On May 10th, a group of roughly 150 select scientists, lawyers and industry leaders met at the Harvard Medical School in Boston to discuss the synthesis of the first human synthetic genome. The press was not allowed at the meeting, and the attendees were given clear instructions to keep the nature of the event a secret.
This secrecy led to discussions that highlighted the controversial nature of this meeting. Following the event, Drew Endy, a bioengineer from Stanford University, and Laurie Zoloth, a professor of religious studies at the Northwestern University, in an op-ed in Cosmos magazine, commented that, “Discussions to synthesize, for the first time, a human genome should not occur in closed rooms.” The associated secrecy of the event led to more backlash as headlines emerged that conjured up sci-fi plots to create fully lab-grown synthetic humans.
In an attempt to resolve any misunderstandings, Dr. George Church, a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School, who had been involved with the organization of the event, commented that the aim of the meeting was not to discuss the creation of synthetic humans, but rather synthetic DNA. He said that the meeting was closed off to the media because the program organizers, in order to be transparent, had submitted a paper outlining their ideas in a scientific journal. Since this paper was still awaiting publication at the time, their ideas could not be disclosed to the public. The paper, titled “The Genome Project–Write”, has since been published and can be accessed here.
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The paper proposes a project dubbed as the “Human Genome Project–Write” (HGP–write) . This project would be similar to the original human genome project launched in 1990. But the goal of this project would not be to simply “read” the genome, but rather to “synthesize” it. The paper indicated that HGP–write will be coordinated by the Center of Excellence for Engineering Biology, a new independent non-profit organization. The project team is looking to launch HGP–write by 2016, with an initial investment of $100 million. The total cost of the project is still unclear but it is expected to remain less than the $3 billion that was spent on the first genome project.
The project will aim to “synthesize a complete human genome in a cell line within a period of 10 years.” The long-term goal, as the proponents of this project see, would be to further our current technologies and develop methods that can facilitate large-scale genome synthesis. According to Dr. Church, these improvements will deepen our understanding of the genome, and the knowledge gained could be used to address many of the global problems that face humanity. Some of these advancements might also make it possible to do things like engineer organisms that are resistant to all viruses or grow pig organs suitable for transplant into humans, both of which can have important implications for medical research.
However, despite its potential benefits, the project is still shrouded in controversy as many ethical issues are constantly being brought up. There are still some concerns within the scientific community regarding the true value and the practicality of the proposed project.
To read more on some of the ethical arguments surrounding HGP-write, click here.
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