• UK scientists have been given the go-ahead to genetically modify human embryos
    49 replies, posted
Literally Gattaca.
Biolumenescent babies hype
in-vitro birth tho ??
Pretty contrary to a lot of opinions, I've always thought it was amoral to not allow genetic modification to eventually become a thing. I mean I'm a complete scrub when it comes to science but as far as I can tell modifying human embryos or early cell stages or whatever is a perfect way of treating/curing genetic diseases like Cystic fibrosis and Parkinson's if scientists could just work out how. Which I assume they could only do by experimenting and researching to find out what they need to modify and how they'll modify it. I could be completely off here, all I've got to go on is a B in GCSE Biology so I really don't know shit... anyone here a bit more qualified on the subject got anything to say about that?
[QUOTE=erkor;49649745]in-vitro birth tho ??[/QUOTE] Are you thinking of in-vitro fertilisation? Because that still requires a womb to implant the fertilised egg into.
Can't wait for the UN to launch "anti-gene modification" campaigns because of this Nothing is more annoying and sad than seeing them try to create utopia and give the middle finger to modern science
[QUOTE=Pepsi-cola;49649317]That's all I wanted to hear, last thing we want is more fertility solutions when people should just adopt.[/QUOTE] People shouldn't just adopt if they don't want to though.
[QUOTE=Trebgarta;49649233]Can we cure AIDS through genetics though?[/QUOTE] It's easier to kill the virus. In fact, the virus itself is getting "weaker". That is, strong strains of AIDS that kill their victims faster are on the way to extinction thanks to natural selection.
[QUOTE=Buck.;49648857]We can always engineer artificial wombs.[/QUOTE] True dat, better than relying on axolotl tanks. Those things have a laundry list of moral quandaries surrounding them.
[QUOTE=Str4fe;49649431]Biolumenescent babies hype[/QUOTE] They'd never get to sleep!
[QUOTE=maniacykt;49648832]cool [editline]1st February 2016[/editline] can't wait for zealots to start preaching "HOW DARE YOU PLAY GOD" or something[/QUOTE] I always say if God didn't want us to do this it wouldn't happen. I mean he omnipotent and knows everything right?
[QUOTE=Sableye;49650223]They'd never get to sleep![/QUOTE] Genetically alter them so sleep isn't required.
[QUOTE=jonu67;49650324]Genetically alter them so sleep isn't required.[/QUOTE] [video=youtube;dsmqPvNg_aM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsmqPvNg_aM[/video]
Would be pretty interesting to hear a few years down the line, a scientist has secretly stole a modified embryo and done it herself without permission....
The next 5-10 years is going to get super weird
[QUOTE=Tacooo;49650545]The next 5-10 years is going to get super weird[/QUOTE] As if the past 10 years haven't been weird enough. Pretty much anyone can get their entire genome sequenced for like £100 now, and reveal a massive amount of information about their genes in such a manner.
[QUOTE=Sobotnik;49650752]As if the past 10 years haven't been weird enough. Pretty much anyone can get their entire genome sequenced for like £100 now, and reveal a massive amount of information about their genes in such a manner.[/QUOTE] is it that cheap now? if so yes the price has really gone down, it's really cool
[QUOTE=eirexe;49650880]is it that cheap now? if so yes the price has really gone down, it's really cool[/QUOTE] Sequencing it once was the real challenge, it's the main challenge for most scientific things really. Once we can do it once, we can optimise and research improvements using the (hopefully correct) thing as a baseline. Right now we just throw a shitload of computing power at sequencing, but it works and has dropped the cost significantly as computing power itself becomes cheaper. Though that doesn't mean bioinformaticians can just sit on their asses, my brief stint working with them was really interesting. Usually playing with cutting edge computing technology to try and get this shit done faster. The human genome ain't shit compared to most agricultural plant life it turns out.
Whole genome sequencing for humans is still not available to consumers to my knowledge. Companies like 23andMe are still doing SNP stuff. SNP/HapMap sequencing covers maybe 5% of your genome at best. Some companies are offering 0.01% sequencing at less than 10x coverage commercially. Whole genome sequencing still costs thousands and thousands of dollars and isn't really offered to the public yet unless you've got some medical reason for it. A lot of that information from SNP sequencing is still useful, and honestly I'm of the opinion that everyone ought to have as much of their genome sequenced as early in life as possible. I paid for 23andMe's service last month and might post portions of the results if any of it is particularly interesting. The turnaround time is currently estimated to be 6-8 months.
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