The current pace at which technological advancements alter and improve our lives across all spectrums is such a constant factor, that it's hard to truly recognize the impact a newer, still developing field, will have on our society. The advancements in Biotechnology has made it increasingly difficult to ignore our growing ability to manipulate genetic code for our benefit. The development of the COVID-19 vaccine, a process that would take several years just a decade ago, can now be done in a matter of months using mRNA. The massive investment made in the research and development of these vaccines was a boon to furthering our understanding of how we could better manipulate organic matter. An area that is also producing promising results is Gene-tharapy. Dr. Jennifer Doudna, who is world-renowned for her research involving the gene-editing tool CRISPR-Cas9, believes we will be able to manipulate any part of our DNA within a the next 30 years. There is a growing consensus of scientists that agree with Dr. Doudna. They are suggesting that the fountain of youth--having complete control over disease, genetic disorders, and our own mortality--could be within our lifetime.
The First Complete Sequence of a Human Genome
The 13 year long Humane Genome Project ended in 2003 in a partial success with 92% of the sequence completed. We did not yet have access to the technology needed to decipher 8% of the genome sequence. Computational power and the techniques available at the time only permitted short-read sequencing. Short-read sequencing, meant that scientists could only print out the DNA molecule in fragments. Put simply, viewing small pieces of a highly repetitive pattern, led to gaps in our knowledge as well as the models that were being generated. Within the past decade, two new DNA sequencing technologies emerged that had long-read capabilities.
Dr. Harrison Wein details these two new technologies in his article "First complete sequence of a human genome",
"The PacBio HiFi DNA sequencing method can read about 20,000 letters with nearly perfect accuracy. The Oxford Nanopore DNA sequencing method can read even more—up to 1 million DNA letters at a time—with modest accuracy. Harrison Wein, Ph.D. First complete sequence of human genome."
It wasn't until 2019 during a COVID-19 lockdown that a couple of cooped up scientists decided to implement both long-read methods to attempt to fill in the 8% gap in our understanding of the human genome. They were able to take advantage of the fact that hundreds of other biomolecular scientists all around the world were just as cooped up and bored as they were. By creating and expanding a community based effort to decipher the remaining gaps in our knowledge, hundreds of scientists ran the same DNA sequencing techniques which created countless models. These models were then compiled and compared with all other models produced by this network. After just three years, enough evidence was compiled to have a complete picture of the human genome in early 2022. The implications of this discovery are enormous. We now have the data to help locate the exact areas of DNA responsible for genetic disorders.
Advancements in Gene Therapy
In less than a decade, we have seen the onset of gene-therapies that are beginning to show just how drastically our world will change within our lifetime. A recent experimental gene-therapy, called base-editing was administered in early 2022 to the first human patient in history. The patient was diagnosed with an incurable form of leukemia, but less than a month later they left the hospital with no cancer in their system. Although it seems almost science fiction, base-editing therapy is incredibly complex, and for the moment, takes several months for a team to develop a treatment that is only effective for one person. Base-editing involves implanting T-cells from a healthy donor that are programmed to hunt down and attack all cancer cells in the patient.
Advancement in use of the CRISPR-Cas9 editing technology are vast, especially in the realm of organ transplantation. Rejection is a life-threatening complication in which the patient’s immune system attacks the transplanted organ, eventually resulting in a failed organ.
Everyday 17 people die while waiting for an organ transplant. The biggest factor being compatibility. Currently, the candidate must be compatible with the donor organ to prevent the host immune system from attacking the transplanted organ. However, with the advancements in CRISPR-Cas9, scientists have been able to target the harmful vectors within a pigs heart, making it possible to transplant into a human.
Our Future Control
The mounting evidence from our advancements in gene-therapies and our growing understanding of the human genome indicates we are on the verge of a new age of control. The progression of time will only make these technologies cheaper, more effective, and easier to mass produce. We could soon live in a world without disease or genetic disorder. very soon, Aspects of our bodies we could only dream of changing might be a gene-therapy procedure away.
https://bernardmarr.com/what-is-biological-computing-and-how-it-will-change-our-world/ - "What is Biological Computing And How It Will Change Our World"
https://startupsavant.com/news/nanobiotechnologies - "The Rise of Nanobiotechnologies in Medicine and Companies Leading the Way"
https://news.ucsc.edu/2022/03/t2t-genome.html - "First complete, gapless sequence of a human genome reveals hidden regions"
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