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Courses - Fall 2023
HNUH
University Honors
HNUH228B
Redesigning Life: Prospects and Consequences
Credits: 3
Grad Meth: Reg
GenEd: DSNS, SCIS
What is at stake for our world as humans seek to redesign biological organisms? Biotechnology advances are enabling us to read, edit and write genomes, including our own. This revolution has been fueled by the quest to understand and cure disease. Yet, these innovations have far-reaching consequences beyond medicine and will reshape our world in ways we can only imagine - or fear. The course will challenge students to confront the risks and rewards for them, their family, their community, and their future, as biotechnology moves out of specialized laboratories and into homes. A demystifying, low-tech approach will introduce them to contemporary genome redesign, clarifying the current limitations and future goals of the field. Students will debate whether redesigning plants and animals will enhance or inhibit momentum in human genome engineering, and formulate their own arguments about who should be able to use these tools and where, who decides, and how much society is willing to risk.
Restricted to University Honors students matriculating in Fall 2020 and later. HNUH228B is the required course in the Redesigning Life thematic cluster. Redesigning Life courses will be offered through Spring 2024.