CRISPR human gene editing is quickly advancing with the advent of Lulu and Nana, allegedly the first CRISPR babies to be HIV-resistant. CRISPR technology can directly manipulate the genomes of humans, but also plants and animals, creating a wide-range of applications from bioterrorism to climate healing. What are the medical, economic, environmental, and social consequences of genetic manipulation? Theologians and scientists from the Graduate Theological Union and UC Berkeley will discuss how we understand human nature and responsibility from various religious and secular traditions.
Arvin Gouw is the vice president for research and development at the Rare Genomics Institute (RG), where he oversees the Rare Genomics Task Force (RGTF) and the BeHEARD Challenge (Help Empower & Accelerate Research Discoveries), which provide grants globally to rare disease researchers, foundations, and patient families. In collaboration with biotech and pharma, his programs have provided various resources, including CRISPR and other genetic mouse models, that have led to the development of novel drugs for rare diseases. Dr. Gouw is also a research fellow in Oncology at Stanford University School of Medicine and affiliate scientist at UC Berkeley/LBNL, developing cancer drugs and drug screening platforms. His work has led to the filing of over half a dozen patents for novel cancer diagnostics and therapeutics and has received support and funding from Stanford, Berkeley, the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Cancer Nanotechnology program. Dr. Gouw did his fellowship on science and religion at Princeton. He has a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, M.Phil. in philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania, M.A. in theology from St. Mary's Seminary and University Ecumenical Institute of Theology, and M.A. in endocrinology and B.A. in molecular cell biology – neurobiology from UC Berkeley.
This public forum is free and open to the public.