HNUH228B

What is at stake for our world as humans seek to redesign biological organisms? Scientific advances are enabling us to read, edit and write genomes, including our own. This revolution has been fueled by the quest to understand and cure disease. These innovations have far-reaching consequences, not only for medicine, but also for our world, which it will reshape in ways we can only imagine - or fear. The course will challenge students to confront the risks and rewards for them, their families, their community, and their future, as biotechnology moves outside specialized laboratories to our homes. A demystifying, low-tech approach will introduce contemporary genome redesign, clarifying current limitations and future goals. Students will debate whether redesigning plants and animals will enhance or inhibit momentum in human genome engineering, and formulate their own arguments about who should be able to use these tools and where, who decides, and how much society is willing to risk.