Micro-Seminar: Humans 2.0: How genetic engineering and stem cells will alter the future of the human race PART ONE

Micro-Seminars have two parts. Attendance to both parts is required. Registering for the PART ONE session will automatically enroll you in the PART TWO session on Friday.

Part 1: Thursday, August 22, 2024 from 3:00 – 4:30 pm (PST)
Part 2: Friday, August 23, 2024 from 10:00 – 11:30 am (PST)

It has taken billions of years of evolution to go from the first single-cell organism to human beings. Yet we are now entering an era of rapid and self-directed evolution, driven by the ability to precisely re-engineer the genome and direct stem cell fate. These advances have the potential to alter what it means to be human and raise a host of ethical and moral issues of how this technology will be used and who will have access to it. What will humans look like in 1000 years? Will there be super-humans with enhanced abilities and intelligence? What will human reproduction look like? Will we still need mothers and fathers? Will science one day make us disease-free and immortal? The convergence of gene editing and stem cell advances are poised to make these science fiction ideas a reality.

Session 1: We will introduce the latest advances in genome editing and synthesis, and how stem cell research allows these changes to be stably inherited.
Topics include:
1. Techniques to clone humans
2. Human genome editing through designer nucleases (e.g. CRISPR/Cas9)
3. De novo synthesis of the human genome
4. Ethical and moral questions of altering the human genome

Session 2: We will introduce how stem cell research is altering human reproduction and aging.
Topics include:
1. Generating eggs and sperm from stem cells
2. Using stem cells to make babies from infertile or same-sex couples
3. Making babies outside the womb
4. Gaining immortality through stem cell-mediated whole-body rejuvenation

By participating in this micro-seminar, students will be introduced to cutting-edge concepts in genetic engineering and stem cell biology, and how convergence of these fields has the potential to dramatically change what it means to be human.

The session is for students interested in biology, science fiction, bioethics, and philosophy.

Lead By: Professor Gage Crump

Dr. Gage Crump is a founding member of the Broad Stem Cell Center at USC, director of the PhD Program in Developmental Biology, Stem Cells, and Regenerative Medicine, and Interim Chair of the Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine. His lab studies the development, maintenance, and regeneration of the head skeleton using zebrafish, mouse, and human systems. His lab has established a number of models of human birth defects in zebrafish, including for craniosynostosis, craniofacial dysmorphologies, arthritis, and black bone disease, and is using these to understand the developmental bases of craniofacial disease. His group was also the first to demonstrate regeneration of jawbone, joints, and ligaments in adult fish, with lessons learned from this highly regenerative vertebrate being used to devise new treatments for bone loss and arthritis in patients.

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