A recent interview from Wired Magazine with molecular-biology pioneer J. Craig Venter sheds light on where biology is currently heading. His ambition is to be able to biologically design and alter DNA. By using genetic engineering DNA can be altered just like software on a computer and using biological transporters proteins viruses, and even living cells can be recreated at other locations. A very simplistic way of viewing it, would be to compare it with a 3D printer. Cell can be designed virtually which get stored as template and can be ‘downloaded’ at different locations. According to J. Craig Venter DNA is the software of life, while proteins can be collectively seen as the hardware of a human body.
This new development, however, comes with a lot of ethical concerns and has its own share of resistance in the science world. The technology is deemed to be dangerous because it can be abused. Like most important technology it can be either used for good or bad. Due to this resistance J.Craig Venter is afraid that this resistance might hinder an amazing opportunity to improve life. One of the most obvious benefits is that it can be used to quickly fabricate vaccines all over the world in the case a pandemic. Another example named in the article is that this technology can also help our understanding about life on other planets.
The question remains if this type of technology will become a blessing or a burden to society, and my guess would be that it becomes both. On the one hand the implications on the medical field of such technology is huge. It can be used to altering genes which causes certain defects such as being colour blind or even save lives by preventing cancer (if it is scientifically proven that genesis the most important source of cancer). However, at the same time this type of technology can easily be used for bio terrorism or privacy concerns, such as people being identified using DNA. My prediction is that this technology will have a hard time being developed or standardized due to the resistance but that it will eventually become a common thing in the future. Society is changing rapidly and information defines this era. Digitalizing DNA therefore seems to be a logical step the development of information technology .
Source: Wired (UK) November 2013 edition
