A groundbreaking scientific project has been launched in Cambridge, where researchers are attempting to reconstruct the structures of human DNA starting from elementary chemical elements. This marks one of the most radical experiments in the history of molecular biology, reports Baltimore Chronicle with reference to BBC.
Until recently, studies in this field were strictly prohibited due to ethical concerns — particularly the fear of creating so-called “designer babies” with pre-programmed traits or triggering unpredictable and irreversible changes in the human genome. However, this stance shifted when the world’s largest medical charity, the Wellcome Trust, decided to fund the initiative, allocating £10 million (approximately $13.7 million USD) to its implementation.
The Wellcome Trust justified this decision by stating that the potential benefits of the research significantly outweigh the associated risks. Representatives of the organization emphasized that the study could substantially accelerate the development of treatments for numerous severe genetic diseases that currently have no cure.
One of the lead scientists involved in the project, Julian Sale of the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, stated that this research could mark a major breakthrough, taking biological science to an entirely new level.
Earlier we wrote that scientists discover way to slow age-related memory decline.