Thursday, March 19, 1998
It's in the genes, but UCLA is where it's at
GENETICS: "Engineering
the Human Germline" to be held Friday in Schoenberg
By Kathryn Combs
Daily Bruin Staff
Building a better human? With the recent controversy surrounding cloning, the realization of genetic engineering may lie just over the horizon.
And according to the organizers of "Engineering the Human Germline," a free symposium being offered at UCLA on Friday, these kinds of medical technologies may not be as far away as many think.
"I don't think many understand how powerful this is," said Dr. Lee Silver, professor of genetics at Princeton University and a scheduled speaker at the symposium.
"Most people, I think, don't yet appreciate that we are going to be able to modify human beings."
Dr. Gregory Stock, a symposium organizer and director of the Science, Technology and Society Program with UCLA's Center for the Study of Evolution and the Origin of Life, said genetic engineering has already been realized on the level of individual cells but that, "you can imagine a lot more things that you can do with somatic engineering."
"As we get into more sophisticated things we will probably end up using germline engineering," Stock said.
Germline engineering involves the alteration of DNA in the egg or sperm cell, while somatic engineering involves the alteration of DNA in the individual cells. Changes made in the egg and sperm cells cause traits to be transmitted to future generations.
"(This) is the ultimate way that genetic information is going to provide benefits to people," said Dr. John Campbell, professor of neurobiology and co-organizer for the symposium.
"One reason for (holding the conference now) is so that we can layout the factual and conceptual basis for it before the controversy overwhelms us like what happened with cloning," Campbell said.
Among topics that are scheduled to be discussed at the symposium are ethics and safety, in-vitro fertilization and the battle against disease.
The symposium will be held Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. in Schoenberg Hall. Admission is free and the event is open to the public.
For more information, contact the UCLA Study for the Center of Evolution and the Origin of Life at (310) 825-1769 or visit their web site at www.ess.ucla.edu/huge.