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Harvey A. Bender's science career began in the 1950s as James Watson and others discovered the double helix molecular structure of DNA, and continues today amid genetic replication and stem cell research.

After a college class introduced him to human genetics, "Everything just lit up and said, 'This is what you ought to be doing,'" he recalled.

A professor of biological sciences at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, he will deliver the annual Rev. Theodore Hesburgh lecture Oct. 12 at The College of Saint Rose in Albany on "Genetic Enhancement and the Brave New Millenium: Science, Politics and the Human Genome."

The talk is sponsored by Saint Rose, the Notre Dame Club of Northeastern New York and the Albany diocesan Office of Evangelization, Catechesis and Family Life.

Prof. Bender called his field the most rapidly advancing among all the sciences, and the key to all the others.

"Physics, chemistry, biology - they all related to what is a gene, how do you turn it on and how do you turn it off. The language of genetics is universal and is spoken by all organisms. All organisms, at the molecular level, can interact with one another," he explained.

The possibilities are immense: "Now we can take a human insulin gene and splice it into a bacterial cell and produce endless amounts of human insulin."

The product lacks the drawbacks that regular insulin, derived from cows, poses for people with diabetes.

Prof. Bender said that, as scientists are able to do more and more, the question remains if we should. That, he said, requires "an enlightened and sophisticated society that can be aware of and understand technology."

Alongside ethics, religion provides valuable insights. "Religious perspectives are important," he said. "They step in and say, 'Hey, be careful.'"

In his talk, he plans to "bring the audience up to speed on basic genetics," then move on to the real issue: "As we are in more and more control of where we're going, who's deciding where we're going and should we even go there?"

As with human insulin, scientists can use splicing to replicate human growth hormone: for instance, recently a father called Prof. Bender to request growth hormone treatment for his son.

The treatment is generally reserved for children who are seriously short in stature. But the boy in question was already six feet, five inches tall.

"The father thought that, with an additional five or six inches, he would be recruited by major basketball colleges. Of course, I declined," Prof. Bender told The Evangelist.

Such decisions will multiply, and require moral and informed judgments, he said: "Society has generally said, 'If we have the technology, we will use it.' But should we use it to good purposes? Technology must be used wisely."

He gave the example of stem cells, which are valuable for their ability to grow into almost any type of human cell and have vast medical potential.

"We can use do much of the research and advances with adult stem cells," rather than those derived from embryos, which are destroyed in the process, Prof. Bender said. "We can have all sorts of exciting developments without the destruction of human embryos."

His moral outlook and religious practice were shaped while being raised by a Jewish father and a Catholic mother. "Now, I attend Reform Jewish services, but on major holidays like Christmas and Easter, you'll find me in a Catholic church," he said.

Hence, his appreciation for the Church's opposition to embryonic stem cell research and its caution on other advances.

"Essentially the Church is conservative," he said, "and there are many good reasons for that."

(10/07/10) [[In-content Ad]]

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