Changing our DNA: 'The age of human therapeutic gene editing is here'

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CNN
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Geneticist David Liu has dedicated his career to developing ways to alter the genetic code. He is confident that "the age of human therapeutic gene editing isn't just coming. It's already here"

cnn.com
Changing our DNA: 'The age of human therapeutic gene editing is here'
Advances in gene editing have brought us ever closer to fixing some of the most devastating diseases of our time, such as progeria and sickle cell disease.
12:00 PM · May 31, 2022

https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/31/health/reversing-genetic-fate-scn-wellness/index.html

(CNN)When popular YouTube star Adalia Rose died earlier this year, she looked like a diminutive, sickly woman in her 80s. In reality she was only 15 years old, a victim of progeria, an extremely rare genetic disorder caused by a single mutation in one of 3 million base pairs that make up human DNA. Completely normal in mind and spirit, children with progeria age at a very rapid pace, typically dying in their teenage years.

Rose captured the hearts of her more than 3 million YouTube subscribers and 12 million Facebook followers with a cheerful, positive outlook and zest for life. With her mother's help, she shared details of her painful and debilitating disease via upbeat, charming videos, while leaving plenty of room for her dance moves and numerous makeup tutorials.

"I look sexy!" she told her audience, flipping her blue-tipped blond hair over her shoulder with Lizzo flair, before settling down to explain to her viewers the types of medicines she took and why she lost vision in one eye.

While Rose spent her short life helping to break down the stigma attached to a devastating illness, geneticist David Liu has dedicated his career to developing ways to alter the genetic code that took her life at such a tender age.

"That a single misspelling in her DNA ended Adalia's life so early is a loss for all of us," said Liu, a professor of chemistry and chemical biology and director of the Merkin Institute of Transformative Technologies in Healthcare at Harvard University.

*snip*

[Ohio Joe]

1. "Why do you insist that the human genetic code is sacred or taboo?"

"Why do you insist that the human genetic code is sacred or taboo? It is a chemical process and nothing more. For that matter we are chemical processes and nothing more. If you deny yourself a useful tool simply because it reminds you uncomfortably of your mortality, you have uselessly and pointlessly crippled yourself."

Sheng-ji Yang
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri