After 276 failed attempts, in the summer of 1986, the
\nworld’s most famous sheep called Dolly was born in Scotland, although its
\nexistence was only revealed to the world in February the following year. Dolly’s
\ncreation, through an entirely scientific process, divided the world in two. Some
\nsaid the researchers at Roslin Institute were playing God, fearing that human
\nclones were next. Others saw the achievement as a great step forward for mankind
\nthat would ensure the rescue of species on the verge of extinction. Beyond
\nthese differences, it was a truly momentous event. Mircea Iliescu, a doctor in
\nhuman genetics and evolution at the Institute of Continuing Education of the
\nUniversity of Cambridge spoke to Radio Romania about the importance of the
\nDolly experiment:<\/p>\n
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\n
\n
\n
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This was the first case of cloning using a cell from
\nan adult animal. Cloning had been done before, in frogs and sheep, but they had
\ncome from embryonic cells, that is to say from as yet undifferentiated cells. But
\nin this particular case, what they did was, and this wasn’t easy, technically
\nspeaking, but Ian Wilmut’s team did it successfully, they took a cell from the
\nmammary gland of an adult sheep and implanted it in the egg taken from a
\ndifferent sheep. So, it was all about reprogramming an adult cell,
\nreprogramming the genetic material, so that instead of sperm and egg, they used
\nthe information taken from an adult cell and implanted it into an egg, which
\nwas itself implanted into a surrogate mother. It was the first time that genetic
\nmaterial was taken from an adult cell to create a new organism, and that was in
\nfact the big discovery.<\/p>\n
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\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The creation of the first cloned animal using the cell
\nof an adult mammal caused a big debate, the benefits of its applications being
\ncounterbalanced by ethical considerations. It all gave rise to an interesting
\ndiscussion about cloning, the future of mankind and what can be done with the
\nnew biological technologies, with the fact that we can interfere with the DNA, with
\nembryos. Mircea Iliescu says 25 years later, we can now talk about gene
\nediting:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Cloning means we can simply take genetic material
\nfrom someone and reproduce it, creating an identical organism. Gene editing is
\nabout intervening into the genetic material and changing it based on certain
\ncriteria. This can be done today in very specific ways. So, gene editing is
\nabout modifying. For example, taking a fertilised egg and modifying certain DNA
\nunits that cause certain diseases. This can be achieved today. Gene editing can
\nalso be done in adults suffering from all kinds of illnesses.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
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Genetic engineering has been around since the 1970s,
\nbut the CRISPR technology, which emerged ten years ago and last year earned the
\nscientists who pioneered it the Nobel prize in chemistry, fundamentally changed
\nthis field. CRISPR is the first technology that allows scientists to modify
\nmore than one gene in a single experiment and can edit, in a simple and
\ninexpensive manner, the genome of all organisms, from plants and animals to
\nhumans. Its impact on the medical field is enormous. CRISPR is, for example, a
\nvery useful instrument for identifying biomarkers through an assessment of changes
\nin tumoral tissue. It is also applied in the diagnosis and treatment of genetic
\ndisorders and infectious and immunological diseases. The technology has already
\nbeen used extensively to create cellular models for muscular dystrophy,
\natherosclerosis, obesity, diabetes and Alzheimer’s. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
CRISPR also has great potential in food production, to
\nimprove the quality of harvests and make them more resistant to diseases and
\nherbicides. It also offers the possibility to tackle food allergies by
\nrewriting those areas of the gene that are recognised by the immune system and which
\ncause an allergic reaction. Used in the case of animals, CRISPR can lead to
\nbetter resistance to disease and enhanced productive features. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The technology is not, however, perfect, and there are
\nlots of challenges related to the technical aspects, such as risk of undesired
\nmodifications as a result of intervening in unintended areas of the genome, the
\nreaction of the body, in particular the immune system, or ethical considerations.
\nThere are already controversial experiments, such as that of a Chinese
\nbiophysicist who unsuccessfully tried to use this technology to modify human
\nembryos to create resistance to HIV. Widely contested, he eventually received a
\nprison sentence in China, a country which has become a leader in the field of
\ngene editing research. <\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Genetic engineering has existed since the 1970s, but the CRISPR technology developed in the last decade has revolutionised the field.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":108,"featured_media":156673,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43939],"tags":[44664],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-156672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-future-starts-today","tag-genetics"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n