Gene Therapy - in Popular Culture

In Popular Culture

• In the TV series Dark Angel gene therapy is mentioned as one of the practices performed on transgenics and their surrogate mothers at Manticore, and in the episode Prodigy, Dr. Tanaka uses a groundbreaking new form of gene therapy to turn Jude, a premature, vegetative baby of a crack/cocaine addict, into a boy genius.
• Gene therapy is a crucial plot element in the video game Metal Gear Solid, where it has been used to illegally enhance the battle capabilities of soldiers within the US military, and their Next Generation Special Forces units.
• Gene therapy plays a major role in the sci-fi series Stargate Atlantis, as a certain type of alien technology can only be used if one has a certain gene which can be given to the members of the team through gene therapy involving a mouse retrovirus.
• Gene therapy also plays a major role in the plot of the James Bond movie Die Another Day, where a scientist has developed a means of altering peoples' entire appearances through the use of DNA samples acquired from others- generally homeless people that would not be missed- that are subsequently injected into the bone marrow, the resulting transformation apparently depriving the subjects of the ability to sleep.
• Gene therapy plays a recurring role in the present-time sci-fi television program ReGenesis, where it is used to cure various diseases, enhance athletic performance and produce vast profits for bio-tech corporations. (e.g. an undetectable performance-enhancing gene therapy was used by one of the characters on himself, but to avoid copyright infringement, this gene therapy was modified from the tested-to-be-harmless original, which produced a fatal cardiovascular defect)
• Gene therapy is the basis for the plot line of the film I Am Legend.
• Gene therapy is an important plot key in the game Bioshock where the game contents refer to plasmids and splicers.
• The book Next by Michael Crichton unravels a story in which fictitious biotechnology companies experiment with gene therapy.
• In the television show Alias, a breakthrough in molecular gene therapy is discovered, whereby a patient's body is reshaped to identically resemble someone else. Protagonist Sydney Bristow's best friend was secretly killed and her "double" resumed her place.
• In the 2011 film Rise of the Planet of the Apes, a fictional gene therapy called ALZ-112 was a drug that was a possible cure for Alzheimer's disease, the therapy increased the host's intelligence and made their irises green, along with the revised therapy called 113 which increased intelligence in apes yet was a deadly, interinal virus in humans.