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.
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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.
Controversy Erupts As Scientists Start Work To Create Artificial Human DNA
The Synthetic Human Genome Project is being funded by the Wellcome Trust, which has donated Rs 117 crore (10 million pounds).
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