Gene manipulation presentation

If Gene manipulation was possible, should it be done?

BY MIcaela

Index

Definitin of EG

When it started

GE in humans

Ethics of GE

Negative implications of GE

What is Genetic engineering?

According to sciencedirect.com gene manipulation is defined as the process of inducing changes in gene expression and the expression of novel genes. This can be done by specific elimination of target gene expression, tissue specific induction of reporter gene expression, the overexpression of cellular genes, etc.

+ info

01

Is it possible?

Where it started

According to the youtube channel Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell, they state in their yt video titled “Genetic Engineering Will Change Everything Forever – CRISPR” humans have in fact been engineering life for thousands of years and have been strengthening useful traits in plants & animals, through the process of selective breeding. However we never truly understood how it worked.When humans discovered deoxyribonucleic acid, or as we all know as DNA, people have tried to manipulate it ever since. In the 1970’s mice were used as a standard tool for scientific research. Although unethical, using mice in such experiments had saved millions of lives.

+ info

+ info

02

Genetic engineering and humans

According to an article released by stanford university scientists have avoided genetic engineering when it came to humans. This is because it is unethical and there are safety hazards that could harm the people being tested on. However in the article the author talks about a Chinese scientist, Dr. He Jiankui, who had announced his success in genetic engineering in non identical twins where he states that he had modified their DNA as embryos. The twins, Nana and Lulu, are known as the first ever CRISPR babies.

+ info

What are CRISPR babies?

The acronym CRISPR stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats. According to wikipedia, CRISPR is a genetic engineering tool that uses a CRISPR sequence of DNA and its associated protein to edit the base pairs of a gene. basically, CRISPR allows researchers to easily alter DNA sequences and modify gene function

+ info

03

Is it ethical?

Marcy Darnovsky, Ph.D

“even if scientists are able to refine these gene editing techniques so that they can more accurately place the new genes or replace the genes, we don't know exactly what the effects of these genes will be until we’ve inserted it into the human genome”"It may cause more inequality"

George Church, Geneticist

According to George Church the fear behind CRISPR is over exaggerated. He states that although he is concerned about every new medical technology being introduced, with CRISPR being no exception, there are proper rules and regulations in place.

46%

83%

making babies more intelligent is pushing boundaries.

agreed to using genetic engineering for preventing diseases

NIH and funding

Because of ethical and safety concerns the NIH issued a statement saying that they will not fund any use of gene editing technologies in human embryos.

+ info

My personal opinion and negative effects of GE

Over population

World hunger

We live longer and less people are dying

Overpopulation links to lack of food source

I personally believe that genetic ngineering is unethical. The idea seems good and helpful but the reality of it isn't the romanticised scifi version we have imagined it to be and there are serious safety risks and overall poplation risks.

The reason behind disease

Crime rates

Lack of resources due to overpopulation will lead people to commit more crime.

There is a reason why w die and why we get sick. If we are all immune to disease we will end up dying more tragic deaths

Thanks!