“We
would really like to understand the genes needed for a human embryo to develop
successfully into a healthy baby. The reason why it is so important is because
miscarriages and infertility are extremely common, but they’re not very well
understood.”
Dr. Kathy Niakan,
Researcher at the Francis Crick Institute to use CRISPR-Cas9 Genome Editing to
improve Invitro-fertilization
Gene
Editing is now a legal area of research in the UK.
On
Monday February 1st 2015, the HFEA (Human Fertilisation and Embryology
Authority) granted a license to Dr. Kathy Niakan and her team at the Francis
Crick Institute to edit the human genome using CRISPR-Cas9 (clustered regularly
interspaced short palindromic repeat) as reported in the article “UK
scientists gain licence to edit genes in human embryos”, published 01
February 2016 by Ewen Callaway, Nature.
This
technically makes the U.K. the first jurisdiction in the world to approve the
controversial practice of altering the DNA of embryos, beating the US of A as
reported in the article “U.K. gives
scientists permission to Edit DNA in Human embryos”, published February 1,
2016 by Lulu Chang, Digitaltrends.
The
aim of to allow UK scientists a chance to better study the CRISPR-Cas9
(clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat), RNA-guided
gene-editing platform as hinted in the article “Scientists get 'gene editing'
go-ahead”, published Monday February 1st 2016 By James Gallagher, BBC News.
So
what exactly is CRISPR-Cas9 and how can it be used in gene editing?
Dr. Kathy Niakan the gene
editing license from HFEA – A splice in time by CRISPR-Cas9
CRISPR-Cas9
a protein that is derived from a bacteria, Cas9 which can be used to splice in
a new DNA strand at a specific point in DNA molecule in a Genome. The video
below explains it a bit better.
Research
into Genome editing will be carried out by Dr. Kathy Niakan and her team at the
Francis Crick Institute seeks to better understand the importance of genes in
the earliest stages of human development.
So
no, no designer babies as per the promise of Dr Robin Lovell-Badge, group
leader at the Crick Institute, quote: “I promise you [Dr. Niakan] has no
intention of the embryos ever being put back into a woman for development. That
wouldn’t be the point. The point is to understand things about basic human
biology. We know lots about how the early mouse embryo develops in terms of how
various cell lineages give rise to the embryo or to [other] tissue that make up
the placenta. But we know very little about how this happens in the human
embryo.”
Still,
it's totally possible as this video below explains.
So
why is this research into genome editing begin conducted by the UK?
HFEA gives Crick
Institute permission to study genome editing - How Human birth can be automated
Not
sure why the US of A dropped the ball on this, despite leading the way with GMO (Genetically
Modified Organisms) such as the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) giving
permission for AquaBounty Technologies to market their GMO AquaAdvantage Salmon
to the public as noted in my blog article
entitled “AquaBounty
Technologies GMO AquaAdvantage Salmon – Why GMO Salmon in the Wild will be an
Ecological Disaster”.
Rather
than implant gene edited ovum into women to come to term, the aim is to study
the developement in the first week of the gene edited ovum (and sperm?) during
the first week after fertilization. Their aim is to study the formation of
blastocyst, the 200- to 300-cell structure critical to human development,
specifically as it relates to invitro-fertilization.
This
is important as only 50% of fertilized ovum become blastocysts after
invitro-fertilization. Of that number, only 50% can be implanted into the womb
of the egg donor and interestingly, only 50% make it past 3 months. To put that
in numbers, of 100 ovum used in invitro-fertilization, only 13 ever have the
potential to become babies.
This
makes invitro-fertilization technology as it currently exists a very wasteful
process and makes the automation of human births i.e. growing humans outside of
the womb impossible.
Genome Editing can
automate human Birth - Artificial wombs and AI computers for Interstellar
travel
Scientists
are therefore hoping to potentially use CRISPR-Cas9 to improve the odds of
these eggs becoming babies and thus make the process of invitro-fertilization
more efficient and possibly automated.
CRISPR-Cas9
thus not only has the potential to fix errors in the human genome and usher in
the age of designer babies. It can potentially free women from having to give
birth in the first place. By using
CRISPR-Cas9 to improve the chances of ovum from a woman surviving after
implantation, it can potentially be expanded to implantation into artificial
wombs.
This
has huge importance for interstellar travel, as humans cannot live that long in
space. But ova and sperm can, allowing humans to colonize distant stars and
galaxies by sending our genetic material to distance stars n space ships.
Artificial
wombs and AI computers can be used on board these interstellar nurseries to
control the reproduction and birth of future humans to colonize these distant
worlds. Hence the true long-term importance of their research; to develop
artificial wombs, freeing women from childbirth and advancing interstellar
travel.
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