Hello! Today we are happy to show you a movie that changed our perspective of the ethics in genetical science.
Scientists Clive Nicoli and Elsa Kast became famous for their experiments in genetics, obtaining hybrid animals by splicing together DNA from other animals. But the next step in their experiments was to use human DNA despite the fact that the company (N.E.R.D.) that funds their research forbids it.
The name of their creation was Dren, who begins to grow and learn things at an accelerate rate. Because of this growth, Clive and Elsa are not able to keep the creature in secrecy at their laboratory, so they move to Elsa's late mother's farm.In the meanwhile, one of the other creatures they created suddenly changed it's gender from female to male without Clive and Elsa knowing because they were too focused in Dren, who developed certain features they never expected.
When Dren reaches adulthood, Clive and Elsa learn they have a serious problem that threatens not only their careers and the company where they work, but also their safety.
Trivia
· N.E.R.D. is the laboratory where both Clive and Elsa work (it stands for Nucleic Exchange Research & Development). The name is the word NERD in reverse.
· The two genetically spliced organisms introduced in the beginning of the film, Fred and Ginger, are references to the classic singing and dancing duo Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.
· The gestation cell that Clive and Elsa use to splice Dren has the acronym BETI placed on the front of the machine. BETI stands for Biomechanical Extroutero Thermal Incubator. However, interestingly the word "BETI" means daughter in Urdu and Hindi.
How real is the science behind “Splice”?
Splice is a film that explores the ethical and scientific conundrums of biotechnology. The writer-director tried to keep the science of the film as plausible as possible, incorporating real elements, such as a cloning technique called SCNT (somatic cell nuclear transfer).
We don´t have enough knowledge to create an hybrid like Dren, but in 2008 was created a human-pig chimera, which showed the existence of hybrid human-pig cells. So it could be possible in the future.
The film also explores the corporate motivations that drive much of today’s research. Last year, for example, ExxonMobil invested $300 million in Craig Venter’s firm Synthetic Genomics to look for ways of making biofuels from algae.
