On June 2nd, scientists formally announced a 10-year plan to radically advance the ability to manufacture intact genomes, including a human genome.
The aim is to have an impact on the genomic world on the same scale as the Human Genome Project (HGP) did, which led to sequencing of the three billion letters that make up the genetic code of humans. This time, however, scientists want to transition from “reading” genetic codes to “writing” them. Consequently, the endeavor has been nicknamed the “Genome Project-write.”
One of the major concerns is that scientists will synthesize optimized human genomes, culminating in the production of synthetic and improved human models. Under this assumption, many ethical and philosophical alarms are being triggered. Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), is one individual in this line of thinking. In fact, the NIH has no intention of funding a major scale project like the one at hand.
George Church, a geneticist at Harvard Medical School and lead organizer of the project, tells the public that no one is talking about creating humans. He says that other there exists an array of other possibilities for synthesized genomes. One use is to construct cells that are resistant to viruses. Another application is growing organs that can be transplanted into humans.
Church also mentioned that in the Harvard meeting in May that rounded 130 scientists, nine experts in ethical, legal, and social implications of technology sat at the table.
Besides Church, there are three other organizers: Jef Boeke, director of the Institute for Systems Genetics at the NYU Langone Medical Center; Andrew Hessel, a researcher at the software company Autodesk; and Nancy J. Kelley, the founding executive director of the New York Genome Center.
Word is that Autodesk has already committed $250,000 for planning efforts.
The organizers hope to keep the momentum going and raise $100 million by the end of the year. In 10 years, the target is to fall under $3 billion, the cost for the HGP. Support is expected to come from public, private, philanthropic, industry, and academic institutions. Part of the money is going to be allocated for dealing with ethical, legal, and social obstacles to new genetic engineering technologies.
The end goal of the project is to reduce engineering and large-scale testing costs by 1000-fold. It’ll be a very challenging, but interesting goal to meet.
Past major genetics projects, like the gene-editing of human reproductive cells, tend to make the news, so watch out for future stories regarding the Genome Project-write.
