Symposium looks at promise and perils of genetic editing

Imagine a world in which a simple edit in genetic code could unlock a trove of possibilities — the end of cancer, mosquitoes free of disease or the reversal of invasive species.

Then stop and look around. We already live in this world, Michael Goguen told a packed auditorium at Flathead Valley Community College on Tuesday. The technology exists — but how do we use it in the right way?

This was one of several thorny questions Goguen proposed to an audience of over 300 people at a lecture “Re-Programming Evolution: The Promise and Perils of Gene Editing,” part of FVCC’s “Technology and Humankind” 2018 Honors Symposium.

Over the course of an hour, Goguen, a technologist, venture capitalist and resident of Whitefish, discussed the implications of recent advancements in biotechnology. Achievements in genetic science are “progressing faster than any innovation in the history of science,” he said, with implications that he frequently characterized as both “thrilling and terrifying.”

Goguen began his talk by sketching out the basics of genetic editing — the process of altering DNA — in layman’s terms. The history of DNA sequencing and genetic science provided the foundation for the “breakthrough” technology: CRISPR-Cas9, which gives humans the capability to cut, edit, or rearrange the DNA of any organism. In less than a decade, CRISPR has snowballed from just an idea to an “easy-to-use, cheap and powerful” tool that has the potential to radically alter the trajectory of the human species — for better or for worse.

Goguen outlined several positive applications of genetic editing that are now on the table thanks to CRISPR. CRISPR could reverse HIV/AIDS, Duschenne’s Muscular Dystrophy, Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s Disease. “Superbugs” could be redesigned to destroy themselves. Perhaps most prominently, “CRISPR unlocks the potential to make cancer extinct,” Goguen said.

CRISPR could also “optimize” species for efficient agriculture, eradicate invasive species, allow trees to absorb more airborne waste, and combat the beetle crisis in Western forests.

Anything is possible, Goguen said, because “we’ve gotten to the ultimate source code of life.”

But with great power comes great responsibility, and Goguen dove into the potential hazards of limitless genetic editing. Risks include ethical questions such as “designer babies,” “playing God,” or a “Jurassic Park” scenario of revived, previously extinct species. There are unintended ecological consequences, as well as the risk for science to be manipulated into dangerous bioweapons.

In short, Goguen said, human beings are at a critical point. “We have almost infinite control. The question is: how are we going to use it?”

“The genie is out of the bottle and we can never put it back in,” Goguen concluded, though he noted that, from his perspective, “the promise [of gene editing] far outweighs the perils.”

Following the presentation, audience members peppered Goguen for another half hour with ethical, scientific and economic questions.

For Cassidi Bowman, a sophomore at FVCC studying business, the potential of CRISPR is intensely personal. Diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes last September, Bowman asked Goguen if CRISPR could be applied to finding a cure. Goguen replied that it absolutely has the potential.

“I didn’t realize how close we were, and how much of a possibility it was — like, so close, and that it’s actually happening right now. It was crazy to hear that,” said Bowman afterward.

Dr. Gerda Reeb, the director of global programs at FVCC and an organizer of the event, was similarly impressed and optimistic.

She noted that her late mother battled breast cancer and with CRISPR, “her suffering could’ve been eased, her life could’ve been improved had we had the ability to shift some of her genetic structure. So I thought that was incredibly brilliant — just the hope that’s out there for my children and grandchildren.”

Reporter Adrian Horton can be reached at ahorton@dailyinterlake.com or at 758-4439.