The implications of genome editing

What are the implications of the effort to engineer the human genome? Whatever they are, as Professor Bronwyn Perry states here, they are immense.

It is clear that there is great promise in this technology but precisely because it is so powerful there is also great peril.

Although many of these techniques are not yet ready for human studies, as we have seen, scientists are already making great strides in using novel genome editing techniques to cure disease.

The question is how to reap the benefits whilst minimising the risk. And at the end of this course, you are now in a position to contribute to a debate that not enough people are engaging in.

For your discussion: Bronwyn Parry believes that someone needs to be abreast of these developments – and that someone is you now. So What do you think of the issues she raises here? Where do you see this field going over the next ten years? How can we take the good aspects of genome editing, such as limiting disease, without losing sight of the risks involved?