Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats-cas9 (CRISPR-Cas9) is the most flexible genomic engineering tool created in the history of molecular biology that has the capability to offer promise in a wide variety of contexts. Despite the possibility of CRISPR-cas9 providing the solution to food scarcity, diseases such as malaria, and genetic disorders including but not limited to spina bifida and cystic fibrosis, ethicists, scientists, and the general public are at odds in determining CRISPR-cas9’s appropriate applications. Current standards in ethics require honest reporting of results, careful analysis, open sharing of methods, data, and interpretations, and a moral obligation to society, especially when working with animal or human test subjects. Catholic Social Teaching (CST) can uplift the ethical code through careful consideration of the sanctity of human life, dignity of the person, and overall common good in society.  CST will challenge research to consider the side effects not only on model organism and humans, but on society’s perception of how life should be treated. Ergo, we hypothesize CST can provide an opportunity of success among the social adversaries that CRISPR-cas9 faces. To harvest the opportunity provided by CST, meta-analysis of CST applications in the sciences, and the seven principles of CST will be key in our model developed to guide the progression of CRISPR-cas9 research and application. The principles: Life and Dignity of the Human Person, Option for the Poor and Vulnerable, Rights and Responsibilities, and Solidarity are most applicable and guide the creation of our model. Results indicated that the sustained success of CRISPR-cas9 depends heavily on its social acceptance of the technology and availability to the lower autonomies. CST has the potential to streamline the process to walk the line of ethics in research and development, as it pertains with CRISPR-cas9.

Improvement of ethical standards for CRISPR research with Catholic social teaching principles

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

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