ETHics@Lunch event on the topic of "Computer-generated genome"
On 27 May, the first event of the newly launched ETHics@Lunch series took place at noon in the Audimax of ETH Zurich. The subject of this first event was a paper by Prof. Beat Christen's research group on the production of an artificial bacterial genome recently published in PNAS .
During the event, students and researchers from ETH Zurich and experts from the fields of synthetic biology and bioethics discussed the topic "Computer-generated genome - the first step towards artificial life"?
The background to the ethics debate was the first computer-generated bacterial genome produced by the D-BIOL research group of Prof. Beat Christen at ETH Zurich. This novel approach greatly simplifies the production of artificial genomes and has great potential for biotechnology and the production of DNA-based vaccines.
In a panel discussion led by ETH philosophy professor Michael Hampe with experts, possible social effects of this future technology on the biology and medicine of tomorrow were discussed. The fact that this new technology raises questions is understandable and comprehensible. The interest of students and researchers in this first event was therefore very high.
