N and I were sitting in Time 4 Thai on North Castle Street having a quick catch up lunch. It’s the first time I’d seen her since starting at the Forum, and I was telling her what I’d been up to last week and told her all about the Caryl Churchill play I’d been to see at the Traverse on Tuesday.
“It’s about a father
and his son, sons, who are clones, and about the son(s) confronting their, his,
their, father, and it raises questions about the essence of identity, and the
ethics of human cloning, and the discussion afterwards touched on everything
from post-Marxist playwriting to medical tourism and the selling of organs; and
from science as a commercial enterprise to how much of our genome we share with
gorillas; and one audience member raised the question whether scientists should
be held morally accountable for the science and technology they create; and
then there was also a debate about economics and the right to bear children and
then someone made a point about the semantics of the phrase ‘to have children’;
and then the archetypal mad scientist who
cloned Dolly the Sheep claimed that she’s not really a clone after all, just a genomic
copy.”
I concluded by telling N
that it’s a really well-known play and when it premiered 10 years ago it even
starred Michael Gambon and Daniel Craig.
“Mmmm, I’d like to
clone Daniel Craig” replied N before
biting into a crispy vegetable spring roll.
Peter Arnott, playwright in residence at The Forum, directed
the rehearsed reading of A Number and
was kind enough to do an on-camera interview with me in between rehearsals. The
video will be on the Forum website soon along with some highlights from the
Q&A.
**********
The latest edition of TheGen hit my desk hot off the press last Wednesday morning. This edition includes
an article which focuses on the journey over the last decade since the Genomics
Network was formed, as well as exploring current work and up to date events.
One area I’m keen to research further as part of my residency is how far the
life sciences have come in the past 10 years – what were the expectations and
promises back then and what has been achieved and delivered? What are the societal
implications of what scientists now know and understand? And how has the Forum
managed to generate debates about society and genomics out with the scientific
world? And, of course, what does the future hold?
As the Network celebrates 10 years and the Forum prepares to
come to an end in spring next year, these are questions which will become
increasingly pertinent over the next few months. In November life scientists
and social scientists will consider some of these issues at a symposium in
Paris, and I’m looking forward to hearing about the outcomes of the symposium.
***************
As a resident (though not a native) of Bridgeton in the East End of Glasgow, where life expectancy for men is around 53 years, I wanted to know more, so started to do a bit of research. I find it astounding that the gap in life expectancy between rich and poor areas of Greater Glasgow is reportedly as much as 28 years, and that compared with the rest of Scotland, Glasgow residents have a 92% higher risk of anxiety and are nearly one and a half times as likely to have a heart attack.
If external factors such as poverty, deprivation and stress can influence genetic code, and thus change the genetic code of generations to come, what are the impacts of this government’s policies during recession? Will the Commonwealth 2014 Legacy Framework which aims to improve health, provide better housing and reduce poverty in Glasgow have its own influence on the genetic code? How long does it take before improvements in health, housing and social standards are reflected in our genes? Should I move to the West End for the sake of my future children’s genes?
Epigenetics and “the Glasgow effect” are definitely areas I’d like to look at in more detail, and hope during my residency I will have the chance to speak to some of the academics working in this field.
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