Designer Babies
What is the goal of designer babies?
To combat genetic diseases and get rid of certain genes or defects
What is a genetic disease?
Diseases that are passed down through genetic traits in a family
What is one benefit of designer babies?
Health benefits, it can help advance technology, or they can be used as organ donors
What is CRISPR?
Technology that lets scientists modify the DNA inside of a living organism.
What are the names of the genetically modified twins?
Lulu and Nana
What is a genetic mutation?
A harmful change to cells
What is one limitation of designer babies?
High cost, discrimination, the technology is not fully developed yet
What is a genome?
A complete set of instructions needed for organisms to grow
Why were the twins genetically modified?
To combat the HIV disease their dad carried
What are two examples of genetic diseases (from the presentation)?
Sickle Cell Disease, Cystic Fibrosis
What doubles as both a limitation and a benefit?
Designer babies can be used as organ donors
What is guide RNA?
RNA that tells the Cas9 where in the gene to cut
What is an IVF?
A method of helping people with fertility issues have their babies (advancements in the IVF field lead to the creation of designer babies)
What is a complex condition?
A genetic diseases caused by both environmental and genetic factors
How will designer babies cause discrimination?
Designer baby technology is expensive, so there is a chance of discrimination between people who can afford the technology and those who can't.
What is Cas9?
Protein that cuts a specific area of a gene
What is PGD?
The process that involves removing cells from 5 day year old embryos to find out out which cells are not healthy.
What are two examples of complex conditions (from the presentation)?
Cancer and diabetes
What is the cost of making a designer baby?
$11,000-13,000
What does CRISPR stand for?
Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats