Science café: Cutting and pasting DNA
Research into heredity (genetics) is developing at lightning speed. While a generation ago, the focus was primarily on identifying rare disorders in patients who were already symptomatic, doctors and researchers today can predict, prevent, and treat them.
Thanks to techniques like CRISPR-Cas—a revolutionary system for editing DNA—lifelong cures are becoming within reach. And the earlier you intervene, the better it works: this is why there are increasingly frequent calls to expand neonatal screening and treatment.
But with this powerful technology, we are also entering an ethical and legal maze. The question is shifting from "what can be done" to "what should be allowed."
A very current issue: should the existing restrictions on research using surplus embryos be relaxed? Legislation on this matter is currently being debated in The Hague.
More fundamentally: should the existing ban on cutting and pasting human DNA be less absolute? In 2018, He Jiankui caused a global stir by violating this ban. But now that tempers have cooled—and the perpetrator is out of prison and back in the lab—the question arises: what do we want to do with this technology in the future?
For instance, should we eventually develop treatments for extremely serious hereditary disorders that are inheritable (germline modification)? Or does that set us on a slippery slope toward the dystopia of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World?
With these questions, the debate shifts to: "how do you determine what is permissible as technology and society continue to evolve?" Who has a voice in this debate, and are all interests represented?
Prof. Dr. Martina Cornel (Amsterdam UMC) has been at the heart of these developments for decades. As a physician and professor of community genetics, she is an expert on the societal discussions surrounding genetics and germline modification, both nationally and internationally. In her lecture, she will guide us through the new medical possibilities—and reveal the dilemmas that arise from them.
Live music will be provided by Dubio, and the moderator is Ilse Roelofsen.
