Will gene ‘editing’ help infertile couples?
By Peter Saunders, MercatorNet:
A scientist made her case last week to be the first in the UK to be allowed to genetically modify human embryos.
The regulator, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), considered her application last Thursday and will give a ruling later this month (Nature, Guardian, Mail, Telegraph). If approved the research could begin as early as March this year.
Dr Kathy Niakan from the Francis Crick Institute in London wants to use a new technique called CRISPR/Cas9 to “edit” genes in day-old human embryos left over from IVF in order to discover what role they play in normal embryo development.
She plans to start with a gene called Oct 4, which is thought to have a critical role in embryo development, using 20-30 donated embryos. If this is successful she plans to move on to testing 3-4 other genes, each again using a further 20-30 embryos.
The research is highly controversial, and not just because it results in the destruction of the embryos being studied (each will be destroyed and examined at seven days).
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