Should humans try to cure or eliminate genetic diseases with the help of targeted interventions in the genome? A joint project led by Oldenburg researchers aims to find out what young people think of the genome editing method.
It is a scientific method that raises great hopes, but at the same time touches on central ethical values: so-called genome editing, which uses targeted interventions in the genome to cure cancer or genetic diseases or prevent their onset in the first place. What does such gene therapy mean for human dignity and the fundamental rights status of embryos, for example - and how do young people who could come into contact with the new technology in the future view this? Scientists from three universities are investigating these questions in a new joint project led by Oldenburg biology didactics expert Prof Dr Corinna Hößle.
The Federal Ministry of Education and Research is funding the project with 360,000 euros over the next three years. In addition to Hößle and her colleague Dr Wiebke Rathje from the Institute of Biology and Environmental Sciences at the University of Oldenburg, the renowned human geneticist Prof Dr Brigitte Schlegelberger from the Hannover Medical School and the biology didactics expert Prof Dr Ulrich Gebhard from the University of Hamburg are also involved.
In order to find out which ethical values young people consider to be affected by genome editing and how important these are to them, the scientists want to survey both young people and students of medicine, life sciences, social sciences and humanities. In this way, they also want to ascertain the extent to which genome editing may influence young people's view of the world and people. The findings are to be made accessible to an international audience of medical professionals, human geneticists, scientific ethicists, educationalists and specialised didactics experts, thus contributing to the scientific debate on genome editing of human embryos and germline cells. Interventions in the germline mean that the embryo's future eggs or sperm are also genetically altered through early intervention. Due to the altered genetic information, subsequent generations would also be affected by the intervention. Proponents hope that this method could therefore eliminate diseases caused by genetic defects forever. Critics argue that the path to the designer baby may not be far away.
"By analysing the values of young people on this topic, we want to promote a responsible approach to the new technology at an early stage," says project manager Hößle.
At a national level, educational programmes for schools and universities are planned that are geared towards the ethical evaluation processes of those surveyed, both in terms of their level of difficulty and their content. The aim is to develop didactic guidelines for schools and universities in order to promote pupils' and students' ethical evaluation skills and prepare them for participation in public discourse.