"Genetics is going to transform medicine's ability to not only cure disease, but prevent it before it comes," said Dr. Ralph Snyderman, chancellor for health affairs, at a genetics symposium this weekend. The symposium was part of the kickoff weekend for the public phase of the Campaign for Duke.
Due to the great potential of genetic research and the public concerns, the campaign will provide funding for the multi-disciplinary Institute for Human Genetics. Snyderman said after the symposium that the institute will cost about $200 million, and will incorporate many disciplines from within the University. The Medical Center will receive about $550 million-the largest portion allocated to any one field.
Pieces of the institute already exist-including the Center for Human Genetics and the Center for Cancer Genetics in the Medical Center. With support from the Campaign for Duke, these sections will come together to create support for genetic research and a think tank.
"Duke will become internationally known for this field," Snyderman said, adding that the University provides a unique international context for genetic research.
At Saturday's three-hour long symposium, titled "Letting the Gen[i]e Out of the Bottle: The Impacts of Genetics Research on 21st Century Life," President Nan Keohane stressed that the emphasis on genetics does not minimize the University's other foci. "There's such promise here for beginning to understand these large, macro-issues," she said. "We can't help but let this particular genie out. It's coming out."
The potential power of genetic research was a theme underlaying much of the afternoon's discussion. "It was this incredibly simple code that was the essence of life," said keynote speaker Dr. C. Thomas Caskey, senior vice president of human genetics and vaccines discovery at Merck Research Laboratories. With the near completion of the Human Genome project, Caskey, Medical School '63 and a member of the human genome project advisory board, said, "We now get down to the real business of understanding genes."
The nine panelists, representing a variety of facets within the university, discussed both the ethical issues and potential promise of genes as a tool in disease prevention and cure.
Many panelists and audience members-who consisted of students, professors, trustees and members of the Board of Visitors-discussed their fear of eugenics as a possible outcome of genetic therapy. Dr. Jeremy Sugerman, ethicist and associate professor in the department of medicine, said that even choosing the diseases to study brings up eugenic concerns.
While stressing that all educated people should be knowledgeable about genetics, director of the Kenan Ethics Program and panelist Elizabeth Kiss said that "there is a public moral code" to ensure genetic treatment for those in need.
Stanley Hauerwas, Gilbert T. Rowe professor of theological ethics and panelist, said that the ethics of genetics and the resulting application of that research is a quality people already possess. "Ethics isn't something you're going to choose," he said.
While genes contribute to the development of any human, the environment also plays an important role, said Nicholas Gillham, James B. Duke professor of zoology and panelist. While a common fear of cloning is the replication of such disliked figures as Adolf Hitler, Gillham said that a Hitler clone would have a different upbringing. "If we were to do that experiment, we'd come up with something very different," he said.
Professor of Law William Van Alstyne also brought up the issue of gene ownership, pointing out that everyone owns their own body, and therefore genes.
Hauerwas disagreed. "As a Christian, I could never say we own our lives," he said, adding that this focus on genes and their healing is the result of our desire to avoid the inevitable. "How much do you want to police your life in order to avoid death?" he asked.
Engineering freshman Aaron Patzer, who plans an electrical engineering major with a certificate in genetics, said that he attended the symposium because of his interest in the moral and ethical issues of genetic research. "My primary concern is that people who raise particular moral and ethical issues will threaten my intellectual property rights," he said.
Symposium attendee Katharine Ervin, Women's College '63, said that she came to the symposium because of her fascination with the topic. After the afternoon events, she noted that she is "not as scared of [genetic research]."
Ervin and others agreed that the University is an ideal sight to house such a multidisciplinary approach to genetic research, citing the variety of prestigious schools encompassing the entire University. In fact the University has already made significant gains in the area of genetic research, finding the breast cancer susceptibility genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2.
The screening for these and other susceptibility genes brings up issues of health insurance and lifestyle choice, speakers at the symposium noted.
"Genetic risk identity is an opportunity to seize rather than fear," Caskey said.
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