hi everyone this is a blank sheet of
paper in the next five minutes it has
the potential to become someone’s class
notes it could be a letter to Santa it
could even be the first page to the
greatest novel ever written a stem cell
is the blank page the human body its
fate has limitless possibilities and its
potential is unbounded simply put a stem
cell is an undifferentiated cell that
has the potential to become any other
type of cell everyone in this audience
right now you all started off as a stem
cell and then your DNA came in did all
the work and differentiated each groups
of your stem cells into your muscles
into your heart into your brain until we
get the finished product you so I first
got interested in stem cells when I was
just a fifteen-year-old high schooler
and my teacher gave us the opportunity
to write about it of course in my mind I
was like do I really want to write a
paper about the cells inside the stem of
a plant because up builds and then
that’s all I thought a stem cell was but
six years later with a college education
from USC I now know that it is so much
more I was reading this article the
other day about a 21 year old college
student not unlike myself or many of you
in the audience who got a car accident
and was paralyzed from the neck down at
such a young age yet his independence to
live stripped from them desperate for a
miracle he applied to be part of a
clinical trial in which doctors injected
stem cells into his spinal cord and
within a few months he regained motor
function in his arms and hands now a
young man who wouldn’t have been able to
brush his own teeth can feed himself
can hug his family and friends can even
lift weights it was revolutionary there
is all this optimism and excitement
being funneled into stem-cell research
right now because stem cells have that
allure of being the elixir to all our
problems
research is being done this very second
on how stem cells could treat
Alzheimer’s disease Parkinson’s disease
arthritis blindness cancer same-sex
reproduction whoa hold up rewind did you
just say same-sex reproduction yes I did
the idea that we could have a child who
genetically represents 50% of each of
their same gendered parent a world where
this baby could be a child to his
parents the same way I am a child to
mine you must be thinking how do we just
jump from the topic of stem cells to
same-sex couples
well you need to understand stem cell
biology in order to achieve that great
feat now I know you didn’t come here for
a science class but give me a chance to
explain for all the years that we had
first discovered stem cells we have come
to understand that once the stem cell
differentiates or turns into a specific
kind of cell that’s it that’s the end of
the story period almost in the same way
is if I were to write on ink on this
blank sheet of paper it is final it
cannot go back to being a completely
blank sheet of paper again and for a
real long time we accepted that but as
with all meaningful scientific research
it’s just about asking the right
questions
ten years ago a brilliant scientist
named dr. Yamanaka asked well what if we
could go back what if I wrote this in
pencil instead of pen and there’s a way
to erase the words so that I would have
a completely blank sheet of paper again
cue scientists around the world having
their minds blown
dr. Yamanaka understood this one simple
concept that just like us as humans
cells are products of their environment
so you can take any cell right now put
it in the same medium with these
transcription factors that are normally
found on a stem cell and it changes that
cell back into a stem cell or as we call
induced pluripotent stem cells it’s like
taking the last page out of your
favorite novel erasing it completely and
writing a brand new story in reality
biology is so much more fluid than we
teach it to be right now your muscle
cells have the potential to go back to a
stem cell and then turn into a heart
cell if you wanted to a neuron can
become a bone cell a skin cell can
become an egg cell ah now we get to the
good part now you have all the
scientific tools you need to understand
how same-sex reproduction works so let’s
take this male male couple for example
we’ll call them Jim and Bob you start
out by extracting skin cells from Jim
and putting it in that medium that turns
it back into a stem cell and then you
take these stem cells and program them
into egg cells next you fertilize these
egg cells with Bob’s sperm cells and
finally put that fertilized embryo
inside a surrogate who carries it until
birth voila that is how two guys can
have a baby together oh my god
science right when I first heard about
this I was so skeptical that a process
like this could actually work but in
these past two years an immense amount
of time and Rhys
has gone into this technology and how we
can make it a reality
don’t get me wrong there’s still a few
more kinks to work out but this
framework has been tested and supported
and we are inching our way into having
this actually applied in our society let
me put this in perspective for you
remember my blank sheet of paper and all
the potential it had for the things that
could be written or drawn on it well
science is about asking the right
questions dr. Yamanaka asked what if we
could erase the words so that we could
go back to the blank paper that is how
we got induced pluripotent stem cells
now scientists are asking well what if
we don’t just write or draw on the paper
what if we could fold it and turn it
into something completely different if a
stem cell is the blank page to the human
body then using it for same-sex
reproduction is like making a swan out
of that piece of paper the paper is now
being used in a manner we have never
imagined it to be before when we think
of stem cells we see it as something
that fixes what is broken with our body
however this definition or this research
rejects that definition
what if stem cells don’t just fix but
instead adds to our lives so let’s add
this to our society I read this article
two years ago guess what folks its 2017
which means that this could be happening
sooner rather than later but before you
get too excited and jump out of your
seats remember that no scientific
advancement has gone the automatic
greenlight without carefully exploring
the moral and ethical implications of
the situation sure this technology could
be perfected by the end of 2017 but the
implementation could take ten years
because science is inexplicably
connected to our social economic
religious and political world while stem
cells might answer this one question it
opens up 100 new questions for debate
like is this process too unnatural what
would be the mental and physical state
of a child coming out of this process
would our government pass legislation on
it the same way they did for same-sex
marriage think about it
with the people who fought same-sex
marriage also fights same-sex
reproduction what kind of money would
this procedure cost and if so who would
it be available to I could go on forever
with these kinds of questions but that’s
not what I’m here to do today I want to
highlight the important ethical
considerations you probably didn’t think
of right away the kinds that might not
go into effect tomorrow but have a huge
impact down the line for example what is
that fear everyone has when they hear
the words stem cells research genetics
reproduction all put together designer
babies the idea that I could choose to
have a child and say I want it to be a
girl I want to have green eyes and this
brown hair and this IQ and this
personality a world where our future
looks like the one in the movie Gattaca
where our whole society is governed by
genetics well I’m here to tell you today
that using stem cells for same-sex
reproduction does not all of a sudden
allow us to have designer babies even if
this whole process of conception sounds
confusing to you at the end of the day
it’s still a random sperm cell
fertilizes random egg cell and we do not
get to choose the genes or
characteristics of the child coming out
of it sure a society like the one in
Gattaca won’t happen overnight
but we still need to be cautious because
it could have
in progressively if we greenlight this
kind of technology who’s to say we won’t
greenlight the next one and the next one
and the next one and the next one and
the next one until one day we wake up
and it’s bit Gattaca and designer babies
everywhere in evaluating the technology
behind same-sex reproduction we have to
understand the gravity of the
consequences this could have 20 to 30
years down the line
here’s another implication you probably
didn’t think of remember Jim and Bob
well what if this was Sue and Mary what
if we had a female female couple the
science behind it would still be the
same you take the skin cells of Sue turn
it back into a stem cell and then turn
that into a sperm cell you take two
sperm cells Mary’s egg cells and here’s
the best part about two women you don’t
even need a surrogate either sue or Mary
could carry the child so then what’s the
catch the key difference is that two men
have both an X and Y chromosome they
could conceive either boys or girls
however two women have only X
chromosomes they could conceive only
girls let that sink in for a second this
would not be the same situation as
designer babies two women would not be
choosing to have only girls that would
be the only choice they have science
might allow us to find a way to have two
people of the same gender have a baby
together but we do not yet have a way to
create a synthetic Y chromosome so X’s
are all we got now for up to me I mean I
wouldn’t mind having a few more females
in this world am i right
but ultimately this would be a form of
gender control up until now our whole
society has been ruining the fact that
every one of our genders is here because
of chance I am a woman today not because
my parents specifically chose me to be
but because that’s just how the dice
rolled with same-sex reproduction we now
have a way to control for gender we have
never encountered before
it’s like tipping the scale and a
balance that up until now we thought to
be fairly even some people may argue
that this is enough reason to completely
stop same-sex reproduction in its tracks
or at least restrict it from lesbian
couples but is that really fair is a
prospect of a few extra females enough
reason to make this unavailable to
lesbian couples something I’ve not
shared with you all yet is that one of
the reasons I was so attracted to this
research is because my sister is gay and
I love my sister all I want for in the
world is to be able to have kids of her
own I can look at my partner today and
be so excited at the prospect of having
kids with them our kids would be a
unique blend of the two of us his eyes
my hair his intelligence my fav but that
chance
to have children together is a privilege
it is something that not everyone in
this world not even everyone in this
room right now gets to experience I hope
that one day my sister can feel that
same excitement by looking at her
partner and having a child together that
represents the both of them here’s the
thing we are living in exciting times
just two years ago same-sex marriage
Supreme Court and in two years we
figured out how to turn a stem cell into
an egg cell up until now we have seen
science and social advocacy as two
completely separate arenas but now we
have a beautiful opportunity to see a
union of the two stem cells can serve as
a treatment to diseases and illnesses
but can also act as an advocate to LGBTQ
rights but before it can do any of that
we as a society have to look at this
technology behind same-sex reproduction
and ask where do we draw the line with
ethical science what is right and what
is wrong are the reasons behind same-sex
reproduction compelling enough to move
forward with this research or should we
stop it in its tracks before it goes any
further the inescapable truth is that
while scientists may wheel the
technology only you have the power to
implement it I guarantee you in a few
years time you will find yourself
sitting in front of a ballot
contemplating legislation on same-sex
marriage only you can answer that
question so choose wisely thank you
[Applause]
paper in the next five minutes it has
the potential to become someone’s class
notes it could be a letter to Santa it
could even be the first page to the
greatest novel ever written a stem cell
is the blank page the human body its
fate has limitless possibilities and its
potential is unbounded simply put a stem
cell is an undifferentiated cell that
has the potential to become any other
type of cell everyone in this audience
right now you all started off as a stem
cell and then your DNA came in did all
the work and differentiated each groups
of your stem cells into your muscles
into your heart into your brain until we
get the finished product you so I first
got interested in stem cells when I was
just a fifteen-year-old high schooler
and my teacher gave us the opportunity
to write about it of course in my mind I
was like do I really want to write a
paper about the cells inside the stem of
a plant because up builds and then
that’s all I thought a stem cell was but
six years later with a college education
from USC I now know that it is so much
more I was reading this article the
other day about a 21 year old college
student not unlike myself or many of you
in the audience who got a car accident
and was paralyzed from the neck down at
such a young age yet his independence to
live stripped from them desperate for a
miracle he applied to be part of a
clinical trial in which doctors injected
stem cells into his spinal cord and
within a few months he regained motor
function in his arms and hands now a
young man who wouldn’t have been able to
brush his own teeth can feed himself
can hug his family and friends can even
lift weights it was revolutionary there
is all this optimism and excitement
being funneled into stem-cell research
right now because stem cells have that
allure of being the elixir to all our
problems
research is being done this very second
on how stem cells could treat
Alzheimer’s disease Parkinson’s disease
arthritis blindness cancer same-sex
reproduction whoa hold up rewind did you
just say same-sex reproduction yes I did
the idea that we could have a child who
genetically represents 50% of each of
their same gendered parent a world where
this baby could be a child to his
parents the same way I am a child to
mine you must be thinking how do we just
jump from the topic of stem cells to
same-sex couples
well you need to understand stem cell
biology in order to achieve that great
feat now I know you didn’t come here for
a science class but give me a chance to
explain for all the years that we had
first discovered stem cells we have come
to understand that once the stem cell
differentiates or turns into a specific
kind of cell that’s it that’s the end of
the story period almost in the same way
is if I were to write on ink on this
blank sheet of paper it is final it
cannot go back to being a completely
blank sheet of paper again and for a
real long time we accepted that but as
with all meaningful scientific research
it’s just about asking the right
questions
ten years ago a brilliant scientist
named dr. Yamanaka asked well what if we
could go back what if I wrote this in
pencil instead of pen and there’s a way
to erase the words so that I would have
a completely blank sheet of paper again
cue scientists around the world having
their minds blown
dr. Yamanaka understood this one simple
concept that just like us as humans
cells are products of their environment
so you can take any cell right now put
it in the same medium with these
transcription factors that are normally
found on a stem cell and it changes that
cell back into a stem cell or as we call
induced pluripotent stem cells it’s like
taking the last page out of your
favorite novel erasing it completely and
writing a brand new story in reality
biology is so much more fluid than we
teach it to be right now your muscle
cells have the potential to go back to a
stem cell and then turn into a heart
cell if you wanted to a neuron can
become a bone cell a skin cell can
become an egg cell ah now we get to the
good part now you have all the
scientific tools you need to understand
how same-sex reproduction works so let’s
take this male male couple for example
we’ll call them Jim and Bob you start
out by extracting skin cells from Jim
and putting it in that medium that turns
it back into a stem cell and then you
take these stem cells and program them
into egg cells next you fertilize these
egg cells with Bob’s sperm cells and
finally put that fertilized embryo
inside a surrogate who carries it until
birth voila that is how two guys can
have a baby together oh my god
science right when I first heard about
this I was so skeptical that a process
like this could actually work but in
these past two years an immense amount
of time and Rhys
has gone into this technology and how we
can make it a reality
don’t get me wrong there’s still a few
more kinks to work out but this
framework has been tested and supported
and we are inching our way into having
this actually applied in our society let
me put this in perspective for you
remember my blank sheet of paper and all
the potential it had for the things that
could be written or drawn on it well
science is about asking the right
questions dr. Yamanaka asked what if we
could erase the words so that we could
go back to the blank paper that is how
we got induced pluripotent stem cells
now scientists are asking well what if
we don’t just write or draw on the paper
what if we could fold it and turn it
into something completely different if a
stem cell is the blank page to the human
body then using it for same-sex
reproduction is like making a swan out
of that piece of paper the paper is now
being used in a manner we have never
imagined it to be before when we think
of stem cells we see it as something
that fixes what is broken with our body
however this definition or this research
rejects that definition
what if stem cells don’t just fix but
instead adds to our lives so let’s add
this to our society I read this article
two years ago guess what folks its 2017
which means that this could be happening
sooner rather than later but before you
get too excited and jump out of your
seats remember that no scientific
advancement has gone the automatic
greenlight without carefully exploring
the moral and ethical implications of
the situation sure this technology could
be perfected by the end of 2017 but the
implementation could take ten years
because science is inexplicably
connected to our social economic
religious and political world while stem
cells might answer this one question it
opens up 100 new questions for debate
like is this process too unnatural what
would be the mental and physical state
of a child coming out of this process
would our government pass legislation on
it the same way they did for same-sex
marriage think about it
with the people who fought same-sex
marriage also fights same-sex
reproduction what kind of money would
this procedure cost and if so who would
it be available to I could go on forever
with these kinds of questions but that’s
not what I’m here to do today I want to
highlight the important ethical
considerations you probably didn’t think
of right away the kinds that might not
go into effect tomorrow but have a huge
impact down the line for example what is
that fear everyone has when they hear
the words stem cells research genetics
reproduction all put together designer
babies the idea that I could choose to
have a child and say I want it to be a
girl I want to have green eyes and this
brown hair and this IQ and this
personality a world where our future
looks like the one in the movie Gattaca
where our whole society is governed by
genetics well I’m here to tell you today
that using stem cells for same-sex
reproduction does not all of a sudden
allow us to have designer babies even if
this whole process of conception sounds
confusing to you at the end of the day
it’s still a random sperm cell
fertilizes random egg cell and we do not
get to choose the genes or
characteristics of the child coming out
of it sure a society like the one in
Gattaca won’t happen overnight
but we still need to be cautious because
it could have
in progressively if we greenlight this
kind of technology who’s to say we won’t
greenlight the next one and the next one
and the next one and the next one and
the next one until one day we wake up
and it’s bit Gattaca and designer babies
everywhere in evaluating the technology
behind same-sex reproduction we have to
understand the gravity of the
consequences this could have 20 to 30
years down the line
here’s another implication you probably
didn’t think of remember Jim and Bob
well what if this was Sue and Mary what
if we had a female female couple the
science behind it would still be the
same you take the skin cells of Sue turn
it back into a stem cell and then turn
that into a sperm cell you take two
sperm cells Mary’s egg cells and here’s
the best part about two women you don’t
even need a surrogate either sue or Mary
could carry the child so then what’s the
catch the key difference is that two men
have both an X and Y chromosome they
could conceive either boys or girls
however two women have only X
chromosomes they could conceive only
girls let that sink in for a second this
would not be the same situation as
designer babies two women would not be
choosing to have only girls that would
be the only choice they have science
might allow us to find a way to have two
people of the same gender have a baby
together but we do not yet have a way to
create a synthetic Y chromosome so X’s
are all we got now for up to me I mean I
wouldn’t mind having a few more females
in this world am i right
but ultimately this would be a form of
gender control up until now our whole
society has been ruining the fact that
every one of our genders is here because
of chance I am a woman today not because
my parents specifically chose me to be
but because that’s just how the dice
rolled with same-sex reproduction we now
have a way to control for gender we have
never encountered before
it’s like tipping the scale and a
balance that up until now we thought to
be fairly even some people may argue
that this is enough reason to completely
stop same-sex reproduction in its tracks
or at least restrict it from lesbian
couples but is that really fair is a
prospect of a few extra females enough
reason to make this unavailable to
lesbian couples something I’ve not
shared with you all yet is that one of
the reasons I was so attracted to this
research is because my sister is gay and
I love my sister all I want for in the
world is to be able to have kids of her
own I can look at my partner today and
be so excited at the prospect of having
kids with them our kids would be a
unique blend of the two of us his eyes
my hair his intelligence my fav but that
chance
to have children together is a privilege
it is something that not everyone in
this world not even everyone in this
room right now gets to experience I hope
that one day my sister can feel that
same excitement by looking at her
partner and having a child together that
represents the both of them here’s the
thing we are living in exciting times
just two years ago same-sex marriage
Supreme Court and in two years we
figured out how to turn a stem cell into
an egg cell up until now we have seen
science and social advocacy as two
completely separate arenas but now we
have a beautiful opportunity to see a
union of the two stem cells can serve as
a treatment to diseases and illnesses
but can also act as an advocate to LGBTQ
rights but before it can do any of that
we as a society have to look at this
technology behind same-sex reproduction
and ask where do we draw the line with
ethical science what is right and what
is wrong are the reasons behind same-sex
reproduction compelling enough to move
forward with this research or should we
stop it in its tracks before it goes any
further the inescapable truth is that
while scientists may wheel the
technology only you have the power to
implement it I guarantee you in a few
years time you will find yourself
sitting in front of a ballot
contemplating legislation on same-sex
marriage only you can answer that
question so choose wisely thank you
[Applause]
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