"IVF: First genetically-modified human embryos 'could be created in Britain within weeks'"

[newworldafro]

IVF: First genetically-modified human embryos 'could be created in Britain within weeks'

Scientists are about to learn whether their research proposal has been approved by the fertility watchdog

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  • Steve Connor Science Editor
  • @SteveAConnor

Germ-line editing has been revolutionised by the development over the past three years of a technique known as Crispr-Cas9, which allows “edits” to the DNA genome from very small to the extremely large. It is this technique that the Crick team intend to use on spare IVF embryos to investigate the role played by a handful of key genes in determining whether an early embryo develops normally into a healthy foetus.

Scientists suspect that some of these genes may be involved in preventing embryos from developing or from implanting and growing healthily in the womb. They want to test this idea by inactivating the genes in at the day-old stage of development to see what effect this produces in gene activity at seven-day embryos.

The research proposal is led by Kathy Niakin, who left the US to work at the National Institute for Medical Research at Mill Hill in north London, which is in the process of being merged with the new campus of the Crick Institute next to St Pancras Station.

World's first IVF puppies born
If the research licence is delayed by a few weeks until after the move from Mill Hill, the controversial experiment involving the creation of genetically modified human embryos could become the first project to be carried out within the new £660m building, Dr Niakin said.

The Crick team already has a licence to carry out research on human IVF embryos but they want permission to use about 20 or 30 day-old embryos that are left over from IVF treatments – although it may be necessary to create IVF embryos specifically for the research, she said.

Parents of the embryos have to give “full and informed” consent and by law have to be told about the specific research project that their embryos will be used for, Dr Niakin said.

Although it is thought unlikely that the HFEA will refuse the extension of the Crick’s existing IVF licence, it would be a “disappointment” if the application were to be turned down, she said.

“We could continue with some of the other research in the lab but the fundamental importance of the genes would not be as well understood. We’d be left with a descriptive understanding of human biology without any fundamental insights into the importance of the genes,” Dr Niakin said.

She denied that the research project will lead down a “slippery slope” to the creation of genetically modified “designer babies”, which is the argument used by many who oppose the experiment.

“Because in the UK there are very tight regulations in this area, it would be completely illegal to move in that direction. Our research is in line with what is allowed an in-keeping in the UK since 2009 which is purely for research purposes,” Dr Niakin said

 

[OG MudBone]

Soo...my future son can be 6'6 and make the nba?