Should We Synthesize A Human Genome?

At Harvard today an invitation-only group of mostly scientists, lawyers, and entrepreneurs, ~150 in total, met to discuss if and how to synthesize from scratch an entire human genome – the heritable genetic material that in nature is transferred from parents to children. The meeting was originally organized to focus on “deliverables and industry involvement” with the primary goal of the project being “to synthesize a complete human genome in a cell line within a period of ten years.”

Synthesis refers to the construction of a genome starting from simple chemicals. Such a synthetic genome could then be tested in a laboratory by replacing the existing genome within a human cell. All this would still be far removed from making a synthetic human. However, the possibility of making a human cell whose genome is realized from only digital information and raw materials should trigger broader considerations.

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Returning to our primary question, just because something becomes possible, how should we determine if it is ethical to proceed?

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Image via Flikr/University of Michigan School of Natural...