experiments towards the elimination of diseases and not towards the selection of desirable characteristics.

<h3 class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "Chinese scientists condemn gene editing experiment "crazy" and "unethical""data-reactid =" 141 "> Chinese scientists condemn gene editing experiment" crazy "and" unethical "

<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "What are the rules for gene editing in Hong Kong and elsewhere?"data-reactid =" 142 ">What are the rules for gene editing in Hong Kong and elsewhere?

In view of the radical implications of this technology, national scientific associations around the world have published regulations and recommendations on its use, but the legal restrictions between countries vary. In the absence of strict regulations, China has been able to participate in CRISPR tests on humans well ahead of its US counterparts, who are still waiting for the federal government's approval to launch the first CRISPR clinical trials on humans outside of China. The United States and Britain began mounting human embryos last year, with legal restrictions on implantation in humans. In Hong Kong, these laboratory procedures must be inspected and approved by the Human Reproductive Technology Council. Similar regulation exists in mainland China, which requires gene editing experiments to obtain the approval of a research institute and prohibits human implantation.

Last year, the US National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine published a widely adopted set of regulations for permissible forms of genome modification of human embryos. The guidelines invite scientists to publish genomes only when there is no "reasonable alternative" to prevent an illness or serious condition, as well as many additional researches on the target gene. They include criteria on how such experiences should be monitored and require "broad ongoing participation and public input" and "monitoring mechanisms" to regulate the use of technology.

<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "This article What is gene editing? Who did it? And is it true? The controversial experiment of Chinese scientist He Jiankui explained first appeared on Morning of South China"data-reactid =" 145 "> This article What is gene editing? Who does it? And is it true? The controversial scientist of Chinese scientist He Jiankui was published for the first time in the South China Morning Post

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