Genetic Engineering

[AnimeFan188]

Promise and Peril of Gene drive:

"The idea sounds appealingly simple: Quickly spread a gene through a
population of animals in order to prevent it from transmitting disease,
or, more directly, to kill a destructive species such as an agricultural
pest. Gene-drive technology is at the heart of such concepts. Gene
drive shifts biases inheritance to favor certain versions of genes, a
genetic alteration introduced into a few members of a population
spreads rapidly throughout the entire population. If that alteration
inhibits reproduction or survival in some way, gene drive can drive that
population extinct in theory. In other uses, a desired trait could be
driven through a population.

In July, geneticists showed that one gene drive system was almost
100% effective in spreading a mutated pigmentation gene through a
population of lab fruit flies, fueling fears about the power of gene
drive."

See:

http://nextbigfuture.com/2015/11/pro...ene-drive.html


==============================


This could be the next weapon of mass destruction:

"The atom bomb took more than 10 years to go from scientific
conception to reality. The next weapon of mass destruction could take
much less.

On Thursday (Nov. 19), a special agent from the FBI met with
researchers in Washington, DC to talk to a scientific panel about the
risks of a powerful new genetic technology: “gene drive.” It allows
scientists to, essentially, hijack the process of evolution, spreading a
new gene through a population with incredible speed. And while it was
developed with peaceful uses in mind, such as eradicating mosquitoes
to end malaria, it could be used for ill too—it’s cheap and easy enough
to master that bioterrorists could get their hands on it."

See:

http://qz.com/554337/this-could-be-t...s-destruction/

[AnimeFan188]

China is funding research into genetic modification
of animals as a national priority and is setting up large
animal cloning factories:

"Chinese Geneticist Lei Qu wants to increase goatherd incomes by
boosting how much meat and wool each animal produces.

Once the goat team began to deploy CRISPR, their progress was rapid.

The research is just one of a recent flurry of papers by Chinese scientists
that describe CRISPR-modified goats, sheep, pigs, monkeys and dogs,
among other mammals."

See:

http://nextbigfuture.com/2015/11/chi...o-genetic.html

[Draco Spirit]

Seems China is on the ball then. Making your domestic animals more efficient is a logical use of genetic engineering. Also it might not mention it, but all this messing around with animals will likely China a lot of expertise in the field from first hand experience... which will be dam useful in human genetic engineering further down the line.

[AnimeFan188]

The Year We Decided to Live Forever:

"In 2015, tech billionaires pursued anti-aging and cheating death like
never before."

See:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/article...e-forever.html


==========================


Thirty genes with significant longevity impact have been
found and they could significantly lengthen human lives:

"Out of a 'haystack' of 40,000 genes from three different organisms,
scientists at ETH Zurich and a research consortium in Jena have found
genes that are involved in physical ageing. If you influence only one of
these genes, the healthy lifespan of laboratory animals is extended –
and possibly that of humans, too."

See:

http://nextbigfuture.com/2015/12/thi...longevity.html


==========================


George Church confident of reversing some aging in
humans by 2022:

"George Church has expressed confidence that in just five or six years
he will be able to reverse the aging process in human beings.

George Church is among those who can claim at least partial credit for
the innovation of CRISPR gene editing

George Church says that there are more important things in the
balance than [Nobel] prizes. There are cures for human diseases.

George Church indicated that his team is already reversing aspects of
aging in mice in the laboratory."

See:

http://nextbigfuture.com/2015/12/geo...reversing.html


==========================


Personal choice and actions on life extension and
genetic engineering for cognitive, performance
enhancement of life extension:

"George Church, a researcher at Harvard University and a proponents
of CRISPR, says that, considering the lack of clear regulatory
frameworks for genetic engineering use, we must expect those
interested in genetic augmentation to use the tool.

Church noted in a speech Tuesday that athletes and others interested
in body augmentation have already taken advantage of just about
every technology we’ve developed. Those in the transhumanist
movement (many of whom are seeking immortality, or at the very
least a long extension of natural human lifespans) see CRISPR as a
potential tool they could use to augment themselves."

See:

http://nextbigfuture.com/2015/12/per...s-on-life.html


========================


Anti-aging is becoming a hot topic. But how much of the talk is just
hot air?

[FDW]

Originally Posted by AnimeFan188

Anti-aging is becoming a hot topic. But how much of the talk is just
hot air?

None of it. Tranahumanism will be the biggest issue of the 21st century.

[Dop]

Let's face it, if anti-aging happens, it's going to be the super-rich who get it so they can cling on to their fortunes as long as possible. Regular people aren't going to get that.
That said, I think a lot of this is complete bollocks. I'm reminded of science fiction stories where people extend their physical lifespans, but their brains can't keep up with their extended lifespan.

Originally Posted by FDW

None of it. Tranahumanism will be the biggest issue of the 20th century.

I think you'll find the 20th century has been and gone, this is the 21st...

[FDW]

Originally Posted by Dop

Let's face it, if anti-aging happens, it's going to be the super-rich who get it so they can cling on to their fortunes as long as possible. Regular people aren't going to get that.
That said, I think a lot of this is complete bollocks. I'm reminded of science fiction stories where people extend their physical lifespans, but their brains can't keep up with their extended lifespan.


I think you'll find the 20th century has been and gone, this is the 21st...

Moore's Law has something to say about that.

[Draco Spirit]

In all honestly I don't think it going to be current generations that benefit from genetic engineering big time. It going to be the yet unborn generation that comes along when we finally nail it. There going to be the ones who go 'oh I'm 202 and found a single grey hair yesterday!".

Still likely to be the rich who will gain the most from it. Genetic engineering impact on society can't be understated in that regard, even if it's just adding fuel to the eternal rich/poor divide issue.

[Ithekro]

Long life still requires things to do, the ability to do them. If the distances in space travel could be an opportunity if their safety can be maintained and life continue at the end of the trip.

Because even if they manage to break the light barrier it can still take years to reach a relatively nearly habitable world. At least within the estimated upper limit of the ring/warp drive of ten times the speed of light.

[AnimeFan188]

New delivery method boosts efficiency of CRISPR
genome-editing system:

"MIT researchers have now developed a way to deliver the CRISPR
genome repair components more efficiently than previously possible,
and they also believe it may be safer for human use. In a study of
mice, they found that they could correct the mutated gene that causes
a rare liver disorder, in 6 percent of liver cells — enough to cure the
mice of the disease, known as tyrosinemia.

“This finding really excites us because it makes us think that this is a
gene repair system that could be used to treat a range of diseases —
not just tyrosinemia but others as well,” says Daniel Anderson,
associate professor in MIT’s Department of Chemical Engineering and a
member of MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and
Institute for Medical Engineering and Science (IMES)."

See:

http://nextbigfuture.com/2016/02/new...fficiency.html

[AnimeFan188]

Experts Held a Secret Meeting to Consider Building a
Human Genome From Scratch:

"Earlier this week, over a hundred scientists, lawyers, and entrepreneurs
gathered to discuss the radical possibility of creating a synthetic human
genome. Strangely, journalists were not invited, and attendees were told
to keep a tight lip. Which, given the weighty subject matter, is obvious
cause for concern."

See:

http://gizmodo.com/experts-held-a-se...-hu-1776538323

[DanielHiroshi]

I would just like say as a post-doctoral researcher that gene editing is progressing rapidly however it is still very temperamental. In fact in plant science the few papers of successful editing have been very difficult to reproduce.

Often media releases are used to put these labs into the business section, which especially for research with medical implications can yield massive funding. I remember my old supervisor telling businessmen stem cells would do this and that in 5 years, over 15 years ago.

While I obviously cannot comment on any individual works without reading the science literature it is important to remember that a mere 10% of work in mouse translates to humans, so statements such it worked in fly or mouse should be taken with salt until you read into them.

If you are interested certainly NCBI would be a good start. Many journals now are open source as this allows them to gain the most impact. So you should be able to read into the subjects of your choice.

[Tornado The Dragon]

Whether you like or not. But Gattaca the movie probably has predicted the future. Everyone should watch it.

[AnimeFan188]

Zika Is Just the First Front in the 21st-Century Biowar;
Why a new era of synthetic biology could make the dangers
of the atomic age seem quaint.:

"But national biological research efforts will also have international
implications, so over time there will need to be international diplomacy
to set norms of behavior for the use of these technologies. The
diplomacy that went into developing the Law of the Sea, and is under
consideration in the cyberworld, could serve as a useful model.

A major challenge for such diplomacy is that individual nations,
transnational organizations, or even individuals will soon have access
— if they don’t already — to biological tools that permit manipulation
of living organisms. The rise of low-cost synthetic biology technologies,
the falling cost of DNA sequencing, and the diffusion of knowledge
through the internet create the conditions for a breakout biological
event not dissimilar to the Spanish influenza of roughly a century ago.
In that plague, by some estimates, nearly 40 percent of the world’s
population was infected, with a 10 to 20 percent mortality rate.
Extrapolated to our current global population, that would equate to
more than 400 million dead.

Most alarming would be that either rogue nations or violent
transnational groups would gain access to these technologies and use
them to create biological weapons of mass destruction. As Josh Wolfe,
a leading researcher at Johns Hopkins, has said, “Natural biological
weapons are limited by the characteristics of agents that are not ideal
for weaponization; synthetic biological weapons can be designed
without these limitations.”"

See:

http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/08/24/...entury-biowar/

[AnimeFan188]

Genome-edited humans get green light from expert panel:

"Editing the genomes of human embryos should be allowable to treat or prevent serious
diseases and disabilities—but only amid stringent oversight and safety protocols and only if
no reasonable alternatives exist—according to a report released Tuesday by the National
Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine.

The endorsement, however cautious, is a reversal from some previous recommendations
from experts and ethicists, who have considered making heritable alterations to humans
unequivocally off-limits. Among other concerns about the idea is the fear that
unscrupulous scientists could try to create “designer” or enhanced babies, with heightened
intelligence, beauty, strength, etc."

See:

https://arstechnica.com/science/2017...diting-humans/

[Ithekro]

So we are still on schedule for the Eugenics Wars version of World War III in roughly 40 years.

[Draco Spirit]

I'm expecting more of a internal social disorder flavor to be honest.... especially on the rich/poor divide.

[Cosmic Eagle]

Originally Posted by DanielHiroshi

I would just like say as a post-doctoral researcher that gene editing is progressing rapidly however it is still very temperamental. In fact in plant science the few papers of successful editing have been very difficult to reproduce.

Often media releases are used to put these labs into the business section, which especially for research with medical implications can yield massive funding. I remember my old supervisor telling businessmen stem cells would do this and that in 5 years, over 15 years ago.

While I obviously cannot comment on any individual works without reading the science literature it is important to remember that a mere 10% of work in mouse translates to humans, so statements such it worked in fly or mouse should be taken with salt until you read into them.

If you are interested certainly NCBI would be a good start. Many journals now are open source as this allows them to gain the most impact. So you should be able to read into the subjects of your choice.

Even your normal lentiviral editing for basic procedures is iffy at best of times....There was once my old group tried tailor making some mice models for cancer. The implantation with the transfected tumor cells took months to actually succeed. I left when they were about to switch over to CRISPR but to be honest, no one then was actually expecting much success with it.

[AnimeFan188]

Afghanistan’s relentless opium woes have a
'new seed in town,' and it comes from China:

"Last week, Afghanistan released new data showing opium production is surging,
information that dovetailed with a widely circulated 2016 United Nations Office on Drugs
and Crime (UNODC) report that showed similar findings. The primary problem is a new
strain of genetically modified seed that comes from China, which allows poppies to be
grown year round. The so-called Chinese seeds began appearing in 2015, according to
the UNODC, leading to a massive 43 percent surge in production last year."

See:

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/24/afgha...rom-china.html


Welcome to the downside of genetically modifying crops.

[AnimeFan188]

Silicon Valley's pursuit of extreme life extension:

"If we can only find the right genes and make their viral transmission safe, Brian Hanley
declared, “we can enable human transformations that would rival Marvel Comics. Super
muscularity, ultra-endurance, super radiation-resistance. You could have people living on
the moons of Jupiter who’d be modified in this way, and they could physically harvest
energy from the gamma rays they were exposed to.”"

See:

http://www.nextbigfuture.com/2017/03...reme-life.html