Synthetic Human Genome Project Aims to Revolutionize Medicine

Strategic Insights -

Scientists are embarking on a five-year project to construct human genetic material from scratch, which could lead to radical new therapies for diseases. The Synthetic Human Genome (SynHG) project involves teams from top universities and aims to develop the tools and know-how to build long sections of human genetic code in the lab. These will be inserted into living cells to understand how the code operates, paving the way for innovative medical treatments.

Key Takeaways:

  • The Synthetic Human Genome project is a five-year initiative that aims to construct human genetic material from scratch to understand how DNA works and develop new medical therapies.
  • The project involves teams from the universities of Cambridge, Kent, Manchester, Oxford, and Imperial College London.
  • Researchers will start by synthesizing sections of a human chromosome and testing them in human skin cells.
  • The project has the potential to generate treatments for almost any disease, including autoimmune diseases and chronic viral infections.
  • Scientists have already synthesized the complete genome of the E coli bacterium and are working on building genomes of humans, which is much more complex with over 3 billion base pairs.
  • The project includes a parallel research effort into the social and ethical issues that arise from making genomes in the laboratory, led by Professor Joy Zhang at the University of Kent.
  • Potential applications of the project include synthetic versions of mitochondria, which could be used to prevent women who carry mitochondrial diseases from passing them on to their children.

Statistics:

  • The human genome holds more than 3 billion base pairs, represented by the letters G, T, C, and A (Source: Ian Sample, Science editor).
  • The E coli bacterium's genome carries about 4.5 million base pairs (Source: Ian Sample, Science editor).
  • The Synthetic Human Genome project involves teams from top universities and is expected to take five years to complete (Source: Ian Sample, Science editor).
  • Over 30% of the human genome is made up of "dark matter," which we don't know what it does (Source: Dr. Julian Sale, LMB).

Sources:

  • Ian Sample, Science editor
  • Prof Jason Chin, Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB)
  • Dr. Julian Sale, LMB
  • Prof Joy Zhang, University of Kent
  • Prof Iain Brassington, University of Manchester