Dubai: Scientists will be able to replicate human organs in the near future, a leading health entrepreneur and thinker told a major health conference in Dubai on Monday.
Juan Enriquez |
“The decoding of 3.2 billion genomic codes in over 10 trillion cells of human beings has changed the paradigm of health care and, in next few years, we will be able to use specific gene codes in our DNA to replicate the prototype of each and every organ, create our own food from a green concentrate of liquid energy, increase human life expectancy and achieve some of impossible goals... A very scintillating sci-fi scenario which might become a reality soon,” said Juan Enriquez, Mexican American futuristic thinker, writer, author and entrepreneur and CEO of Bio Techconomy LLC, a life sciences reasearch and investment organisation.
Enriquez was a keynote speaker at the second edition of the Dubai Health Forum, an annual symposium organised by the Dubai Health Authority (DHA). Setting the pace for the two-day forum, he spoke at length on how digital coding was finally coming together, with life coding to rewrite the story of human evolution.
“If a small gene code in an orange is changed, it turns into a grapefruit or a lemon. Similarly, in human beings, if we change even one letter in our personal code, we might become another person. It is possible to remake ourselves, one piece at a time… Our body might soon become like a house where we will be able to replace its organs like we replace windows or walls in an old house. Every organ will be made, except the human brain,” said Enriquez.
Enriquez said modern digital coding would make it possible to not just create photocopies of our organs but to edit them especially in case of human beings who are disabled. “We are species trying to decode its own programming. We are doing it with cells, with our thoughts, we will control our emotions and soon we will begin to decide on not just what lives and dies but also change the shape of who we are,” said Enriquez.
Humaid Al Qutami |
Humaid Al Qutami, the chairman of the board and director general of Dubai Health Authority (DHA), who inaugurated the forum, said the forum was about breaking stereotypes and aligning the health-care vision of Dubai with that of the world.
“The rapid changes taking place in the world now, the open race towards the future and the international issues and challenges that have imposed itself on societies and peoples and, health institutions in particular, confirm to us the importance of this forum and its value as a global platform. Experts and decision makers and specialists who meet today to discuss the tremendous movement of progress, which represents the nerve of life, foremost among them.”
Over 2,000 health-care experts and 35 world renowned scientists from over 18 countries will be holding a variety of discussions on diverse topics such as personalised health care, mental health, and robotics, during the course of the two-day forum.
