Biotech &
Genetic Medicines:
A Way Forward

The phrase “variety is the spice of life” is simple but true. It is also an idea that I wholeheartedly embrace.

My eclecticism and curiosity has spurred me to learn about anything and everything, including the differences that make us unique—differences like the ones hardwired into us. There’s something beautiful about creatures as complex as us, who can contemplate our own existence, being products of a simple, albeit long, code: our genome.

The Spice Cabinet

Much of the variety that makes life spicy comes from the spice cabinet that is genetics. Four nucleobases—adenine, cytosine, thymine, and guanine—are the keys to Earth’s biodiversity. DNA has almost unbridled power, yet it is fallible. It’s fallible enough that humans emerged from apes and fallible enough that diseases emerge in humans.

Fight, Flight, or Freeze

Heritable diseases like cancer can be coded into DNA like a proverbial ticking time-bomb; they earmark innocent people for pain and suffering. To me, that’s a scary feeling; it’s a fear of the unknown. Should one count their lucky stars because they haven’t suffered a similar fate? Or are diseases present but latent? As curious as I am, for the first time, I do not know that I want to know an answer.

Yet, I believe these are answers we must know; the idea that ignorance is bliss is foolish. The discovery of the gene—I believe—will prove to be humanity’s greatest of all.

Genetics has, at times in its short history, taken a dark turn, and that past has led to fear and apprehension. But our response to these fears cannot be to flee or freeze, because if we face our fears, we can escape previously inescapable suffering.

The Way Forward

Through biotechnology and genetic research, we can pinpoint the genes that cause or contribute to the development of diseases, and use that knowledge to guide medical treatment and to create genetic medicines that better people’s lives.

Work like this has already had an impact; for example, the discovery of breast cancer-causing mutations on the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes has spared the lives of many women, and since then, there have been many more examples. This is just the start.

Future Looks Bright

Physician and author Lewis Thomas wrote a book titled, The Youngest Science; it’s a book about medicine. Medicine is a young science; biotech and genetics are younger still. It is on us to take them to new heights.

At a time when the world seems frozen in fear of the future, we cannot mistake fear for caution. We must be cautious, but we cannot wait; this work is too important. The future looks bright.