Over 130 scientists, lawyers, entrepreneurs, and government officials from five continents gathered at Harvard this week for an “exploratory” meeting to discuss the topic of creating genomes from scratch — including, but not limited to, those of humans, said George Church, Harvard geneticist and co-organizer of the meeting.
The meeting was closed to the press, which drew the ire of prominent academics.
Synthesizing genomes involves building them from the ground up — chemically combining molecules to create DNA. Similar work by Craig Venter in 2010 created what was hailed as the first synthetic cell, a bacterium with a comparatively small genome.
The meeting was held Tuesday “to discuss the concept of an international project focused on large genome synthesis as the next chapter in our understanding of the blueprint of life,” according to a consensus statement from the organizers provided by Church.
In recent months, Church has been vocal in saying that the much-hyped genome-editing technology called CRISPR, which is only a few years old and which he helped develop, would soon be obsolete. Instead of changing existing genomes through CRISPR, Church has said, scientists could build exactly the genomes they want from scratch, by stringing together off-the-shelf DNA letters.
The topic is a heavy one, touching on fundamental philosophical questions of meaning and being. If we can build a synthetic genome — and eventually, a creature — from the ground up, then what does it mean to be human?
“This idea is an enormous step for the human species, and it shouldn’t be discussed only behind closed doors,” said Laurie Zoloth, a professor of religious studies, bioethics, and medical humanities at Northwestern University.
In response, she co-authored an article with Drew Endy, a bioengineering professor at Stanford University, calling for broader conversations around the research.
Church said that the meeting was originally going to be “an open meeting with lots of journalists engaged.” It was supposed to be accompanied by a peer-reviewed article on the topic. But, he said, the journal (which Church declined to identify) wanted the paper to include more information about the ethical, social, and legal components of synthesizing genomes — things that were discussed at the meeting.
So Church and the other organizers were in a bind — should they keep the meeting open to the public and break the embargo, or close the meeting so as not to break the embargo of the scientific journal.
“This is a major journal,” Church said. “So we can’t push them around.”
They chose to respect the embargo.
“I’m not sure that was the best idea,” Church said Thursday night.
Church said that when the article is published — “it could be any day now” — a video of the entire meeting will be available to the public.
But a different narrative appeared during the week on social media. Endy posted a tweet that included a screenshot appearing to be a message from the meeting organizers. It said, in part, “We intentionally did not invite the media, because we want everyone to speak freely and candidly without concerns about being misquoted or misinterpreted as the discussions evolve.”
Endy could not be reached for comment Thursday night.
Endy and Zoloth’s article claims that the meeting was convened to discuss how “to synthesise a complete human genome in a cell line within a period of 10 years.”
Church said that he emailed Endy, explaining that the meeting was made private because of the embargo situation, and that it was not solely about the human genome. Church said that the organizers “sent out a fresh set of invitations later” with updated wording.
Marcy Darnovsky, executive director of the Center for Genetics and Society, based in Berkeley, Calif., said that the “semi-secret” nature of the meeting runs counter to the principles established in December at the International Summit on Human Genome Editing. That group, which included scientists, ethicists, patient advocates, regulators, and others, decided that clinical work on making changes to human genomes that could be inherited should not proceed until there is “broad societal consensus about the appropriateness of the proposed alteration.”
Church said that the project is at a much earlier stage. “This is purely a thought experiment,” he said. “It may not be as big news as it sounds.”
I would like to see a headline like:
Over 130 scientists, lawyers, entrepreneurs, and government officials from five continents gathered at Harvard this week for an “exploratory” meeting to discuss the topic of modifying the human genome to enable IMMORTALITY,
that is, to having the choice to not grow old and be dead.
Why not grab the problem by the horn. To chart the shortest route, you have to identify the goal to be reached, “freedom from old age and DEATH”
After having lived and loved on 5 continents, i want to now get to know the rest of the UNIVERSE.
Ad Astra Amused
Epigenetic factors regulate key signalling pathways in early body plan formation
Dynamic DNA methylation and demethylation crucial to regulation of key signalling pathways in early body plan formation
https://www.activemotif.com/stem-cell-epigenetics-news
Excerpt: “Mammalian genomes undergo epigenetic modifications, including cytosine methylation by DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs). Oxidation of 5-methylcytosine by the Ten-eleven translocation (TET) family of dioxygenases can lead to demethylation. Although cytosine methylation has key roles in several processes such as genomic imprinting and X-chromosome inactivation, the functional significance of cytosine methylation and demethylation in mouse embryogenesis remains to be fully determined. Here a collaboration of researchers from China and the US show that inactivation of all three Tet genes in mice leads to gastrulation phenotypes, including primitive streak patterning defects in association with impaired maturation of axial mesoderm and failed specification of paraxial mesoderm, mimicking phenotypes in embryos with gain-of-function Nodal signalling.
…Taken together, their results show that TET-mediated oxidation of 5-methylcytosine modulates Lefty-Nodal signalling by promoting demethylation in opposition to methylation by DNMT3A and DNMT3B. These findings reveal a fundamental epigenetic mechanism featuring dynamic DNA methylation and demethylation crucial to regulation of key signalling pathways in early body plan formation.”
My comment: Morphogenesis and body plan have long been difficult problems for molecular biology. Darwinists have claimed that gene sequences determine these very fundamental traits of organisms. They are wrong. Morphogenesis and body plan are both regulated by epigenetic factors. This is done at early stages of embryonic development. And because epigenetic markers are wiped out of embryonic cells right after the fertilization, it’s obvious that maternal and paternal short and long RNA molecules (siRNAs, miRNAs, piRNAs, lncRNAs) are in response of doing this job. Embryonic development occurs in control of maternal and paternal mechanisms of reproduction.
Gene sequences are not drivers. There is no such a thing as a mutation driven evolution. Genes are not your destiny. The evolutionary theory is a major lie. Don’t get misled.
Hello, could you please share the link of a video which has complete meeting details. Thank you in advance!
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