Sam Ghandchiسام قندچي Predictive Analytics of Gene-Editing Side-Effects Beats Cancer, but!
Sam Ghandchi

پیش بینی عوارض جانبیِ تغییر ژنی، سرطان را شکست خواهد داد، اما!


Every patient who dies of cancer reminds us that we are helpless in face of cancer, yet we stop asking ourselves why we have been so helpless in face of cancer. We have known for quite some time that the solution is in modifying our genes but the fear of side-effects has not only stopped serious work on gene therapy for cancer, it has stopped all gene modification efforts whether on human and animal genes or on plant genes, and actually GMO work for plants has turned into a scary word of so-called "frankenstein seeds" because of the fear of side-effects of such gentically-modified plants and we are now seeing non-GMO label on many food products that are not even plant-based to avoid scaring people off to buy any food product. Is the fear of side-effects of gene-modification in humans, animals or plants justified? Yes, it is. But the solution is not to give up on gene modification which is the only hope to beat cancer, AIDS, RA, diabetes, and aging. The problem of side-effects is solvable but is not being pursued. The solution is to speed up, improve accuracy and streamline predicting side-effects of any gene modification and make corrections rather than giving up on gene modification and this is not just talk, it is doable. This is actually what evolution has done over millions of years, or else human species and many other species would not have survived in the first place, nonetheless, comprehensive work of predicting and correcting side-effects being arduous has ended up in giving up on gene modification work at the cost of becoming helpless in face of cancer. Computer simulation and emulation that was proposed two years ago for this purpose (1) are doable, considering the advances in predictive analytics, deep learning and AI, but such efforts need a huge government initiative because private sector does not see immediate return in investment for such grand infrastructure and private companies are mainly focused today on commodity work in science (2). Predictive Analytics of Side-Effects of Genetic Modification is a critical work needed at this juncture of human history and must be done by US government. Current projects and the budget of NIH, NSF and similar institutions are very limited and mostly spent on policy work and public relations whereas we need to invest on Predictive Analytics of Side-Effects of Gene-Editing and a huge investment is needed to get results or else all talk about beating cancer is blowing in the wind with no real results. They need to consult with people like Ray Kurzweil (3).


Hoping for a democratic and secular futurist republic in Iran,


Sam Ghandchi
December 17, 2017


1. Why Gene Therapy is Not Making Progress and a Solution
چرا "جین تراپی" پیشرفت نمی کند و یک راه حل


2. State of Science not Rosy Picture Depicted in the Press
وضعیت علوم تصویر خوشبینانه ای نیست که در مطبوعات می بینیم


3. Ray Kurzweil

ری کرزوایل
















Featured Topics

متون برگزیده سام قندچی



For a Secular Democratic & Futurist Republican Party in Iran