[mikema63]

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/gene-editing-helps-baby-battle-cancer?tgt=nr

This particular story is about using gene editing on T cells (A type of immune cell that regulates the immune system and kills other human cells) that was used to cure a one year old of cancer.

It's not full body gene therapy, but it's also been proving effective with other diseases like HIV where immune cells were edited to eliminate the protein gates that the virus uses to infect cells.

When gene therapy was originally tried, it resulted in a few deaths and use for treatments was put on hiatus. With new crisper/cas9 technology it's also become much cheaper to do such genetic engineering on living cells. The Chinese recently used it to genetically engineer dogs that do not have the protein myostatin, which causes them to have extremely large muscles.

The potential to use this technology to engineer human embryos is also a very real possibility, and I doubt it would be more than a decade or two before someone figures out how to do full body genetic engineering (though there is quite a lot of obstacles to overcome).

There is quite a lot of promise, and also quite a lot of fear, about what these technologies could do or mean.

[The Sabbaticus]

With the recent epigenetic studies - about genetic markers pointing towards a possible sexual orientation - generating quite a bit of controversy. The implications of this technology are indeed interesting. What could this burgeoning technology mean when they've finally discovered this so-called 'gay genetic imprint'.

The deaf have formed a pretty militant subculture, with some not wanting their hearing disability resolved, as it would erase their cultural identity. Will the gay community - an even more vociferous and militant subculture - follow these groups in their rejection of a possible medical solution?

[mikema63]

You fail to understand how gene therapy works.

A gay gene (if there is a single gene which is very unlikely) would effect brain development. Changing that gene after brain development has taken plave wouldnt effect the behavior.

Depending on when that development took place it may be impossible to predict and fix with current technolpgy.

If its epigenetic then we wouldnt have any way to change it at all as gene therapy doesnt effect epigenetics and we dont currently have the technology to manipulate it in that way.

[The Sabbaticus]

It's not a medical question. What if.

[mikema63]

I would choose to be bi if anything, but this thread is about the actual scientific and medical applications not your off topic trolling.

[The Sabbaticus]

That's odd. Given your statement towards the end.

There is quite a lot of promise, and also quite a lot of fear, about what these technologies could do or mean.

[mikema63]

Note the part about what this technology could do, it cantvdo what your asking about.