OHSU Shoukhrat Mitalipov.
A team of researchers has become the first in the United States to attempt to “edit” human embryos to eliminate diseases by correcting defective genes, according to MIT Technology Review.
“The effort, led by Shoukhrat Mitalipov of Oregon Health and Science University, involved changing the DNA of a large number of one-cell embryos,” the technology site reported, adding that “Mitalipov is believed to have broken new ground both in the number of embryos experimented upon and by demonstrating that it is possible to safely and efficiently correct defective genes that cause inherited diseases.”
The embryos were not meant to be implanted in people and develop to maturity, the site says. Technology Review further reported that “many tens of human IVF embryos were created for the experiment using the donated sperm of men carrying inherited disease mutations.”
The process is called “germline editing” because the modified DNA is passed on to future generations, and it’s very controversial in part because of concerns it could be used to create “designer babies.”
In February 2017, Science Magazine reported that “modifying human DNA in ways that could be passed on to future generations has long been considered ethically off limits and is banned in many countries. But new DNA editing tools, such as CRISPR, that make genome modifications much easier have revived the discussion. In April 2015, researchers in China reported that they had used CRISPR, with limited success, to repair a disease-causing gene in human embryos.”
Great strides have been made in the science recently.
Science News reported in April 2017 that “researchers in China and Texas have taken a step toward making the fantasies a reality for all inherited diseases.”
“Using the gene-editing tool known as CRISPR/Cas9, the researchers have successfully edited disease-causing mutations out of viable human embryos. Other Chinese groups had previously reported editing human embryos that could not develop into a baby because they carried extra chromosomes, but this is the first report involving viable embryos,” reported Science News.
See the strides Shoukhrat Mitalipov is making in #fertilization through #gene #therapy: t.co/Fb8c7r1iCy
The editing technique works “by introducing small mutations that disrupt the code of a DNA sequence,” according to New Scientist.
New Scientist reports that the U.S. National Academy of Sciences recently concluded in a report “that trials of germline gene editing should be allowed only if they meet a number of criteria – the first being ‘the absence of reasonable alternatives.'”
According to Live Science, the Chinese have tried editing DNA since at least 2015, including to make embryos resistant to HIV infection, but the earlier studies did not involve viable embryos. The new technique allows researchers to attempt to turn off specific genes, reports Live Science.
According to his OHSU bio, “Dr. Mitalipov earned his Ph.D. degree in 1994 in Developmental & Stem Cell Biology at the Research Center for Medical Genetics, Moscow, Russia. He came to Utah State University in 1995 to conduct postdoctoral research training and then moved to Oregon National Primate Research Center (ONPRC) at Oregon Health & Science University. In 2014. Dr, Mitalipov became the director of the newly founded Center for Embryonic Cell and Gene Therapy.”
Mitalipov has been at the forefront of genetic controversies for years. In 2013, NPR reported, “Scientists say they have, for the first time, cloned human embryos capable of producing embryonic stem cells” and added that “Shoukhrat Mitalipov of the Oregon Health & Science University and his colleagues never gave up. They succeeded in mice and monkeys. And in this week’s issue of the journal Cell, Mitalipov’s team reports they finally did it in humans.”