Controversial project sets out to create synthetic human DNA
Scientists have begun an attempt to create human genetic code from raw chemicals, as a once-taboo area of research gains fresh momentum.
Backed by £10 million from the Wellcome Trust, the five-year SynHG project will work on creating tools to aid synthetic genomics — in which instead of editing existing DNA, researchers aim to write the genetic code from scratch.
Every cell in the body contains DNA (except mature red blood cells and platelets), which provides the instructions for producing the proteins that form the building blocks of life. Flaws or mutations in this code are the cause of a wide range of diseases.
• NHS to offer whole genome sequencing to every newborn baby
Supporters of synthetic genomics argue that learning how to assemble DNA will help unlock its secrets, transforming our understanding of human biology and allowing the creation of novel treatments for diseases that currently have no cure.
However, the idea of creating human genetic material in the lab has long raised ethical concerns, from the spectre of synthetic 'designer babies' to unforeseen effects on future generations.
The new project, led by Professor Jason Chin of the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, will bring together teams from the Universities of Cambridge, Oxford, Manchester and Kent and Imperial College London. The aim is not to build an entire synthetic human genome — a complete set of genetic instructions, written in DNA — but to lay the technical groundwork, starting with the construction of a single human chromosome.
Alongside the technical work, a group led by Professor Joy Zhang of the University of Kent will scrutinise the moral, legal and social implications of genome synthesis. Wellcome, the world's largest medical research charity, believes the potential benefits of the project outweigh the risks.
So far, scientists have successfully developed synthetic genomes for microbes such as E. coli, a type of bacteria. The field has accelerated in recent years, however, fuelled by advances in machine learning, data science and AI.
Even so, today's technology is not able to produce large, more complex sections of genetic material, such as those that give rise to crops, animals and humans.
Michael Dunn, director of discovery research at Wellcome, said: 'Our DNA determines who we are and how our bodies work and with recent technological advances, the SynHG project is at the forefront of one of the most exciting areas of scientific research.
'Through creating the necessary tools and methods to synthesise a human genome we will answer questions about our health and disease that we cannot even anticipate yet, in turn transforming our understanding of life and wellbeing.'
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Daily Mail
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Doctor who led British Medical Association's opposition to kids' puberty blocker ban elected as its new leader
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They highlight that the BMA leadership has consistently failed to select motions relating to the Cass Review at annual conferences, including that held in Liverpool this week, meaning gender-critical members are silenced. Meanwhile, topics including the Israel-Gaza conflict and climate change have been prioritised for debate. Fiona McAnena, director of campaigns at human rights charity Sex Matters, said Dr Dolphin's election as chair 'shows how gender ideology breaks previously respectable organisations'. She added: 'The Cass Review is a comprehensive, evidence-based report on so- called gender medicine for children by an independent paediatrician with impeccable credentials. 'Creating doubt around it without robust evidence is irresponsible, misleading, and not in the best interests of patients. 'We've said before that the transactivist doctors at the BMA are an embarrassment to their profession. 'Their false assertions about biology can be disproven with primary school science. 'Giving them this level of credibility could have serious consequences for the health and wellbeing of vulnerable children and young adults.' Dr Dolphin is a Labour activist who previously boasted of charging the NHS £1,870 for a single shift. He made the extortionate sum covering for picketing colleagues during previous industrial action and donated it to the BMA's strike fund. Writing on X at the time, he said the war chest 'supports people to strike, meaning the strike is stronger and the win will come sooner'. Dr Dolphin has campaigned alongside hard-left MP John McDonnell and been the election agent for Dawn Butler during previous general elections. He also finds time to promote woke cases, including trans issues and veganism. Writing on social media in 2019, Dr Dolphin said: 'This election has really got our membership engaged and working together to bring in a new, different, Labour government.' In July 2022, he posted photos of himself at a Trans Pride march, adding: 'About to set off to let London know that trans rights are human rights!' He has described Brexit as a 'failure' and 'one of the worst foreign policy decisions by the UK in decades'. The union this week passed a motion at its annual conference urging members to offer patients 'identity-based care', despite warnings this risks going against the law on single sex spaces. It follows the Supreme Court ruling in April that the terms woman and sex in the 2010 Equality Act 'refer to a biological woman and biological sex'. Dr Dolphin is an anaesthetic consultant, who has been a member of BMA council since 2012 and lives in London with his husband. 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Telegraph
an hour ago
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How the BMA became a vessel for Middle East politics
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Meeting in Liverpool for three days to establish policies and priorities for the industry in the coming year – of which, given the state of the NHS, there would have been lots to discuss – members instead found that 43 motions, around 10 per cent of the total, related to Israel, Gaza, Palestine, anti-Semitism or Zionism. One claimed that Israel is establishing a 'system of apartheid', another called for a boycott of Israeli medical institutions and universities. A third called on the BMA to support doctors who refuse to pay taxes because the UK is 'complicit in genocide'. The slew of motions prompted the Jewish Medical Association (JMA) to warn that Jewish members attending the conference felt 'intimidated, unsafe and excluded'. Speaking anonymously for fear of reprisals, several other BMA members The Telegraph has spoken to were, at best, perplexed and exasperated so much attention was being paid to global politics ahead of matters relating to British medicine. Others saw it as typical of a union they view as 'institutionally anti-Semitic ', and now 'overtaken by Left-wing entryists'. 'It was a disappointing conference in lots of ways, especially in relation to how much time was given to talking about Gaza,' says one doctor and longstanding BMA member, after returning from Liverpool. 'There are so many other conflicts around the world where doctors and healthcare professionals are involved, so it seems a shame we didn't think about them as well. 'Also, because it was spoken about at such length, it stopped us getting on with some of the work I hoped we might have done as a trade union. And then there's the question of how welcome our Jewish colleagues might have felt, when there's so much emphasis given to a subject like that.' The answer to that final question can be given by Prof David Katz, professor of immunopathology at University College London, and executive chairman of the JMA, who also attended. 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But it's far from the only conflict going on in the world where innocent people are being killed, yet the BMA seems to have an obsession with the Palestinian issue, such that they are alienating a lot of Jewish doctors. They will end up having an organisation with very few Jewish doctors. And maybe some people in the BMA want that, I don't know. 'I can't really say exactly why they're so focused on Israel and Gaza, but it's a bit like the way that Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party was. They just don't seem to have a neutral approach to it, which I find very sad, and it does smack of anti-Semitism, the way they seem to be quite obsessed with this particular issue. The fact is: the huge number of motions at the BMA conference [to do with Israel] means Jewish doctors don't feel that safe in the BMA. I'm talking to you anonymously, and I'm not even a member any more. It's just not a safe or friendly environment for Jewish doctors.' As it is, many Jewish members of the BMA are now resigning in protest. One letter, shared with The Telegraph, accuses the union of being 'institutionally anti-Semitic [and] unable to represent me fairly or safely' any more. 'As an adult and a professional, I expect to be represented by an organisation that engenders respect, and represents me with professionalism and gravitas in keeping with the serious responsibilities and obligations we as doctors have to our patients, our colleagues and the wider community,' the doctor writes. 'Being represented by a group of irresponsible militants playing dog whistle student politics, indulging in rank and toxic racism (in the form of Jew hatred) and infusing this old and venerable institution with both, is not something I am prepared to be associated with.' The BMA points out that one of the motions put forward in Liverpool this week specifically called for support for Jewish people, and was proposed by a Jewish medical student, who urged that members 'differentiate between pro-Palestinianism and anti-Semitism'. That said, quite how the BMA came to have its annual conference so dominated by geopolitics and activism – as one member put it, 'in the same week that Nato is meeting, has the BMA picked up the wrong agenda?' – is a question many members might recall asking last year, too. It was reported in 2024 that one in 10 motions put forward for the Belfast-hosted event had to be removed from debates on legal grounds because they related to the Israel and Palestine conflict, and 'risked being perceived as discriminatory, more specifically, anti-Semitic'. At the time, Prof Katz wrote to the BMA to say JMA members 'are deeply concerned that the meeting environment could become itself a vehicle for discrimination and Jew hatred.' A year on, members attending the BMA conference were met with not only another agenda with a heavy emphasis on the situation in the Middle East, but a protest staged by the activist group Health Workers 4 Palestine outside the venue in Liverpool. The demonstration featured 'old shoes' representing healthcare workers killed in Gaza – a visual statement synonymous with the shoes of Jewish people killed at concentration camps during the Holocaust, and considered anti-Semitic by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. Inside, often hostile debates raged. Prof Katz, in attendance as ever, strode around attending as many as he could. A well-known figure at BMA conferences, he has never been shy to speak out about anti-Semitism in his profession, regardless of the crowd. One day this week, he says, he was having a quiet coffee when suddenly he had company. Sikh, Hindu and Christian colleagues in turn took seats next to him. 'We just wanted to make sure you didn't feel on your own here,' they told him. 'Under such circumstances,' Prof Katz says, 'small gestures count.' A BMA spokesperson said: 'We are totally clear that anti-Semitism is completely unacceptable. There is no place for it in the BMA, NHS, or wider society and we condemn anti-Semitism in the strongest possible terms, as we do with all discrimination based on race, religion, sexuality, gender or disability. 'The BMA's annual representative meeting is an inclusive space, where wellbeing of members and staff is our priority and we've put in place a number of measures and sources of support to ensure this. We are also confident that we are complying with all of our obligations under the Equality Act and our own EDI policies. 'The BMA has a long and proud history of advocating for human rights and access to healthcare around the world, and motions submitted to this year's conference by grassroots members from across the UK reflect the grave concerns doctors in the UK have about the Gaza conflict and the impact on civilians and healthcare. Resolutions passed at the conference made clear calls around the principles of medical neutrality and the need to respect international humanitarian law that are applicable to all conflicts. 'Motions were also submitted on the crises in Ukraine, Yemen, and Sudan, all of which the BMA has spoken out about and taken action on in recent years.'
BBC News
an hour ago
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Queries over second medic in Ian Paterson patient case
The death of a patient of disgraced surgeon Ian Paterson was contributed to by "substandard" care provided by another doctor who treated her prior to Paterson, an expert has told an Worrall, from Shirley in Solihull, had grade three cancer in her left breast when she died on 30 July 2001 aged a report on Ms Worrall's death submitted to the inquest, Dr Richard Linforth, a consultant breast surgeon, said a delayed diagnosis of two years, despite a "red flag", was a contributory alleged this was due to her doctor in 1998, Dr John Taylor, not giving her an ultrasound after her mammogram came back clear. The inquest heard that Dr Taylor is now deceased. Surgeon Paterson was jailed for 15 years, later extended to 20 years, in 2017, after being convicted of wounding patients by way of botched and unnecessary operations. The former employee of Heart of England NHS Trust, who also worked at Spire Little Aston, is eligible for release in Worrall was one of 63 breast cancer patients treated by Paterson, and whose deaths are now being Dr Linforth claimed that Paterson's surgical treatment did not "materially impact" Ms Worrall's survival, he did say Paterson's treatment was "inadequate" and "poor", suggesting "a surgical incompetence in managing breast cancer".Dr Linforth alleged this was due to Paterson's failure to clear the margins of Ms Worrall's cancer and his inability to remove any of her lymph nodes during her also said a more probing history of her symptoms would have led to her having a CT scan to stage her cancer, meaning she could have avoided the mastectomy and "its discomfort". Dr Linforth maintained she could have had palliative endocrine therapy and radiotherapy instead. 'Failure of care' Ms Worrall had presented to Dr Taylor in 1998 at the age of 83, with an inverted nipple and nipple discharge, the proceedings Linforth told the inquest on Thursday: "I do believe for anyone with a nipple discharge and inversion, an ultrasound is mandated. Failure to request an ultrasound was a failure of care."If I got a letter about a woman of that age with nipple inversion, it's a red flag. To me, this is a cancer unless proven otherwise."Speaking at the inquest on Wednesday, Paterson also said that given her age and "new worrying symptom", he claimed he would have performed an ultrasound at the time if she had been his patient in 1998. The inquest heard that a cancerous mass in a dense breast might not be picked up on a mammogram, meaning Ms Worrall's mammogram may have missed the tumour she was later diagnosed with in months after her diagnosis of breast cancer, Ms Worrall was diagnosed with metastatic bone Linforth said he believed that diagnosis and treatment in 1998 would have prevented the cancer from metastasising to her bones. Disputed cause of death Ms Worrall's recorded cause of death in 2001 was carcinomatosis and breast at the inquest on Wednesday, Paterson said he was "very concerned" that the wrong cause of death for Ms Worrall had been given on her death certificate, as two letters addressed to her GP by consultants in the weeks before she died made no reference to her being terminally expressed his belief that Ms Worrall's "long history of heart disease" was a factor and said he was concerned it was not on her death certificate. However, Ms Worrall's granddaughter emailed the coroner on Wednesday night, expressing her upset over Paterson's claims over the cause of an email read out by the coroner, she said her father distinctly remembered Ms Worrall crying out when she was told her condition was terminal."I remember speaking to my nan and her being deeply upset about her prognosis and that she wouldn't survive," she said. Dr Simon Russell, a clinical oncologist acting as an expert to the inquest on Thursday, said he was also sceptical of the death certificate."The majority of ladies with bone-only metastatic breast cancer will live for some years," he said."I think Winnie died of the breast cancer spreading to the back and causing significant pain, immobility, and psychological distress – on top of pre-existing cardiac disease."Pain, immobility and shock were too much for her underlying issues to take."The proceedings continue. Follow BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
