What if you could alter the human genome? With CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) technology, this thought is made possible.

At our latest dinner, hack/reduce participants had the opportunity to listen to two human genome experts; Sarah Goodwin and Alex Plockik. The two had attended graduate school together at UCSF where they studied biochemistry and cell biology.

Our dinner focused on the general concepts of CRISPR and the work that Sarah has been doing on a film called Human Nature, where she is the producer and lead science advisor. The film is a documentary that presents an in-depth description of the gene editing process of CRISPR. The technology came to life in 2013 and provides a way of controlling the basic genetic processes of life which can help cure diseases and provide other benefits to humankind and the environment in which we all call home.

October 23rd. CRISPR presenting to hack/reduce participants at Explorateur.

While many praise the advancements produced by gene editing, some remain skeptic of its moral compass. Would you want individuals to alter their offspring to be smarter, taller, more attractive? Is that fair? Who will have access to this technology? How will this influence the human experience?

Since we are still in the early stages of CRISPR and human genome editing there are many answers that are yet to be uncovered. What are your thoughts on gene editing?

*Interested in learning more about the work that CRISPR is doing? Check out our events page for Human Nature screening dates (will be announced in 2020).