The article makes the excellent point that, although various genetic mutations have wildly different consequences, the root problem is the same: Genetic mutation. Sounds like there should be a generic fix somewhere.
I am not a doctor but i would imagine most genetic problems would be too late to fix once you are born. And the one that are fixable would require you to fix syptoms rather than dna itself. So "a generic fix" is probably impoasible
It might be too late for today's babies, but if you could build a big enough catalog of mutations and suspected/confirmed ill effects, then you'd potentially be able to catch thousands of these mutations essentially at conception and supply a custom therapy right then and there to correct it before any brain development has begun at all.
Lydia's father here. If I wasn't fighting this fight, my fight would be to push for prenatal exome sequencing. I acknowledge it's not as black and white -- there are some ethical concerns about how to process the data, but give the parents the choice.
Most people don’t even know when they conceive. A significant number of pregnancies end in miscarriage without the woman ever knowing. Lack of a catalog of issues is only the first obstacle to any kind of “correction at conception”.
It may be, there may be several classes of "generic fixes".
Could it be that we identify a way to improve the genetic machinery itself, so that replication errors are less likely.
or maybe a way to maintain DNA already in place in an individual (be it that the individual is born with it or gets it later, like cancer)
