My research project is called 鈥淪ocial Media Conversations on Human Germline Genome Editing: A Twitter Based Analysis鈥� and it has been accepted into the final of the Behavioural Science category for the BT Young Scientist.

The idea for the project goes back to January 2020 when I watched a documentary on BBC 4 called 鈥淭he Gene Revolution: Changing Human Nature鈥�. The documentary discussed a revolutionary gene editing technology called CRISPR Cas9 being used by leading scientific researchers worldwide. It followed the case of He Jiankui, a Chinese professor who in 聽undertook heritable editing resulting in the birth of two CRISPR babies. His team performed聽. I found this a fascinating topic and for my science CBA in 3^rd year I did a descriptive project about CRISPR Cas 9 and its scientific applications. Some of these potential applications include the correction of genetic defects and the treatment of diseases. However, during my research, scientific journals reported there is much public discourse about ethical issues relating to CRISPR particularly for human germline genome editing and some misconceptions among the public. Somatic gene editing affects only the patient being treated and their cells while He Jiankui conducted germline editing which affects all cells in the organism including eggs and sperms and so is passed on to future generations.聽 A report published by the International Commission on the Clinical Use of Human Germline Genome Editing in September 2020 outlines that such editing is still unsafe and it should not be practiced for the moment. However, despite this guidance a Russian scientist still aims to make CRISPR babies.

The increasing availability of information on human germline genome editing is spurring discussion about genome editing on human embryos and associated ethical issues. However, during my research, scientific journals highlighted the gap in knowledge by the general public about this topic.聽 Sites such as Twitter provide a unique platform for the public and the scientific community to discuss and access information on CRISPR Cas9 technology. The objective of my study is to better understand how social media users are sharing information and what topics are being discussed about CRISPR-Cas9 technology and human germline genome editing. I am currently collecting the data from the Twitter streaming API which returns the full stream of tweets matching the search criteria. In this case my search criteria include the following hashtags:
#CRISPR, #CRISPRcas9, 聽#cas9, #crisprbabies, #humangeneediting, #geneediting,聽#genomeediting, #designerbabies, #Eugenics, #HGPwrite, #ableism and #Geneeditsummit

Over the last few months I have been learning how to use R, the statistical and data analysis software which I am using to analyse the data. I aim to capture salient themes in conversations, conduct a content analysis, identify key influencers and gather demographic information. The results of this analysis should further the understanding of discussions related to CRISPR Cas 9 and human germline genome editing. I hope the results of my research will be a step in understanding what types of educational strategies need to be developed on what is likely to be the biggest ethical question of our lifetime: how far should we go in changing the natural course of evolution?

We are delighted that her and the project she is undertaking has been chosen to be part of the and we are really looking forward to catching up with her again to follow her project’s progress.

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The BT Young Scientist Business Bootcamp is run in partnership with the innovation team of UCD Research and Innovation. It aims to give students the commercialisation skills they need to develop their BT Young Scientist & Technology project ideas.

Above: 6th year at The 91制片厂, Rhys Mordaunt (fourth from the left) and his teammates. Photo credit:

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The group were awarded 1st place in the Technology Senior category as well as the Special Samsung Award. We are extremely proud of Rhys and Rohan for their exceptional work and we wish them all the best in the future!

Keep any eye on our site for more details about this insightful project.

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