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posted by CoolHand on Tuesday April 07 2015, @05:46PM   Printer-friendly
from the human-programming dept.

An article over at Science Daily is reporting that researchers at Duke University have developed a new method to activate genes by synthetically creating a key component of the epigenome that controls how our genes are expressed. The technique adapts CRISPR in order to deliver the enzyme acetyltransferase to promoters and enhancers rather than the well-known application of splicing DNA. Their research is detailed in a paper to be published in the April 2015 issue of the journal Nature Biotechnology.

From the Science Daily article:

Duke researchers have developed a new method to precisely control when genes are turned on and active.

The new technology allows researchers to turn on specific gene promoters and enhancers - pieces of the genome that control gene activity - by chemically manipulating proteins that package DNA. This web of biomolecules that supports and controls gene activity is known as the epigenome.

The researchers say having the ability to steer the epigenome will help them explore the roles that particular promoters and enhancers play in cell fate or the risk for genetic disease and it could provide a new avenue for gene therapies and guiding stem cell differentiation.

What (if any) are the medical and ethical issues surrounding therapies which might come from this sort of research? Should epigenetic therapies be considered "genetic engineering?"

 
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 08 2015, @09:56AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 08 2015, @09:56AM (#167776)

    Its all nice and smooth until the military industrial complex decides it wants better soldiers who can bring freedom to all people of the world.

    They did work on a "gay bomb" for a while, didn't they, where dropping one of these babies will make all men in the area start humping each other and forget about the war they were fighting.

    The powers that decide our future can turn this into a medicine that brings peace and prosperity, or start a Eugenics War. What are they going to decide? Which one will pay more?