When a team of Chinese scientists announced last spring that they had edited the genes of
human embryos using the powerful new gene editing technology known as CRISPR / Cas9, the world suddenly discovered that the dystopian possibility of «designer babies» was no longer an unrealistic fantasy, but rather a technically achievable possibility that must be reckoned with.
Developmental biologist Kathy Niakan has received permission from U.K. authorities to modify
human embryos using the CRISPR / Cas9 gene - editing technology.
The group, led by Hwang Woo Suk at Seoul National University, cloned
human embryos using somatic cell nuclear transfer, a process that biologists have used to clone live animals.
He thinks that researchers should work out these kinks in non-human primates, for example, before continuing to modify the genomes of
human embryos using techniques such as CRISPR.
A California company reported today that it has, for the first time, cloned
human embryos using DNA from adult skin cells.
Earlier this summer, a team of researchers announced they had successfully cut out defective genetic code in
human embryos using CRISPR.
Instead of using a piece of DNA that the researchers injected to repair cuts made by CRISPR / Cas9,
human embryos used their own DNA from another chromosome as a repair template.
Not exact matches
So far, the technology hasn't been
used in people (except in non-viable
human embryos), meaning Editas» 2017 trial would be a first.
The statement on Thursday comes amid a growing debate over the
use of powerful new gene editing tools in
human eggs, sperm and
embryos, which have the power to change the DNA of unborn children.
Earlier this year, Chinese scientists caused a controversy when they announced they'd
used the gene editing technique to tweak the genomes of
human embryos.
In April, Chinese researchers working with non-viable
human embryos (those that would never end up turning into people)
used it to try to tweak a gene that would normally have caused a rare blood disorder.
Scientists are
using a powerful gene editing technique to understand how
human embryos develop.
I am also aware, finally, that we might for now approve
human cloning but only in restricted circumstances - as, for example, the cloning of preimplantation
embryos (up to fourteen days) for experimental
use.
A few weeks ago we all heard the announcement of a major scientific breakthrough that allowed scientists to create the equivalent of
human embryonic stem cells (called induced pluripotent stem cells) but without
using or destroying
embryos.
The difficulties associated with obtaining nerve tissue at the correct stage of development and differentiation from aborted
embryos means that foetal tissue transplantation is no longer in favour, but the creation of
human embryos specifically as sources of stem cells, and the push to
use «spare»
embryos from IVF treatments is gatheringmomentum.
Such technology includes producing,
using, and destroying
human embryos, which, says columnist Susan Martinuk in the National Post, may also raise some questions about «
human dignity and worth.»
After months of discussion, the group drafted a call to ban all
human cloning and to limit ESCR to the
use of the «excess»
embryos created in the process of in vitro fertilization (IVF).
Unlike the controversial method of tissue harvesting that requires some
human embryos to be destroyed, the new cloning technique can
use a patient's own skin cells — combined with an unfertilized
human egg — to create tissue with a DNA match.
Stem cell research
using human embryos might mean new mornings for people like these — people you and I know by name.
It is important to note that the lethal
use of the
embryo, for example, does not diminish its
human status, according to Grobstein.
ANT - OAR accomplishes this same goal, however, by
using an approach that does not involve the generation and destruction of
human embryos.
The ANT - OAR proposal represent a scientifically and morally sound means of obtaining
human pluripotent stem cells that does not compromise either the science or the deeply held moral convictions of those who oppose the destructive
use of
human embryos for research» which is a creative approach that can be embraced by both the anything - goes camp and the nothing - goes.
Kass ably led the council members in a long debate on cloning, with the result that earlier this year they came out in opposition to
human cloning but divided on the
use of cloned
embryos for research purposes.
A related area of problems arises in connection with the probable increase of organ transplants, the
use of artificial bodily parts, and the probability of growing
human embryos in the laboratory.
A panel of nineteen experts appointed by the National Institutes of Health has recommended government funding for conceiving
human embryos in the laboratory for the sole purpose of
using them as materials for research.
His article is occasioned by the National Institutes of Health proposal to fund producing
human embryos in the laboratory solely for the purpose of research (see «The Inhuman Use of Human Beings,» FT, January 1
human embryos in the laboratory solely for the purpose of research (see «The Inhuman
Use of
Human Beings,» FT, January 1
Human Beings,» FT, January 1995).
Just before Thanksgiving, news broke about a new stem - cell technique that could produce the equivalent of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) but without
using or destroying
human embryos.
Once the principle is established that early
embryos can be
used as a natural resource, it won't be long until gestated nascent
human life is also targeted.
16 In DV, a strong plea is made for the rights of the
human embryo; in DP this is strengthened and the language
used is more forceful.
Of course, there is still a long way to go before this particular method will be tested on
humans (it was tested on mice), and an even longer way to go before it'll be
used in medical therapies (if it ever will translate into therapies), but one thing is becoming clear: We need not compromise our moral principles and rush into government - funded
embryo - destructive research.
The recent news that the promise of stem cell research can be pursued without
using human embryos has permanently and dramatically changed the stem cell debate.
Experimental procedures can be licit if they «respect the life and integrity of the
embryo and do not involve disproportionate risks for it, but rather are directed to its healing, the improvement of its condition of health, or its individual survival»; but the mere «
use of
human embryos or fetuses as an object of experimentation» is «a crime against their dignity as
human beings.»
Ensuring that all
human embryos outside the body — whatever the process
used in their creation — are subject to regulation.
Whilst acknowledging that many questions remain unanswered in the debate between those who would advocate the
use of stem cells taken from
human embryos, and those experimenting on stem cells drawn from tissues of the adult
human body, there is a lengthy discussion of the moral status of the
human embryo as being a crucial matter in this regard.
«There are perfectly ethical ways of obtaining stem cells to cure disease, which do not involve
embryo destruction, so no matter what moral value one places on the
human embryo, we do not need to
use it.»
Professor Wilmut stressed that he and his team had no intention of trying to produce cloned
humans, but intended only to
use the
embryos for research into the distressing degenerative condition Motor Neuron Disease.
However, in 2007 Professor Wilmut announced that he had decided to change to an alternative method of research pioneered in Japan, known as direct reprogramming or «de-differentiation», which could create
human embryonic cells without
using human eggs or cloning
human embryos.
Doyle also urged the Wisconsin congressional delegation to lead the fight to repeal a federal law that bars the
use of federal taxpayer money for experiments that destroy
human embryos.
Its
use in
human embryos has been hotly debated.
BETTER BABIES If CRISPR / Cas9 or other gene - editing technologies are ever approved for
use in
human embryos, parents may one day feel as if they have to
use genetic enhancements to give their children the best life possible.
In February, the United Kingdom approved
using the method on
human embryos at the Francis Crick Institute in London, but only within a narrow capacity: Researchers can edit genes in non-viable
human embryos for a limited period and only to study developmental biology related to in vitro fertilization.
But in March, Lichun Tang of China's Beijing Proteome Research Center and colleagues reported
using CRISPR / Cas9 to correct disease - causing mutations in a small number of viable
human embryos.
But its
use in
human embryos has more profound implications, researchers and ethicists say.
But before any type of
human embryo editing can be
used in the clinic, it must be as safe and effective as existing
embryo screening methods.
Then a team of Chinese researchers
used that base editor to correct a mutation in
human embryos that causes the blood disorder beta - thalassemia, reported September 23 in Protein & Cell (SN: 11/25/17, p. 7).
Nearly five years after the gene - editing tool debuted, researchers for the first time have
used it to alter genes in viable
human embryos.
In 2015, Chinese scientists announced they had
used CRISPR - Cas9 on
human embryos for the first time.
Duke scientists have shown that it's possible to pick out key changes in the genetic code between chimpanzees and
humans and then visualize their respective contributions to early brain development by
using mouse
embryos.
Some of the researchers at the centre will study the differentiation of stem cells into other cell types, one group by
using human embryonic stem cell biology and another by studying early
embryo development.
«Everything we talked about was about research directly on the
embryo,» for example, to improve on infertility treatment or better understand cancer biology, says R. Alta Charo, a law professor and bioethicist at the University of Wisconsin Law School who was a member of the NIH Human Embryo Research Panel in the mid-1990s, which considered how embryos might be used in res
embryo,» for example, to improve on infertility treatment or better understand cancer biology, says R. Alta Charo, a law professor and bioethicist at the University of Wisconsin Law School who was a member of the NIH
Human Embryo Research Panel in the mid-1990s, which considered how embryos might be used in res
Embryo Research Panel in the mid-1990s, which considered how
embryos might be
used in research.