Creating a synthetic Cell will without a doubt change our biologic lives as we know them. To transplant chromosomes and sequences of DNA, it not only takes great intelligence, but also creativity. From the sounds of it, it is an extremely lengthy process that has no room for the slightest error. Craig Venter and his team had one error out of over a million base pairs and that set them back three months in order to analyze and correct their mistakes. They used technology by using a debugging software to find the error and to repair the sequence. In order to have the patience and design to work on a sequence for 15 years is incredible. I also find it interesting and unique to embed watermarks within the sequence of code in order to establish that someone has demonstrated the code correctly. They implemented an e-mail address in that someone can send a message to if they have written the code correctly. I think that this is definitely helpful because it tells the person that they are on the right track. One of the quotes, "See things not as they are, but what they might be," tells me, personally, that someone should not simply demonstrate mastery on a specific topic by completing it based of off fact, but to come up with your own way to reach the end of that topic. This all leads back to the idea that creativity will get you further than one may realize. To perform a task off of facts is not as important as performing a task based off of one's personal (creative) understanding on a topic.
From an ethical standpoint, I think that it is still up for debate: Rather creating life synthetically is ethical, is up to the people to decide. I dont think that the white house should classify ideas like this, but I do think that they should determine wether it is ethical or not. But do I think that it is ethical to substantially decrease the time to create a vaccine for a deadly disease? Yes, but there are also other things to look at, so I think this topic can go either way, depending on how you look at it.
I have to imagine that if we are able to transplant DNA and chromosomes, this will open up new ideas in the future. If I had the technology, materials, and intelligence, this is would i would do with my knowledge:
When a baby duplicates chromosome 21 for a total of 47 instead of 46, it results in down syndrome. Now again, I dont know if any of this is possible or has been done already, but i would try to transplant a normal pair of chromosome 21 with the abnormal (down syndrome) set of chromosome 21. If this is possible to do, I would assume that this will result in a cure for down syndrome. If this is possible to do, it would leave me to assume that other DNA abnormalities can also be cured.
I agree with the Ethical debate you posed. I think that creating synthetic life can do so many great things for society. It can cure many defects and diseases in people, but it could be also used for the wrong reasons like creating the perfect athlete so you will make money. The last paragraph about down syndrome was really interesting and made me think about it.
ReplyDeleteFor your post and commentary left on Adam's Blog (Challenge 002), 10 XPs have been awarded.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you said. Stuff like this that has the potential for greatness shouldn't be hidden from us. And I also agree with your thoughts on how complicated it could be to create that. If the slightest error would be made nothing would work.
ReplyDeleteIn the debate over the ethics if the research i would be on the side that supports it. this research could help a lot of people with the flu vaccines and other thing he said in his press conference that could help people, so i dont think that the white house or congress should regulate this just yet
ReplyDelete