Week 6 Post 1-Introduction to the Bioethics of CRISPR

 From the documentary Unnatural Selection-Episode 1 Cut, paste, life

- The protein, CAS9 is capable of editing the genome of any cell

- Evolution is an innate process of life that functions not on outside opinions or thought but on what could be better, objectively, but should we defy evolution in service of humanity's mortality? 

     -CRISPR could help cure diseases and disorders and save species

-In 2000 the first draft of the human genome sequence, which allowed much insight into human evolutionary mechanisms, which showed the process of human evolution, and how certain genes can be related to certain traits

    -The RPE65 gene controls eyesight and if missing from both parents can cause blindness-this makes the alleles for the trait recessive, as both parents need to pass on this trait for it to affect the child

-CRISPR, which stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats, is a biotechnology that allows a piece of genetic code to be removed from a DNA sequence, easily and cheaply

     -One of the discoverers of CRISPR, Dr. Jennifer Doudna explains that a protein, the CAS-9 protein, which was first found in bacteria, is able to come to a particular sequence of DNA nucleotides in the DNA strands in the cell, and "edit it" by taking out the sequence and putting in a new one

          -Chemical cleavers that are in the protein get in position on the DNA strand and cut the identified section out, cutting bot strands of DNA, and then adding the changed DNA that it was programed to

-CRISPR has the ability to solve virtually all genetic problems in humans, and has the ability to eradicate certain diseases by changing their DNA as well, however there are many ethical concerns, as humans could effectively "play god"

-One example of an active area of research with CRISPR is that zebrafish which have the ability to regrow organisms and at the Salk institute they are trying to use CRISPR to transfer this ability to humans, by turning on and off genes and editing the DNA of the organisms they are experimenting on

      -They were able to change one gene in a chicken embryo and add an extra limb to that embryo, which is not the exact ability they wanted to happen but is a huge step in the right direction 

      -They were also able to increase the life span of mice 25% by using CRISPR to edit just 4 genes

           -This is an example of how sometimes the changed gene is accepted by the host cells, sometimes it is not, and sometimes it creates a new effect based on the rest of the genetic code of the organism 

-One of the main benefits touted by CRISPR is the ability to cure diseases, but it also could be used for a different purpose, to enhance all humans generally-give them special abilities that no human is currently born with

     -This brings up concerns about the creation of a "master race" of a perpetuation of the Eugenics field, something scientists try really hard to avoid

-However some people want to make the technology of CRISPR accessible to everyone and there are many at home kits which are easily available online 

     -The kits are normally for simple things like putting a gene into bacteria so it glows, but some people have started experimenting with larger organisms such as dogs

    -Dogs have more diseases than any other animal because of the selective breeding humans have put them through over the years

    -These people are also called biohackers, and they point out how inaccessible science education can be to most people, as it is often behind many large paywalls, such as university

   -They are trying to operate science outside of the traditional means of a laboratory to make it more accessible as some people who may be great minds might never be able to make changes if they are born into conditions that do not allow them to go to college

     -They also say that this access by the public to CRISPR would get rid of the concern that the rich would be able to monopolize and enhance themselves

-However, many are concerned with their efforts, and just CRISPR in general because gene editing is very prone to errors, either by the scientists or just by the nature of the technology

    -This could be problematic in cases where CRISPR is applied broadly to things humanity requires, like food sources. If CRISPR is used on a countries wheat supply to make it resistant to pests, but there is an error in the tech, and the whole supply does not grow that country is now in crisis

-Problems like these need to be thought about before CRISPR is fully implemented into important aspects of human life

-Gene editing is an attempt to change the shared environment of humanity (and also all living beings too), so it will effect everyone in a community

    -Changing the genetics of something genetics of it forever and therefore changes and effects a whole ecosystem 

    -Getting consent from the communities in which the genetic change will have effect is key

-Biohackers also are actively working to genetically modifying or engineering themselves

    -Biohacker Josiah Zayner injects himself with DNA at home to try to make himself stronger and to provide information to the public about the effects of CRISPR. He tries to convince people that CRISPR is a safe technology by using it on himself 

           -Risks include his own immune system attacking his muscles because there is a foreign body

    -CRISPR is obviously not the only thing that can alter your genome, toxins in the environment can, and so can smoking cigarettes, and biohacker argue those things are worse for you and you often are not given a choice to opt into your genes being changed by toxins in the environment

    -Biohacking is already illegal in some countries such as Germany and the attitude of biohackers is that government regulation is wrong and the technology should be spread to the people and not just controlled by a few

        -They believe it allows people who do not have resources to go to college the chance to innovate

Episode 2: The First to Try

-There is a genetically inherited disease which is recessive, so both parents must pass down the mutation, which causes blindness, however there is a new FDA approved treatment using gene therapy 

    -This is the first gene therapy that will be used on an inherited genetic disease, and targets the  RPE65 gene

    -This technology is not CRISPR, as CRISPR takes something normal out and puts in a totally new thing, and this technology is just correcting something that was wrong with the normal correct code

    -The technology was developed by Spark Therapeutics, and they give a copy of a normal gene to the cells that are there and it sometimes corrects itself

-Gene therapy though is incredibly expensive and most insurance does not cover it, so if the health care system does not adapt to these these cures families will suffer

    -Most of this drug research is funded with tax payer dollars though, and uses the resources of the NIH

    -Its a situation where pharmaceutical companies say that if people cannot make large profits off of drugs there will not be an incentive for research 

    -Pharmaceutical industry is the highest paid industry, and they spend more on marketing than they do on research

-There is debate over whether these technologies should be allowed to be patented or should no one have the right to claim ownership of something that can help people so much

-The ability to access treatment for HIV is all about a person's socioeconomic conditions, and so some people are using CRISPR to treat it, by using an antibody that is able to kill lots of strands of HIV, which occurs in some people but not others, and it is legal under U.S. law, because people have bodily autonomy

-Drug companies work to keep a balance of price, because if they price the drug too high people could turn against them and people around the world have had rallies against the high cost of these gene therapies

-Bioethicists are asking about when the state has the right to infringe on people's rights, and the boundary, they say tends to be human welfare, and protection of others

Changing an Entire Species

-CRISPR is the tool used by biologists because it seemingly works in every organism and every gene

-Biologist, Dr. Kevin Esvelt, is trying to find a way to add the ability of CRISPR to edit genes, into the very gene that is being put in to replace, so the gene can edit itself, and then when it mates with a wild organism, the editing happens again

    -A system capable of copying itself by genome editing in the wild is called CRISPR-based Gene Drive system, and it could spread through every population through out the world

-Gene drive has huge consequences because it can change a whole population, and it could be used as an extinction technology 

    -For example, what would be the implications of a mosquito population that is drive down by gene drive, but so many people are impacted by malaria and die from it around the world, and mosquitos are developing a resistance to insecticide

-New Zealand is having a rat breeding problem and rats are going to overtake bird species and so they are looking at using Gene Drive to help get rid of some of the rats

    -People's opinion on gene editing technology is usually less based around facts and more based around their values, especially native groups in New Zealand

-Humans have ruined the environment and our natural ecosystems, so should we try to fix it

-When doing gene editing it is important to remember that organism evolve and can evolve around the solution that it creates, which could create a super bug

-It is important to have the opinion of the communities the genetically modified organisms are going to impact

-Can be used for bioweapons, and the DARPA, the American war weapon company, is trying to develop some genetic organisms

    -One way is the use of bees to control which fields they pollinate, would be super powerful and if a company is making it, it could be sold in the marketplace to anyone

-Another concern is who is controlling the technology, and it would be companies and governments who have a vested interest in controlling the environment for money and power

-The UN considered a moratorium on gene drives but decided against it

-Target Malaria, a project meant to stop the disease from devastating communities got approved by Burkina Faso's government to conduct test releases of sterile mosquitos