Posted on 08/12/2021 4:28:51 PM PDT by Marchmain
Pope Francis appointed Dr Jennifer Doudna to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences on Wednesday.
The Holy Father has appointed the distinguished Professor Jennifer Anne Doudna as ordinary member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.
Professor Jennifer Doudna was born on 19 February 1964 in Washington, D.C. (USA). She studied biochemistry at Pomona College in Claremont, California, and earned her doctorate in Biological Chemistry at Harvard Medical School in Cambridge.
Later, she continued her studies at the University of Colorado in Boulder.She is currently Li Ka Shing Chancellor's Chair Professor in the Department of Chemistry and the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of California, Berkeley.
In 2020, together with Professor Emmanuelle Charpentier, she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the development of the CRISPR-Cas9 genomic editing method.
The Academy
The Pontifical Academy of Sciences was originally founded in 1603 and re-established by Blessed Pius IX in 1847. Pope Pius XI gave the Academy its current name and statutes in 1936.
The mission of the Academy is to honour pure science wherever it may be found, ensure its freedom and encourage research for the progress of science.
The CRISPR/Cas 9 technique is one of a number of gene-editing tools. Many favour the CRISPR/Cas9 technique because of its high degree of flexibility and accuracy in cutting and pasting DNA. One of the reasons for its popularity is that it makes it possible to carry out genetic engineering on an unprecedented scale at a very low cost. How it differs from previous genetic engineering techniques is that it allows for the introduction or removal of more than one gene at a time. This makes it possible to manipulate many different genes in a cell line, plant or animal very quickly, reducing the process from taking a number of years to a matter of weeks. It is also different in that it is not species-specific, so can be used on organisms previously resistant to genetic engineering.
Ewww. I smell politics here.
Doudna is known for spearheading the public debate to consider the ethical implications of using CRISPR-Cas9 to edit human embryos.
In the past there were brilliant Catholic clergy who could fill these roles. Wasn’t the scientist who corrected Einstein’s “fudge factor” a Catholic Bishop?
Master Race is real. Hitler would have been envious...../s
I can technically see an argument strictly for therapeutic generepair for genetic disorders.
However, that sounds super bleeding edge in medical science. But if they recognize the there is a disruption genetic defects, they can change other things.
I fear a future of genetic slaves born to serve a master race.
Great article. (I read it to Andre Rieu’s orchestra playing Ravel’s Bolero.)
“I fear a future of genetic slaves born to serve a master race.”
Is it unduly pessimistic to say that if a bad thing can be done, it will be done?
No, it’s realistic.
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