Though the meeting was suppossed to be private and attendees were told not to contact the news media or to post on Twitter during the meeting, the New York Times relates in length what was discussed and points out how such a project could be spurring both intrigue and concern in the life sciences community.
The organizers of the meeting said the project could have a big scientific payoff and would be a follow-up to the original Human Genome Project - aimed at reading the sequence of some three billion chemical letters in the human DNA blueprint. This time around however, the human genome would not be read, but rather written. The project would also involve efforts to improve DNA synthesis in general.
George Church, professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School and an organizer of the ‘writing genome’ project, says the project is not aimed at creating people, just cells, and would not be restricted to human genome. Instead it aims to improve the ability to synthesize DNA in general, which could e.g. be applied to various animals, plants and microbes.
The project was initially called HGP2: The Human Genome Synthesis Project ( with HGP referring to the Human Genome Project. The primary goal: to synthesize a complete human genome in a cell line within a period of 10 years. The name has since then been changed to ‘HGP-Write: Testing Large Synthetic Genomes in Cells.’ The project does not yet have funding.
The organizers of the meeting said the project could have a big scientific payoff and would be a follow-up to the original Human Genome Project - aimed at reading the sequence of some three billion chemical letters in the human DNA blueprint. This time around however, the human genome would not be read, but rather written. The project would also involve efforts to improve DNA synthesis in general.
Ethical issues
Both possibilities and project are still in the very early idea stages, but writes the NYT, any attempt in this direction would raise numerous ethical issues. Basically its the age old question: because something can be done, should it also be done, or at least attempted? In this case: if humans can be created through the use of synthetic genome, can scientists then not create humans with certain kinds of traits, like people born and bred as soldiers?George Church, professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School and an organizer of the ‘writing genome’ project, says the project is not aimed at creating people, just cells, and would not be restricted to human genome. Instead it aims to improve the ability to synthesize DNA in general, which could e.g. be applied to various animals, plants and microbes.
The project was initially called HGP2: The Human Genome Synthesis Project ( with HGP referring to the Human Genome Project. The primary goal: to synthesize a complete human genome in a cell line within a period of 10 years. The name has since then been changed to ‘HGP-Write: Testing Large Synthetic Genomes in Cells.’ The project does not yet have funding.
