CHARLESTON — The Charleston Reading Circle met Dec. 10 via Zoom. The program consisted of a book review.
Judy James reviewed “The Code Breaker – Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing and the Future of the Human Race” by Walter Isaacson.
The title of the book suggests that “The Code Breaker” is a biography of Jennifer Doudna, winner of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. In reality, it is the story of a phenomenon called CRISPR found in bacterial cells in their struggle to prevent their destruction by viruses. .
The book tells how a diverse group of scientists from around the world, with Doudna as one of the main participants, discovered how bacteria do it. The author describes the competition between scientists during this quest.
This knowledge has been harnessed in the ability to alter or alter the genetic makeup of any organism, including humans. This could provide cures for a variety of disorders or even prevent unwanted traits from being passed on to future generations.
From the research, therapies for sickle cell anemia and a few other disorders have been developed. A currently important consequence of this research is the production of tests and vaccines against the coronavirus responsible for COVID-19, and the potential is there for rapid production of vaccines to counter future viral infections.
Jennifer Doudna likely caught the attention of the American people when she publicly discussed the moral issues surrounding gene editing. Do we allow germline editing, which has the ability to remove a faulty gene from an embryo, replacing it with a normal gene, so that the child and all its descendants will be spared a debilitating disorder , or is it “playing God”? Who’s deciding ? These are questions we will face in the near future.
The next Charleston Reading Circle meeting will be at 1:30 p.m. on Friday, January 21.
For more information, contact Mary Jorstad at 217-871-5129.
Charleston Locations in 12 Historical Photos
Wilb Walker Supermarket
1988: Dyalene Haworth demonstrates the ease of use of the EZ Shopper grocery cart at the Wilb Walker supermarket.
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Square
1980: Charleston Square.
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North Park House before renovation
1986: Jean Carpenter of Charleston received a grant to repair his house. A $350,000 grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Community Affairs will be used to renovate approximately 40 homes in the North Park neighborhood.
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North Park house after renovation
1986: Jean Carpenter on the porch of the house after the renovations.
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from the mother
1988: At Mother’s in Charleston, Grandmother winks at customers who come to wet their whistle. Mothers is a tavern known to almost every student at Eastern Illinois University.
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hotel fire
1931: The Jefferies Building was gutted by fire late Tuesday evening. On the left is the Winters clothing store with the Charleston Hotel office next door to the north, then a vacant room recently vacated by Huckleberry Jewelery, with the Rogers Pharmacy on the corner.
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Golf field
1986: Pat Kaiser plans to open his nine-hole golf course by Memorial Day weekend if Mother Nature cooperates.
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Eastern Illinois Artists Guild
1941: A permanent exhibit of the work of Paul Turner Sargent was opened by the Artists Guild of Eastern Illinois at 809 Jack St. Built in 1831 by Dr. Aaron Ferguson, it is said to be the oldest Charleston home.
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Downtown
1986: Downtown Charleston was designated as part of that city’s tax increase funding district in so-called rundown areas of their cities.
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Coles County National Bank
1992: Coles County National Bank is declared insolvent and sold to Eagle Bank and Trust Co. The Missouri-based trust company has banks in three other Illinois cities, Sparta, Nashville and Highland.
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charleston square
1978: The Osco Drug and Eisner grocery store will soon open in Charleston Plaza Mall. The two stores will occupy 40,000 square feet in the center. A 2,000 square foot Radio Shack store is already open. Another 2,000 square foot store will be occupied by the Book Emporium which will open later this year. A total of 9,000 square feet remains for rent in the center.
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Celotex Corp.
1971: Annual production estimates for Celotex Corp.’s new plant. north of Charleston are about 130 million square feet of insulated panels.
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