The topic of discussion is human genome editing and where we stand on it. Drs. Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuel Charpentier won a Nobel prize in 2020 for demonstrating a bacterial immune system can be used to edit genomes in a repeatable and programmable fashion (in 2012). Really big deal.
Watch Dr. Doudna give a brief talk about the tech and implication:
Take a look at these, the first is essentially about a cure to sickle cell anemia through genome editing, the 2nd is about a scientist jailed for genome editing embryos to be HIV resistant.
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/12/15/944184405/1st-patients-to-get-crispr-gene-editing-treatment-continue-to-thrive
nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00001-y
I want you to 1) summarize the general theme of the topic and 2) develop an opinion over the topic.
Questions you could answer:
Did you know this was happening?
What do you think this mean for the future of the human species?
How do you feel about germline genome editing?
How do you feel about somatic genome editing?
Are we ready for “designer” babies? I.e. would you want a designed baby if you could have one?
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