The Human Connection - CRISPR

The podcast episode is about the use of CRISPR, a genetic editing software, to cure diseases and make newborns immune to certain conditions. It discusses the potential of CRISPR to eliminate the HIV virus and prevent disabilities caused by genetics. However, there are risks involved, such as the potential creation of new viruses and the ethical concerns of designing babies for appearance. The episode also mentions the possibility of using CRISPR for anti-aging, but highlights the overpopulation issue. Overall, the episode explores the benefits and risks of CRISPR technology. The Human Connection is filmed in front of a live studio audience. Hello, and welcome to The Human Connection, a podcast about the many types of science and how they can all relate. I'm your host, Tony, and this is my guest, Andre. Welcome to the show. Thank you very much, Tony. It's great to be here. Today's episode is about using the genetic editing software called CRISPR to cure disease and even making newborns immune to getting some conditions. But before we start, a word from our sponsor. Rage Shadow Legends is an immersive online experience with everything you'd expect from a brand new RPG title. They've got an amazing storyline, awesome 3D graphics, giant boss fights, PvP battles, and hundreds of never-before-seen champions to collect and customize. Rage Shadow Legends is getting big real fast, so you should definitely get in early. Starting now will give you a huge head start. There's also the upcoming special launch tournament with crazy prizes. And not to mention, this game is absolutely free. So go ahead and check out the video description to find more about Rage of Shadow Legends. There you will find a link to the store page, the special code to unlock all sorts of goodies. Using this special code, you can get 50,000 silver immediately and unlock a free epic level champion as part of a new player's program. Courtesy, of course, of the Rage Shadow Legends devs. Rage Shadow Legends. Download today. So, I'm not an expert on genetics, but I've heard a bit about how this CRISPR stuff can almost completely rewrite genetic code. What are some ways this new technology can be used to affect our future? Well, Tony, the first time we realized the potential of CRISPR was about three years ago. Researchers at Temple University eliminated the HIV virus, a virus that's always been believed to have no cure, from a number of rats and mice. It's truly a miracle in the medical field that we found. That's very interesting. But I've heard of using CRISPR before the subject is even born. So the question arises, is it more beneficial to make newborns immune to disease before birth? There are many disabilities that are present from the time someone is born to the time they die. These include autism, HIV-negative, and many others. About six out of ten people are affected by a disability that's caused by genetics. There are so many families out there. If we can not only cure these disabilities, but prevent them from even happening. It truly is amazing what we could do with this new technology. But in all reality, it was only about 21 to about 28% effective in the rat and mice HIV project. But we believe as long as we don't mess up, we can perform multiple times on one specimen with our CRISPR technology. Can you tell us what you mean by mess up? Right, yes, of course. Well, I'm sure you are well aware of this, but many viruses in the world are made in the DNA's process of replication when something in the coding goes wrong. So if our Cas9 protein malfunctions when recoding this DNA or cutting strands off, doing its job, and something goes wrong and it malfunctions in some way, it could create some kind of new unheard virus that could be detrimental to modern society. That we are not prepared for at all. Creepy. I think it's a good time to take an intermission. Why did the physics professor break up with the biology professor? Because there was no chemistry. Calling back to an earlier point you made, with this CRISPR Cas9 technology you can design babies before they are born to be immune to certain viruses such as HIV or those other common viruses you might see. And you can also include a sort of evolution in humans to make them adapt to different environments. But just like the virus immunity, there is a lot, a lot, a lot of risk in these designer babies. It's highly, highly experimental. So we try to be very, very careful when we ever use this tool to actually genetically modify embryos. Interesting. Although there's risk in the actual process. I feel like the biggest risk is parents using CRISPR to change their kids' appearances. There's always been people trying to use plastic surgery on their kids to make them to their liking. Would this just enable them even more than they already are? Well, yes and no. When you hear designer babies, your brain likely goes to the idea of making your dream child. For example, the prettiest kid in the class or the strongest in your grade level or, you know, the tallest kid in the school or whatever. But our researchers believe that it's the last thing we should be focusing on when dumping more research into this new technology. And we would like to use it more for beneficial causes to society and our survival as a species all together rather than personal reasons one might call selfish or so. I've never thought about it like that. But there's also chances that it would be beneficial to our survival. One that comes to mind is anti-aging. Everyone dreams of it, but nobody can have it. But if there is a way to never age, think about how it could affect humanity. Thank you. This is a wonderful point that my researchers and I have personally all ponzored altogether. But the fact is, although anti-aging may sound like a miracle, Earth as is is already so overpopulated. It's covered in more than 8 billion people at this point. Think about how much worse that will get if humans were to never age. It would destroy the planet. I can see that being an issue. I think that about puts us at the end of our show. Do you have any last thoughts, Hunter? I don't think so. I think I've said everything that needed to be said. Again, thank you so much for having me. I had a great time tonight. It's been my pleasure. So that's our episode of The Researcher. I hope it's been a good one. Thank you.