Tan Sri Runme Shaw lecture. Genetic engineering and its impact on medicine

Recent developments in recombinant DNA research promise to have a substantial impact on medicine. The technology now allows for DNA pieces to be isolated and ligated to other DNA, such as that from bacteria, and be replicated in foreign hosts. The replicated DNA can then be isolated and used to study its structure, to study gene expression and its regulation, to program microorganisms to synthesize medically, agriculturally or industrally important proteins, to transfer genes back into mammalian cells and to diagnose genetic diseases. The DNA used for cloning can be obtained by copying mRNA, by chemically synthesizing it and by isolating chromosomal DNA; each of these types of DNAs serve special uses. The results of studies with the use of these DNAs have provided an enormous amount of information, in some cases of a quite surprising nature, about the structure and function of genes. This information is already providing substantial insights into the mechanisms of diseases such as cancer and hopefully it will lead to newer therapies as well. The technology had already resulted in the synthesis in microorganisms of a number of useful proteins such as vaccines, insulin and interferon. The use of the DNA to diagnose genetic diseases has been applied as for instance to thalassemia and sickle cell anemia. Finally, the ability to transfer genes back into cells and to have these genes function promises to open a new approach with gene therapy that may be useful for treating not only genetic diseases, but a number of other diseases as well.