The Synthetic Human Genome Project is moving forward

Work began on a controversial project to create the building blocks of human life from scratch, in what is believed to be the first world.

The study has been taboo so far due to fears that it can lead to designer babies or unforeseen changes for future generations.

But now the largest medical charity in the world, The Wellcome Trust, gave an initial 10 million pounds to launch the project and says it has the potential to make more benefit than harm, accelerating the treatment of many incurable diseases.

Dr. Julian Sale of the MRC Molecular Biology Laboratory in Cambridge, which is part of the project, told the BBC News that the study is the next giant jump in biology.

“Heaven is the limit. We are watching therapies that will improve people’s lives with age, which will lead to a more healthier aging with less illness when they grow old.

“We are looking to use this approach to generate resistant cells that we can use to redirect damaged organs, such as in the liver and heart, even the immune system,” he said.

But critics fear that the study is opening the way for unscrupulous researchers who want to create enhanced or modified people.

Dr. Pat Thomas, director of the campaign group beyond GM, said: “We like to think that all scientists are there to do good, but science can be re -established to harm a war.”

Details of the project were given to the BBC News on the 25th anniversary of the completion of the human genome project, which mapped the molecules in human DNA and was also largely funded by Wellcome.

Each cell in our body contains a molecule called DNA, which carries the genetic information it needs. DNA is made up of only four much smaller blocks referred to as A, G, C and T, which are repeated again and again in different combinations. Amazingly, it contains all the genetic information that physically makes us as we are.

The human genome project has enabled scientists to read all human genes as a barren code. The new work, which begins, called a project for a synthetic human genome, potentially takes this giant jump forward – it will allow the researchers not only to read a DNA molecule, but also to create parts of it – maybe one day all this – a molecule of zero molecule.

The first goal of scientists is to develop ways to build more and more large blocks of human DNA, to the extent that they have synthetically constructed the human chromosome. They contain genes that manage our development, repair and maintenance.

They can then be studied and experimented to learn more about how genes and DNA regulate our bodies.

Many diseases arise when these genes go wrong, so studies can lead to better treatments, according to Prof. Matthew Hurls, director of Wellcome Sanger Insititute, who sequenced the largest part of the human genome.

“Building DNA from scratch allows us to test how DNA really works and testing new theories, because at the moment we can really do it only by setting DNA in DNA, which already exists in living systems.”

The work of the project will be limited to testing pipes and dishes and there will be no attempt to create a synthetic life. But the technology will give researchers unprecedented control over human living systems.

And although the project is a hunt of medical benefits, there is nothing to stop unscrupulous scientists who abuse the technology.

For example, they could try to create biological weapons, enhanced people or even creatures who have human DNA, according to Prof. Bill Ernshaw, a highly respected genetic scientist at the University of Edinburgh, who designed a method of creating artificial human chromosomes.

“Jin is out of the bottle,” he told BBC News. “Now we could have a set of restrictions, but if an organization that has access to appropriate machines decides to start synthesizing something, I don’t think we could stop them”

D -Ja Thomas is concerned about how the technology will be commercialized by healthcare companies that are developing from the study.

“If we can create synthetic parts of the body or even synthetic people, then who owns them. And who owns the data from these creations?”

Given the potential abuse of technology, the Wellcome question is why they chose to fund it. The decision was not made slightly, according to Dr. Tom Collins, who gave the funding.

“We wondered what the price of inaction was,” he told BBC News.

“This technology will be developed one day, so when we do it now, we at least try to do it in the most responsible way and to face ethical and moral issues more before.”

Specialized Social Science Programmer, managed in tandem with the scientific development of the project and will be managed by Prof. Joy Gian, a sociologist, at the University of Kent.

“We want to achieve the views of experts, social scientists, and especially the public about how they relate to technology and how it can be useful to them and to come in accordance with what issues and problems they have,” she said.