How is Reprogramming Genes possible?

It may sound like something out of a science fiction story, as up until the latest breakthrough, cell engineering had almost been impossible to achieve. The main challenge for scientists was being able to refract information from a single human cell.

What has changed?

Technology has now progressed, which enables us to make cellular adjustments, on both epigenetic and genetic angles; at the same time, we have also come closerto changing somatic cells into induced pluripotent stem cells.

What does this mean?

By using the resources from this technology, it is now possible to reprogram the gene sequence, to prolong a healthy youthful body for a much longer period.

The benefits of Reprogramming Genes to prolong life:

• Improve the quality of life, by having full use of our bodies, which will surpass whatever age you are.
• Prevent your body from diseases or deterioration.
• Not having to retire early/prevent sickness from work (loss of earnings).
• A Healthy body means a healthy mind, giving you a longer life fulfilment.
• You will have a much longer life expectancy (on the circumstance of natural death, not including accidents, murder or other such circumstances).

The disadvantages of Reprogramming Genes to prolong life:

• Still a lot of difficulty in reprogramming the host genome.
• Controlling the gene expression is very problematic.
• It’s a very long and complicated process, especially in transferring the new genes over.
• Unstable in gene rearrangements.
• The process would consume a lot of time and money, with the risk still being enormously high that it would be unsuccessful.
• Controlling and suppressing ‘nature’ can usually end in consequences.
• If successful, the human population would outgrow the planet, from the amount being born into the world and the decline in people dying – the resources on the planet may not be sufficient to cater to an even larger population boom.

Evaluation of Gene Reprogramming:

Although the feasibility is low at present, it is an enormous field that has opened up with a lot of hype in recent times. Gene Reprogramming has a lot of potential for mankind in the future, with the technology getting better at a very quick rate and the mastermind human understanding along with enormous amount of research they have collected already.

Prolonging human life expectancy, although there are the disadvantages with a population boom in general, it does mean we could keep our grandparents, or even great – grandparents for much longer and there would be a lot less grief in families.

Another benefit for the future mankind is being able to keep humans alive a lot longer in space, to discover and conquer other planets; to spread humanity outside of the planet that we live on.

Summary

I agree with the notion of editing human genes, for a much healthier, longer and better quality of life, as it is evident that illness and disease are caused by those unfortunate enough to have bad genetics.

Although, there is still a lot of work to be done, for the process to not only be effective but also the technology to provide it on a larger scale. So it would be crazy to rush through it and introduce it to the market when a lot more research is needed.

What else can I do to make my genes are healthy?

A lot of environmental and external factors play an important role in the health of our genes, so applying these methods should contribute to giving you a prolonged and healthy future:

• Eating healthy e.g. vegetables, fruits, fish, minerals, etc. Eating the wrong foods can play a huge role in the way your genes shape themselves.
• Exercise plenty.
• Be happy with life – general wellbeing effects the way our cells work. If you are the type to suffer depression, then try and stimulate your mind by activity engagement, exercise (as mentioned above), or finding a passion that you love. There are many ways to bring positive changes to your life to obtain a happier mind.