• Question: is it possible to change what you look like using genes

    Asked by the best fortnite player to David on 12 Mar 2018.
    • Photo: David Howard

      David Howard answered on 12 Mar 2018:

      Your genes do contribute to the way you look. In theory, it would be possible to conduct gene editing to change the colour of someone’s eyes for example. However, using gene editing in this manner is unethical. There might also be unforeseen problems of changing someone’s genetic code.

Comments

  • Photo: Stéphane

    Stéphane commented on :

    In theory, yes … However, the change needs to happen early in development because the cells targeted might not be able to change their gene expression.
    This is called Human embryo genome editing. It is not ethical at the moment (even for inherited diseases).