Harvard Scientists hold Secret meeting about Creating Synthetic Human Genomes
Scientists held a secret meeting about creating synthetic human genomes at Harvard University. There were no media people invited and attendees such as lawyers, businessmen and experts were asked to keep their lips sealed.
The scientists are specifically looking at fabricating the human genome and using chemicals to create the entire DNA found in the chromosomes of humans.
The prospect is spurring both intrigue and concern in the life sciences community because it might be possible, such as through cloning, to use a synthetic genome to create human beings without biological parents. Although the project is still in idea phase, and involves efforts to improve DNA synthesis in general, it could have a big scientific payoff.
Organizers said the project would be a follow up to the original Human Genome Project, which was aimed at reading the sequence of three billion chemical letters in the DNA blueprint of human life. The new project, by contrast would not involve reading but rather writing the human genome – synthesizing all three billion units from chemicals.
Ethical issues about the scientists having the power to create and copy humans emerged. Drew Endy from Stanford
University, who was invited to the exclusive meeting, asked if it would be OK to sequence and synthesize the genome of Albert Einstein. Endy and Northwestern University bioethicist Laurie Zoloth wrote an essay denouncing the project. Endy did not attend the meeting because according to him, it was not opened to a lot of people and lacked information on ethical considerations.“To create a human genome from scratch would be an enormous moral gesture whose consequences should not be framed initially on the advice of lawyers and regulators alone,” argued Endy and Zoloth. “Discussions to synthesize, for the first time, a human genome should not occur in closed rooms.”
Project organizer George Church of Harvard said there had been a misunderstanding. He explained that the project is not meant to create humans alone – it is targeted at cells. The goal is to improve DNA synthesis in general and to use this for applications in plants, animals and microbes.
Church also explained the reason of why the meeting was kept a secret. He said the project organizers did not invite the media and requested the attendees not to tweet about it because a paper about the project would be published in a scientific journal for transparency, and they simply did not want any information to leak prior to publication.
