can we change genetics

Question: can we change genetics
- Keywords:
  genetics
Asked by yeah490yeh on 12 Jul 2023.
- Sophie Shaw answered on 12 Jul 2023:
  
  There is a technique called gene editing which uses special proteins to edit the DNA (aka genes) of cells. In theory, this can be used in patients with genetic disease. However, this approach is very uncommon.
  
  If someone is told they have a risk of a genetic disease, we recommend life styles changes to help keep the risk low (e.g. lots of exercise if it’s a genetic change related to heart disease).
- Bruno Silvester Lopes answered on 12 Jul 2023:
  
  Yes you can..It can be a bit tricky and some processes are easy others more difficult (eg: changing human genes is really difficult, but changing some bacterial genes and seeing how bacteria behave can be a bit easier comparatively)
- Caroline Addey answered on 13 Jul 2023:
  
  I think so – there are some amazing genetic engineering / cloning tools which can change genes (hopefully for the better)
- Hannah Scholes answered on 13 Jul 2023:
  
  Hi! Like Sophie and Bruno have said, you can with a technique called gene editing, but it’s quite uncommon in humans. It’s more common for people to change genes in bacteria, especially in research labs, to see how the genes work and if it changes how bacteria or other organisms (sometimes fruit flies!) behave.
- Eleni Bakola answered on 13 Jul 2023:
  
  yes you can, with the right team in genetics but it can be very tricky
- Clare Morrow answered on 14 Jul 2023:
  
  With the right team you may be able to.
- Kip Heath answered on 20 Jul 2023:
  
  As others have said – yes, but only very specific things. And it opens a whole collection of ethical questions: when is it acceptable to change them? There’s a film called Gattaca that shows this in a really interesting way.

Question: can we change genetics

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