Scientists working at The Francis Crick Institute (the Crick) in
London have applied to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology
Authority (HFEA) to use new "genome editing" techniques on human
embryos.
Should the licence application be successful, the aim of the
research, led by Dr Kathy Niakan, a group leader at the Crick, is
to understand the genes human embryos need to develop
successfully.
The work carried out at the Crick will be for research purposes
and will not have a clinical application. However, the knowledge
acquired from the research will be very important for understanding
how a healthy human embryo develops. This knowledge may improve
embryo development after in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and might
provide better clinical treatments for infertility.
Dr Niakan said: "To provide further fundamental insights into
early human development we are proposing to test the function of
genes using gene editing and transfection approaches that are
currently permitted under the HFE Act 2008. We also propose to use
new methods based on CRIPSR/Cas9, which allows very specific
alterations to be made to the genome. By applying more precise and
efficient methods in our research we hope to require fewer embryos
and be more successful than the other methods currently used.
"Importantly, in line with HFEA regulations, any donated embryos
would be used for research purposes only. These embryos would be
donated by informed consent and surplus to IVF
treatment."
Genome editing has been used in research for a number of years
but recent advances and the introduction of the CRISPR-Cas9 system
mean that work can be done in a more precise way than before.
The stage of embryo development that the research team plan to
study also has tremendous potential for stem cell research, which
will have benefits and advances in many different fields of
medicine.