- Wellcome Trust has funded Rs 117 crore for the Synthetic Human Genome Project involving UK universities
- Scientists aim to create a fully synthetic human chromosome as a proof of concept for human DNA synthesis
- Experts warn the technology could be commercialised rapidly and raise ethical and safety concerns
Scientists have begun work on a controversial project that aims to create human DNA from scratch. World's largest medical charity, the Wellcome Trust, has donated Rs 117 crore (10 million pounds) to start the project, which involves scientists from universities including Oxford, Cambridge and Imperial College.
Regarded as the building blocks of human life, DNA is made up of repeating units called nucleotides, which contain all the genetic information that physically makes us who we are. Scientists involved in the Synthetic Human Genome Project are now attempting to create a fully synthetic human chromosome, making up about two per cent of human DNA, as proof of concept. The ultimate aim is to maybe one day, create all of it from scratch.
"The sky is the limit. We are looking at therapies that will improve people's lives as they age, that will lead to healthier ageing with less disease as they get older," Dr Julian Sale, of the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, who is part of the project, told the BBC.
"We are looking to use this approach to generate disease-resistant cells we can use to repopulate damaged organs, for example, in the liver and the heart, even the immune system," he said.
As per Professor Matthew Hurles, director of the Wellcome Sanger Insititute, studying how genes and DNA regulate our bodies could help us pinpoint when they go wrong and ultimately develop better treatments.
"Building DNA from scratch allows us to test out how DNA really works and test out new theories, because currently we can only really do that by tweaking DNA in DNA that already exists in living systems," said Mr Hurles.
However, not everyone is seemingly convinced by the idea of humans playing gods. Professor Bill Earnshaw, a genetic scientist at Edinburgh University who designed a method for creating artificial chromosomes, said the technology could be commercialised quickly by healthcare companies.
"The genie is out of the bottle. We could have a set of restrictions now, but if an organisation who has access to appropriate machinery decided to start synthesising anything, I don't think we could stop them."
Dr Pat Thomas, director of the campaign group Beyond GM, said even though scientists are there to work for the good of humans, the project may cause "harm".
"We like to think that all scientists are there to do good, but the science can be repurposed to do harm and for warfare," said Dr Thomas.
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Social media reacts
Reacting to the news, a section of social media users said the experiments could go wrong, while others expressed optimism that it could lead to a better quality of life for people.
"Corporate grown employees coming soon. What a wonderful world we live in," said one user while another added: "Can't see this going wrong in a sci-fi horror type way at all."
A third commented: "This is so cool. I hated growing up with eczema. It would've improved my life so much to not have that issue."
