Release date: 2015-04-13
Yang Lan, now a post-doctoral researcher at Harvard University, was named by Forbes in 2014 as “Junior under 30 years of age in science and medical fieldâ€.
Scientists around the world are currently looking forward to the research results of a Chinese student at Harvard University, Yang Lan, because the study may mark the first time that DNA in human embryos (deoxyribonucleic acid) will be modified in a way that can be extended to future generations. This will become an epoch-making advance in the history of human medicine, and its status can be compared with the successful development of vaccines in the last century.
Although the results of this research have not yet been published, they have caused widespread controversy among scientists around the world on their practicality and ethics in scientific journals and networks. In March of this year, a group of well-known biologists called for a global ban on such research. But George Chech, a famous genetics professor at Harvard University and a genetic sequencing pioneer, said: "This paper from Chinese researchers is not widely accepted, but the paper will eventually be accepted in some aspects. â€
Yang Wei studied undergraduate at Peking University School of Life Sciences from 2004 to 2008. After that, he went to Harvard University to pursue a master's degree. After graduation, he served as a teaching assistant at Harvard University and a summer consultant for the Boston Consulting Group. He is currently pursuing a postdoctoral degree in Professor George's laboratory. Participant of the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology, in 2014, was named one of the 30 juniors under the age of 30 in the science and medical field by Forbes.
Although the embryos used in the experiments are for research purposes only, but for transplantation purposes, experts believe that this research may become a major milestone in biological research: human DNA will be modified for the first time to change the "germline" - any child Eggs or sperm can be produced from this embryo. In theory, in the near future, parents can completely eliminate unwanted genes in sperm and eggs (such as genes that cause cancer) and prevent them from being passed on to future generations.
Genetic research results have now begun to be applied to medical practice, such as predicting whether women are more likely to have breast or ovarian cancer. Scientists can sequence and analyze the human genome to identify the genes that are causing the problem and use it to prevent, treat, and even cure a variety of diseases, including autism and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
But gene therapy and germ cell genetic modification are very different, because current gene therapy only makes modifications to somatic DNA and does not affect eggs, sperm or embryos. According to Cherch, there are currently about 2,000 gene therapy studies in progress around the world. One clinical trial is seeking to shut down the HIV susceptibility gene, and a pending trial by the University of Alberta attempts to alter the genes in men to prevent the development of degenerative eye diseases.
Church said that the research work on transforming germ cells is nearing completion. "In the animal model, you can make any changes you want to the sperm of the animal. It is naive to say that we are far from transforming the reproductive system, but not yet It is naive to immediately open up the technology in the case of further testing."
With the advancement of medicine, the "design baby" or the 21st century version of eugenics has attracted widespread attention from scientists. Kerry Bowman, a bioethicist at the University of Toronto, believes that the pace of scientific development is much faster than ethics. “Reproductive research faces deep problems in eugenics, especially in terms of pedigree disorders. We must take a deep breath because we will change the human genetic code in ways that have never been done before.â€
However, Church believes that the current concern about germline therapy is no different from the fear of "test tube baby" in the 1970s. In vitro fertilization is now so common, and some areas have even covered it in public health care. Genital therapy will be a medical revolution, just like developing vaccines and antibiotics to prevent and treat diseases. Genetic testing and even embryo selection can be used in the future to solve medical problems such as Tai-Sax's disease and Huntington's disease.
Church said that the eugenics research carried out by Nazi Germany and the United States in the last century was not aimed at improving human health, but to eliminate people who violated the will of the government. "This is not a problem at the moment. The problem to be solved now is to allow parents to make decisions about the health of their children. This should be similar to the decision to send children to school and give them a mobile phone."
Source: China Science and Technology Network
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