Genetic and Bioethics

Genetic and Bioethics

Advances in genetics and biotechnology have created ethical dilemmas that previous generations could not have imagined. The ability to edit genes, create embryos in the laboratory, clone organisms, and select the characteristics of future children raises profound questions about the nature of human identity, the limits of scientific intervention, and the relationship between human beings and their Creator. This lesson examines the key ethical issues in genetics and bioethics, the philosophical and theological arguments for and against various technologies, and the concept of "playing God."

Gene Editing and CRISPR

CRISPR-Cas9 (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) is a revolutionary gene-editing technology that allows scientists to make precise, targeted changes to an organism\'s DNA. Discovered as a gene-editing tool by Jennifer Doudna (b. 1964) and Emmanuelle Charpentier (b. 1968) in 2012 (awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2020), CRISPR has transformed biology and raised urgent ethical questions.