Pet Dinosaur, Anyone?

Genetically modified crops are already a part of our daily life…genetically modified animals are also more common than people realize. We're not genetically engineering humans yet, but the technical side of things is changing rapidly.

Humans have been changing the genes of creatures for thousands of years, by way of selective breeding. The newest gene-editing tools, however, are changing traits in a more targeted way. Once these technologies have been perfected in animals, the barriers to making similar modifications to the human genome will disappear. In this edition of Looking Forward, the hosts are joined by guests on the show, Fredrik Sundström, Associate professor at the Department of Animal Ecology, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University (Sweden), and Dr. Alison Van Eenennaam, a Cooperative Extension Specialist in the field of Animal Genomics and Biotechnology in the Department of Animal Science at University of California, Davis, to ponder the question: “Where do we stop?”