Scientists Remotely Activate and Deactivate Genes With Radio Waves

Published on May 15, 2012 by admin · No Comments

Geneticists at Rockefeller University in New York have demonstrated the ability to remotely activate and deactivate specially engineered insulin production genes in mice through the use of radio waves.

As unbelievable as it sounds, this could represent a radically new understanding of how genes work as well as the ability to create an entirely new field of medical treatments.

Like many cutting edge technologies such as mind-controlled robots, new lifelike humanoid robots and microchips allowing mobile devices to see through walls and other objects, I see this breakthrough as having either radically beneficial or unimaginably detrimental uses in the future.

Unfortunately it has become quite clear that the pharmaceutical industry and the agencies that supposedly regulate them, like the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are far from trustworthy.

This latest advance could give scientists the ability to remotely modify the activity of genes without any surgery or even traditional drugs.

However, while they bill the treatment as completely non-invasive, that is not entirely accurate. The researchers did, in fact, have to inject nanoparticles into the mice being studied in order to affect the genes.

Currently the lead author of the study, Jeffrey Friedman, says that this will be applied to research, allowing scientists to manipulate cells in a non-invasive manner.

Yet Friedman, a molecular geneticist, says that if this technique is continuously refined it could also have clinical applications.