Other scientists are concerned and ethical questions linger over where the research on brain genes may lead.
Sign UpScientists adding a human intelligence gene into monkeys — it’s the kind of thing you’d see in a movie like. But Chinese researchers have done just that, improving the short-term memories of the monkeys. While some experts downplayed the effects as minor, concerns linger over where the research may lead.
To justify the work, Su and his co-authors suggested that this type of brain gene research could provide insights into neurodegenerative and social disorders — but they don’t describe what those applications might be. “I don’t really see anything in the paper that would make me think that [the experiment] was necessarily a good idea,” says Walker., “Scientists agree that monkey models are at times irreplaceable for basic research, especially in studying human physiology, cognition and disease.
“There’s some risky elements to going down this road,” Sikela says. “One needs to think about the consequences of where this is leading and what’s the best way to study these kinds of questions.” Walker also worries about where this work leads. “Could we enhance human brains through these methods?” she asks. While she thinks we’re nowhere close to that yet, she notes that science can advance surprisingly quickly. For instance, CRISPR — the gene-editing technique that once seemed far removed from human research — was used in China to edit the genomes of twins in 2018.
“It does feel worrisome to be doing this research in primates,” Walker says. “And then potentially thinking about how that could be used in humans.”
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