By: Sumay McPhail
Hello Everyone! Today I’m going to be talking about gene editing! We now have the technology to edit people’s genes...this can solve problems such as genetic diseases ana cancer! I’ll be talking about three main points...What DNA is (genes), why gene editing is beneficial, and how you can find out whether or not you have a genetic disease.
What is DNA? DNA is like the instruction manuals for an organism. Your genes can influence things like your height, and eye color. The genes that we have is a combination of the genes our parents have. Our bodies use the combination of our parents genes to create an entirely new set of genes for ourselves.
Why is gene editing beneficial? Sometimes one or both of our parents have a mutation in their genes. Since we get a shuffled new set of genes based off of our parents genes, you would have a 50% chance of getting the mutation in your genes as well. We now have the technology to actually modify, or completely eliminate certain parts of your DNA that are causing these diseases. The way we are doing this is basically this, identifying which genes need to be altered, taken out, or swapped out with different genes...and then cutting the pieces of DNA.
How can I find out if I have a genetic disease? We use genomic sequencing to read your DNA! Genomic sequencing is a process where we analyze a sample of your DNA that we take from your blood. There is a company called Illumina that reads your DNA by taking blood tests or using your saliva and using genomic sequencing. Illumina’s goal is to make DNA testing available for everyone. People should know whether or not they have a mutation in their DNA!
Thank you for reading my post about gene editing! I hope you found this beneficial! Gene editing is a way for us to edit mutations in our DNA, but can also be used in the wrong way as well. It is important for us to know about the new technologies of the world because it can help us better understand who we are and where we stand in history. And what could happen in the future!