Its hard to watch a loved one get sick. Their eyes go glassy. Their breathing is punctuated by body-wracking coughs. Feverish and aching, they struggle to get out of bed.
Hard as these symptoms are to witness, theyre so familiar you dont need a medical degree to know its probably a bad cold and maybe the flu. Get some rest, hydrate, pop some ibuprofen, see a doctor if the symptoms significantly worsenand wash your hands, for heavens sake.
For most of history, however, even the finest physicians only slowly advanced beyond the basics of biology and medicine we take for granted. There have long been forms of diagnosis, treatment, and prevention, but these were rudimentary at best and superstitious at worst.
The history of innovation is not that excitinguntil you get to the 20th century, Jane Metcalfe, cofounder of Wired and founder of Neo.Life, told the audience at Singularity Universitys Exponential Medicine in San Diego this week.
Since then, biology and medicine have been on a tear, Metcalfe said. Early last century, doctors mastered blood transfusions and complex surgeries. They began controlling and eradicating infectious disease with sterilization, antibiotics, and vaccines and found drugs to manage pain.
Then, around the middle of the century, scientists began amassing a deep body of biological knowledgeknowledge were now using to manipulate the fundamental processes of living things.
Its a familiar story, but one that suggests something radical. Just as physics and chemistry have given humans power over the world of the inanimate, biology is giving us the ability to engineer living systems, from viruses and bacteria to animals and people.
Which is why Metcalfe thinks design could be the next big thing in medicine.
Well combat disease and improve human health by designing biological systems from the ground up. We can design embryos. We can edit genes in humans. We have synthetic biology. And so we really are looking at designing future humans, Metcalfe said.
The best known bio-design tool to date is undoubtedly CRISPR genome editing. With CRISPR, scientists are closer than ever to manipulating genes down to the letter.
There are now a number of increasingly refined CRISPR-based systems, the latest of which, CRISPR prime editing, has been described as a word processor for gene editing. Meanwhile, the first approved gene therapies are making their way (at times painfully) into cancer treatment.
Just last year, Metcalfe said, the world was shocked to learn a scientist in China, Dr. He Jiankui, had used CRISPR to edit human embryos and confer immunity to HIV (and potentially other unintended traits in the process). He went even further by implanting the embryos, and the first genetically modified babies were born in China in 2018. Hes work was universally condemned by the scientific community as sloppy and unethical. Yet, another scientist, this time in Russia, has since made public his intentions to use CRISPR to edit human embryos too.
The ethics quite clearly havent caught up to the science, and the tools themselves are still being sharpened, but its likely only a matter of time before scientists, researchers, and doctors begin more responsibly snipping out disease-causing genes and, perhaps, even splicing in beneficial ones.
George Church is anticipating that day.
George is probably the most prolific bioengineer of our time, Metcalfe said. [There] are fifty different alleles that hes tracking that are beneficial to humans. These variants include genes that help protect against cardiovascular disease and Alzheimers disease. Others may improve memory and learning and extend your telomeres.
But our design abilities wont be limited to existing genes, Metcalfe said. Scientists are assembling entirely new synthetic biological systems from scratch too.
Were writing DNA codeand weve been doing this for a whilebut were starting to get good at it, said Andrew Hessel, Humane Genomics CEO and nanotechnology/biotechnology faculty at Singularity University, in a talk following Metcalfes.
Hessel pointed to Twist Bioscience a synthetic biology company that went public in late 2018. Twist manufactures short custom sequences of DNA (oligos) at scale. Customers can design and order sequences and have them delivered by Fedex. With tools like this, synthetic biologists have begun creating synthetic enzymes and proteins, some of which have even proven themselves functionallike their natural siblingsin bacteria.
Scientists are thinking bigger too.
Craig Venter, already famed for his work sequencing the first human genome, announced the first reproducing synthetic bacteria back in 2010. He followed up with a streamlined minimal synthetic cell in 2016. Boasting the smallest known genome, it has no natural counterpart. Then this year, another group announced theyd made synthetic E. coli bacteria with a four million base-pair genomefour times longer than Venters 2010 achievementand using just 61 codons instead of 64. Currently, scientists are working with yeast to make the first synthetic eukaryotic cells.
The ultimate goal is writing whole human genomes from scratch, and Hessel cofounded Genome Project-write (GP-write) to convene the worlds top synthetic biologists to do just that.
There are obviously big hurdles that still need clearingincluding software that can make design more accurate and efficient and DNA synthesis tools that assemble longer base-pair sequencesand Hessels group recently published a paper outlining the challenges. Nonetheless, Hessel said the group doesnt think any of these will take more than a decade to solve.
Literally in 10 years weve gone from making proteins synthetically to making a eukaryote, he said. As soon as we can start making whole chromosomes, well, weve only got 23 of them. Its not going to take very long until you end up bumping up against the human genome.
The pace of change in biology and medicine has been swift, Metcalfe said.
Researchers discovered DNAs structure in 1953, the first IVF baby was born in 1978, and we met Dolly the sheep, the first cloned animal, in 1996.
In just the last two decades, scientists went from sequencing the human genome at great cost and effort to sequencing it for under $1,000 in a day. Now there are an estimated million-plus complete human genomes on the books.
Weve graduated from complex and costly gene editing tools to tools that can be sold in a kit for a few hundred bucks. Scientists are building genomes from scratch and booting them up.
The question is no longer whether well be able to design our own biologythe tools are already herethe question is can we handle the responsibility?
This technology is going to touch every business, every sector, every government, every person, Hessel said. This isnt a presentation for now, its the start of a conversation with all of you for the future.
Image Credit:gustavo centurion /Unsplash
Original post:
Why Designing Our Own Biology Will Be the Next Big Thing in Medicine - Singularity Hub
- Downloads - Singularity Viewer - December 25th, 2016 [December 25th, 2016]
- What is Singularity (the)? - Definition from WhatIs.com - January 5th, 2017 [January 5th, 2017]
- When Electronic Witnesses Are Everywhere, No Secret's Safe - Singularity Hub - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- Report: AMD Ryzen Performance in Ashes of the Singularity Benchmark - PC Perspective - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- Do you believe in the Singularity? - Patheos (blog) - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- Editorial Note From the Singularity Hub Team - Singularity Hub - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- Discover the Most Advanced Industrial Technologies at Exponential Manufacturing - Singularity Hub - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- 10th Letter looks at nature in the time of the Singularity - Creative Loafing Atlanta - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- Donald Trump Is the Singularity - Bloomberg View - Bloomberg.com - Bloomberg - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- Wearable Devices Can Actually Tell When You're About to Get Sick - Singularity Hub - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- AMD 8-core Ryzen benchmark show up on Ashes Of The Singularity ... - VR-Zone - February 8th, 2017 [February 8th, 2017]
- Robot Cars Can Teach Themselves How to Drive in Virtual Worlds - Singularity Hub - February 8th, 2017 [February 8th, 2017]
- Physicists Unveil Blueprint for a Quantum Computer the Size of a Soccer Field - Singularity Hub - February 10th, 2017 [February 10th, 2017]
- How Robots Helped Create 100000 Jobs at Amazon - Singularity Hub - February 10th, 2017 [February 10th, 2017]
- Ready to Change the World? Apply Now for Singularity University's 2017 Global Solutions Program - Singularity Hub - February 10th, 2017 [February 10th, 2017]
- Singularity Containers for Science, Reproducibility, and HPC - Linux.com (blog) - February 10th, 2017 [February 10th, 2017]
- Families Finally Hear From Completely Paralyzed Patients Via New Mind-Reading Device - Singularity Hub - February 12th, 2017 [February 12th, 2017]
- artificial intelligence: the fear of a technological singularity ... - ETtech.com - February 13th, 2017 [February 13th, 2017]
- Holograms Aren't The Stuff of Science Fiction Anymore - Singularity Hub - February 15th, 2017 [February 15th, 2017]
- How the World Has Changed From 1917 to 2017 - Singularity Hub - February 16th, 2017 [February 16th, 2017]
- Preparing for the Singularity - Inverse - February 16th, 2017 [February 16th, 2017]
- Our Health Data Can Save Lives, But We Have to Be Willing to Share - Singularity Hub - February 17th, 2017 [February 17th, 2017]
- Ashes of the Singularity merges with standalone expansion Escalation, no upgrade fee - PCGamesN - February 17th, 2017 [February 17th, 2017]
- Just Stand Inside this Room and it Will Wirelessly Charge Your Phone - Singularity Hub - February 18th, 2017 [February 18th, 2017]
- AMD bundles Ashes of the Singularity with FX processors ahead of Ryzen's launch - PCWorld - February 18th, 2017 [February 18th, 2017]
- Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation being merged with the original game - PC Invasion (blog) - February 18th, 2017 [February 18th, 2017]
- Singularity - GameSpot - February 20th, 2017 [February 20th, 2017]
- The roots of technological singularity can be traced backed to the Stone Age - Wired.co.uk - February 20th, 2017 [February 20th, 2017]
- Jide's new OS is like an Android version of Windows 10's Continuum - The Verge - February 22nd, 2017 [February 22nd, 2017]
- Jide Announces Remix Singularity: The Continuum Alternative for Android - XDA Developers (blog) - February 22nd, 2017 [February 22nd, 2017]
- New Tech Makes Brain Implants Safer and Super Precise - Singularity Hub - February 23rd, 2017 [February 23rd, 2017]
- One Android company wants to use smartphones to make PCs truly dead - BGR - February 23rd, 2017 [February 23rd, 2017]
- Remix tries its hand at the mobile-desktop hybrid OS with Singularity - Android Police - February 23rd, 2017 [February 23rd, 2017]
- Financial Leaders: Make Your Mark on the Future at Exponential Finance - Singularity Hub - February 23rd, 2017 [February 23rd, 2017]
- Remix Singularity is Jide's Android answer to Windows Continuum - SlashGear - February 24th, 2017 [February 24th, 2017]
- AMD Radeon RX 580 Ashes of the Singularity Benchmarks Leaked 4K, Ryzen Combo, CrossFire and More! - Wccftech - February 24th, 2017 [February 24th, 2017]
- Damon Wayans Jr. Joins FX Sci-Fi Comedy Singularity - Den of Geek US - February 24th, 2017 [February 24th, 2017]
- After Man? From Singularity to Specificity - Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) (press release) (blog) - February 24th, 2017 [February 24th, 2017]
- Why the Potential of Augmented Reality Is Greater Than You Think - Singularity Hub - February 24th, 2017 [February 24th, 2017]
- Damon Wayans Jr In Evan Goldberg & Seth Rogen AI comedy - /FILM - February 24th, 2017 [February 24th, 2017]
- Ashes of Singularity: Escalation Gets an Update - CGMagazine - February 24th, 2017 [February 24th, 2017]
- Google Updates: Scuba, Singularity, SMS and suing - The INQUIRER - February 24th, 2017 [February 24th, 2017]
- Singularity Art Show Tonight In San Francisco! - February 25th, 2017 [February 25th, 2017]
- Stardock celebrate v2.1 of Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation with a ... - PCGamesN - February 27th, 2017 [February 27th, 2017]
- Video: AI Is Getting Smarter, Says Singularity University's Neil ... - Wall Street Journal (subscription) (blog) - February 28th, 2017 [February 28th, 2017]
- This Neural Probe Is So Thin, The Brain Doesn't Know It's There - Singularity Hub - March 1st, 2017 [March 1st, 2017]
- Citizen Science Means Anyone Could Discover Planet NineEven You - Singularity Hub - March 1st, 2017 [March 1st, 2017]
- Singularity University establishes new organisation in Denmark - Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark - March 1st, 2017 [March 1st, 2017]
- Singularity University opening organisation in Denmark - The Copenhagen Post - Danish news in english - March 1st, 2017 [March 1st, 2017]
- Does Zapping Your Brain Actually Help You Learn Faster? - Singularity Hub - March 2nd, 2017 [March 2nd, 2017]
- What You Need to Know About Elon Musk's Plan to Fly People to the Moon - Singularity Hub - March 2nd, 2017 [March 2nd, 2017]
- Singularity: Explain It to Me Like I'm 5-Years-Old - Futurism - Futurism - March 3rd, 2017 [March 3rd, 2017]
- Singularity for PC Reviews - Metacritic - March 4th, 2017 [March 4th, 2017]
- Singularity (mathematics) - Wikipedia - March 4th, 2017 [March 4th, 2017]
- See How This House Was 3D Printed in Just 24 Hours - Singularity Hub - March 6th, 2017 [March 6th, 2017]
- NYC's Metrograph theater is running a sci-fi film series featuring Blade Runner, Ex Machina, and Metropolis - The Verge - March 8th, 2017 [March 8th, 2017]
- 3 Exciting Biotech Trends to Watch Closely in 2017 - Singularity Hub - March 9th, 2017 [March 9th, 2017]
- New Burger Robot Will Take Command of the Grill in 50 Fast Food Restaurants - Singularity Hub - March 9th, 2017 [March 9th, 2017]
- Are These Giant Neurons the Seat Of Consciousness in the Brain? - Singularity Hub - March 10th, 2017 [March 10th, 2017]
- How Fully Synthetic Complex Life Just Got a Lot Closer - Singularity Hub - March 12th, 2017 [March 12th, 2017]
- Singularity University launches inaugural Canada Summit | BetaKit - BetaKit - April 8th, 2017 [April 8th, 2017]
- Singularity - Everything2.com - April 8th, 2017 [April 8th, 2017]
- Singularity (Game) - Giant Bomb - April 8th, 2017 [April 8th, 2017]
- Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation on Steam - April 8th, 2017 [April 8th, 2017]
- Approaching the World of Collaboration Singularity - CommsTrader - June 6th, 2017 [June 6th, 2017]
- Berkeley Lab's Open-Source Spinoff Serves Science | Berkeley Lab - Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory - June 7th, 2017 [June 7th, 2017]
- Beyond Politics: Innovating for a Sustainable Future - Singularity Hub - June 7th, 2017 [June 7th, 2017]
- Tune Into the Future of Fintech at Exponential Finance This Week - Singularity Hub - June 7th, 2017 [June 7th, 2017]
- Experts Weigh in on AI and the Singularity - Futurism - June 7th, 2017 [June 7th, 2017]
- Singularity | Mass Effect Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia - June 7th, 2017 [June 7th, 2017]
- Quantum Computers Will Analyze Every Financial Model at Once - Singularity Hub - June 8th, 2017 [June 8th, 2017]
- Deloitte and Singularity University Extend Their Relationship To ... - PR Newswire (press release) - June 8th, 2017 [June 8th, 2017]
- Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation 2.3 update adds a new campaign today - PC Gamer - June 8th, 2017 [June 8th, 2017]
- Singularity and Docker | Singularity - June 8th, 2017 [June 8th, 2017]
- Ashes of the Singularity gets a new fully-voiced campaign - PCGamesN - June 9th, 2017 [June 9th, 2017]
- At Exponential Finance, the Singularity University Explores Visionary Applications of Blockchains - Crypto Insider (press release) (blog) - June 9th, 2017 [June 9th, 2017]
- Get It While It's Hot: Why Fintech Is a Goldmine for Investors - Singularity Hub - June 10th, 2017 [June 10th, 2017]
- Forget Police Sketches: Researchers Perfectly Reconstruct Faces by Reading Brainwaves - Singularity Hub - June 14th, 2017 [June 14th, 2017]
- Singularity Summit comes to SA | IT-Online - IT-Online - June 16th, 2017 [June 16th, 2017]
- These 7 Disruptive Technologies Could Be Worth Trillions of Dollars - Singularity Hub - June 17th, 2017 [June 17th, 2017]