Reading advances in medical science are happening quickly these days. The lecture below is given by a biologist about the new possibilities that gene research can bring. Before you read the lecture transcript, think about the following questions. What advances in medical science have you heard about? What do you know about genes? The future is in our genes. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you all for coming to this lecture. Over the course of my career, I have seen many wonderful scientific developments, but none are as game changing. Is genome editing. I am full of excitement about the possibilities the scientific advance can bring, and I hope to share my excitement with you today. As many of you may already know, genes play a critical role in shaping our lives. Everything from the color of our eyes to our talent for math depends on genes. The complete set of genes inside a sell or a living being is a genome. Our own personal genome Carries all the information needed to make us grow and develop. IT also contains information that helps determine our lifespan and affects our chances of contracting certain diseases. Some people, for example, Carry a gene that makes them more likely to catch a certain virus or develop a particular form of cancer. Geneticists have been trying to identify which genes relate to which diseases as they believe gene editing is an effective means of disease treatment and prevention. IT allows geneticists to make changes to the genome by correcting, adding, deleting or replacing specific parts of the genetic material. In the near future, genetics told to apply this technology to treat a wide range of health problems. Soon we may be able to use such treatments to restore a blind person's vision or give someone who was born death an excEllent sense of hearing. Ultimately, this new technology might even make IT possible to prevent diseases from ever developing by correcting abNormal genes. Early on, gene editing, serving as a new weapon in the fight against diseases, will lead to a fundamental change in our approach to health care as the technology continues to develop at a fast pace. However, questions arise about how to use IT appropriately. Should we restrict our use of this technology to the treatment and prevention of diseases, should we prohibit geneticists from using IT to enhances healthy bodies, one day soon, we will be able to use gene editing to increase the human resistance to colds and floods, to make people taller, to help their muscles develop faster, to sharpen all of their senses or to make them more intelligent. We will also be able to select specific characteristics for children before they are born, creating what some have called designer babies. However, is this a good thing? What consequences might IT have? Philosophers, geneticists and government officials have all started to wrestle with such moral issues. We have to figure out how to keep the technology from running wild. This means putting appropriate controls in place to make sure the gene editing will work to our advantage. Without them, gene editing could be as dangerous as a car out of control. There is still much to be explored and debated on the subject of genome editing. Despite the public argument over this technology, its possibilities have been creating much excitement throughout the entire medical community and beyond. Without doubt, gene editing is one of the greatest inventions in the history of science. Thank you for listening.