Bruciaga AP Research
Thymine: Cas9; The Beginning
August 9th 2023-
Walking into research I knew exactly the direction that I would take. Or at least I thought I did. I had the full picture of DNA planted in my head already. I spent all of summer researching and looking through articles tackling a number of issues yet I always gravitated towards two topics: Movies and Reading. I went back and forth over and over again trying to find the right one. Then it crossed my mind. At the beginning of the summer a friend reached out and gave me a book: Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro. The book was about AFs (Artificial Friends) which were AI robots intended to accompany children through life. As I became more engrossed in the book, it slowly became one of my favorite books especially as I knew how much reading that book meant to my friend. The themes of human replacement, gene editing, and the uniqueness of a soul changed my perspective on humanity and AI. Here is where I made my decision: reading books made by Kazuo Ishiguro and analyzing his work over time.
September 2023-
As I became more excited and ready to jump into reading Kazuo Ishiguro's books I started to conduct pre-liminary research when my heart dropped. There was already countless studies on Kazuo Ishiguro and his books, everything from analysis of a single book all the way to a historical perspective and looking at themes of trauma in his work. Instantly I knew there was no possible way to make this my year long project. There wouldn't be a gap in research and I would be repeating the work of many others. I felt discouraged knowing I would have to "start over" but there was another chance, another way to improve. A cliche can be applied here of when one door closes another one opens and that is exactly what happed.
Late September/Early 2023-
During this time of transition I went on a trip. Georgia to be exact. Although this place seemed irrelevant and isolated at the time it was on the third day of vacation when we decided to enter a mall. It was overrun with people but filled with fluorescent shining lights and stores selling products I’ve never seen before in Colorado, hundreds of small business owners trying to make a living. Seeing them and their own drive gave me inspiration. If they were able to run a business, I can find what my research project will be. After wandering the stores for a few hours I came across what I was looking for, a bookstore. Inside I spent ages deliberating what book I wanted to buy, what genre I wanted to explore, science fiction? Non-fiction? Thriller? As my family was growing weary I came across the perfect book, “Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley. It was science fiction over genetically modified people made to serve the government. That’s when it hit me. Walking back to the hotel room I realized that I could make a research project over gene editing books.
October-
This is where things started picking up the pace. I began with researching a list of books that dealt with gene editing in humans. The way that these books were narrowed down was by a list of criteria. It had to only do with gene editing in humans, meaning no GMOs, it had to alter the human genome for a specific purpose. I also avoided sequels and short stories to further narrow down my selection and made it so the focus was around genetic engineering and excluded stories about space exploration to keep the books focused on gene editing. Thus from this criteria I ended up with 8 books: Brave New World, Slan, Hellstrom’s Hive, Blood Music, Beggars in Spain, Never Me Go, Wither, and Upgrade. From these books I calculated a budget of $103. Yet I couldn’t end on only selecting books, I needed to figure out why this was important.
Late October-
Gene editing has become more and more prevalent with science having capabilities to replicate and alter the human genome. They have made so much progress that they have already held two international summits to discuss the possible implications of gene editing on humanity. Things such as Somatic vs. Germline gene editing, where somatic affects one individual and germline not only alters the DNA of the individual but all future generations. Some of the debates surrounded topics such as ethical practices and whether or not this technology should be implemented or abandoned. A majority of scientists from the international summit have come out to say that they reject the germline gene editing technology until it can be determined safe along with the general public rejecting the idea of gene editing in humans overall. Here is where the books play in. Books are a reflection of culture and can develop our moral character as characterized by multiple studies, thus analyzing how each has changed over time will give us insight into how themes of gene editing have either stayed the same or changed with advancing knowledge over the implications of genetically modified humans. Analyzing themes over different decades is what will give us this historical analysis. Here I will be approaching it with a historicist approach which places each book into conversation of what we knew at the time about gene editing. I will also be analyzing themes from the picture on the right, all of which came from the ethical debates during the international summits. Each one will be highlighted and the books will be read in chronological order. Here is where I became confident in my process and was ready to try the challenge of getting approved.
November-
Gathering my research and methods of gene editing and showing the implications this can have for the general public, I prepared for the final approval process. I went through feedback in a presentation and decided to work out schedules for reading as well as how I would further conduct my research as time went on. Although the project shifted countless times I brought it up to be approved and I succeeded.
Now I am starting to read and analyze the consistent themes over gene editing sci-fiction novels. The Thymine of DNA began to be formed the concept was now developed
