Beerbohm cleared his throat. ‘I never thought Sami al-Qasr was a nut. He’s not that different to many other ambitious people in the profession. He’s not unreasonable.’
Ashe kept thoughts of the great man’s evident naivety to himself. ‘Tell me about this zinc finger stuff, Sir Moses.’
‘All right, Dr Ashe. But not too long, eh? I’m expecting a friend.’
‘A pencil sketch would be helpful.’
‘A zinc finger protein, Dr Ashe, is pretty much what it sounds like. They look like fingers. They’re projections of protein. They’re held in shape by a zinc atom. You find them in all cells. The… well, we call them “fingertips” are configured to match a particular gene sequence. I suppose we could have called them something else. “Gene monitors”, or something. Amazing things. When you think there are some 30,000 genes in our DNA! But they don’t all work at the same time. If you imagine a kind of “shift” pattern you’d be close to the mark.’
‘Like clocking in and clocking out?’
‘There is a rotation of sorts. ZFPs pick out the genes that need activating, or the ones that need turning off. For example, we don’t all eat at regular times. So in stomach cells, the genes in charge of enzyme production – for digestion – get switched on only when food is on the way.’
‘Ingenious.’
‘Yes, it is. And yet it’s just like everything we experience in the visible world. That’s the great thing about science. The rules that control stars also control our fingernails.’
‘As above, so below. That’s what the alchemists and magicians used to say.’
‘And they’re right, of course. There’s a whole system of natural attractions and correspondences. We can learn about things on Mars by looking at things on Earth. There’s a principle that operates in all systems. Science deals with the systems. The principle may just be philosophy.’
‘Just philosophy?’
‘Well, in science we try to deal with what is actually happening. Effects are easier to see than causes, as you know. For example, when zinc finger proteins find a gene sequence that matches their fingertips, they lock on. That’s what they do. They lock on! I can’t say I really know why. They just do. But I suppose there’s a principle at work in there somewhere! Anyhow, as the fingers go into this lock-on mode, what we call a switch molecule gets activated. The switch molecule has been trailing behind the ZFP. This molecule switches the gene on or off.’
‘Brilliant stuff, Sir Moses. But how does all this relate to viruses and diseases?’
‘You ask all the right questions, Dr Ashe. You’d have made a good pupil.’
‘Did al-Qasr ask the right questions?’
‘Al-Qasr grew frustrated with the idea of relating genes to disease. But he did cotton on to the implications of zinc finger proteins. It was his eureka moment. As it was mine, in a sense. So, yes, he asked some good questions. These questions led him into a specialised sphere.’
‘I’m intrigued. What is this sphere, Sir Moses?’
‘Rewriting genes. Actually rewriting genes. Altering the building blocks – to some extent anyway. I mean, this is what we’re about, here! We want to get right in there and see if we can use this knowledge to help the human race.’
‘Did Sami al-Qasr share that ideal?’
‘Difficult to say. There’s always some self-interest. In Sami’s case, I suppose there was more. But he was still making a contribution. We were laying the stones for what would become known as gene therapy. This reached a stable state, more or less, by the mid-eighties, but by then al-Qasr was in Iraq. And I don’t honestly know where he took the fairly limited technologies we then had at our disposal.’
‘It might help if you could tell me where you had got to?’
‘Look, Ashe, could we do all this on another occasion?’
‘Forgive me, Sir Moses. I understand, but this enquiry is a matter of some urgency. Lives could be at stake.’
‘Lives, you say? All right, Dr Ashe. Where were we?’
‘Gene therapy.’
‘Right. Conventional gene therapy compensates for a genetic fault rather than corrects it. It adds working copies of genes to cells. Viruses have ways of kidding cells to let them in. Once they’re in – well, they’re in! And there’s nothing much you can do about it. Gene therapy took the road of exploiting this cunning.’
‘Imitating it?’
‘If you like. If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em! You can’t really beat nature. The aim was to get genetic material incorporated into that of the host. You’ve got to establish a virus delivery system. New genes have to be smuggled into cells. The human body is a world of covert operations – just up your street, my dear fellow!’
‘Thank you.’
‘When trying to cure diseases, you want to smuggle in a retrovirus engineered so its genetic material contains the correct version of a faulty gene.’
‘Does it work?’
‘Limited successes. It was a bit of a scattergun approach. The idea is not unlike the original principle of Jenner’s bacteriology. Set a thief to catch a thief. You immunise by getting the system geared up to accept the enemy – in small doses. The body can be deceived. Nature is the great deceiver – and the great deceived.’
‘Sounds like philosophy, Sir Moses. I’m not sure I understand yet.’
‘Let’s put it like this. Patients have their cells “infected”, as it were, with these manipulated viruses.’
‘Isn’t that dangerous?’
‘Yes. It’s not been a complete success. Far from it, really. Scientifically, it’s been very useful, but the process is not very efficient. Only a small number of cells actually take up the new genes. The process can be unstable and you can’t be sure the right cells have been targeted. Worryingly, the new gene can insert itself anywhere in the person’s DNA. The worst case, I suppose, occurred among a group of French children undergoing gene therapy. Some scientists think the genes inserted too close to those regulating the cancer might have caused leukaemia. There was a delay in trials. But now the technique has been taken further.’
‘Did al-Qasr have anything to do with new developments?’
‘He probably has some involvement with the new technique.’
‘Do you think he may have developed his own techniques?’
‘One hears rumours. Science never sleeps. I know he’s been involved in gene editing. And this is where ZFPs come into their own: the result, I’m proud to say, of my discovery.’
While Ashe scribbled notes, Karla leant over his desk with a memo:
Melissa telephoned. A misunderstanding.
Are you available today?
Ashe smiled and scrawled ‘NO’ over it. Karla whispered in his ear, ‘On your head be it, maestro!’
Sir Moses picked up on the interruption. ‘You got yourself a girlie in there, Dr Ashe?’
‘Er, no, Sir Moses. My secretary. You were explaining about gene editing.’
‘Can’t we discuss your secretary instead?’
‘I’m just trying to grasp what direction al-Qasr might be heading in.’
‘Speak to RIBOTech, California, though they probably don’t want to talk. To be honest, the only person who knows where al-Qasr is right now, is al-Qasr.’
‘In more ways than one, Sir Moses.’
‘I shan’t ask what you mean by that. Off the record, I’d say Sami’s involved with advanced gene editing. Hot stuff. Gene editing gets to grips with the DNA’s own repair system to correct a faulty gene. It’s like hijacking a natural function.
‘DNA, as I’m sure you’re aware, is the chemical instruction manual for our bodies. One unit in that system is a gene. One small fault in a gene alters the sense of an instruction. These faults or errors are called “single gene defects”. They may result in anything from sickle-cell anaemia to Huntingdon’s Disease. Some genes control how cells divide. Single gene defects here – especially in later life – cause a range of cancers.
‘As I said, in gene editing, zinc finger proteins really come into their own. Now I don’t know what al-Qasr’s been up to but I can tell you something about the scientists at Sangamo BioSciences, another gene research lab in California. They’ve had the decency to put their discoveries in the public domain. I can only suspect your man’s on strictly government work.’
‘I suspect so. Possibly military applications.’
‘Hmm… We have people on this sort of thing too. You might find someone to ask about it at one of the government institutions. Talk to Ran. He’s your best bet there.’
‘What’s happened at Sangamo, Sir Moses? I just want to grasp the principle.’
‘Ah, yes. As far as I can tell, the scientists there have attached a specially made ZFP to a molecule. This molecule can cut – or edit – DNA. Getting into the cell in the manner of a virus, the zinc fingers locate “their” gene. Then they splice themselves into the genetic movie, as it were. The DNA editor cuts the defective gene. The act of cutting the DNA triggers the cell to repair the damage. Because the cell needs the right bit of DNA to make a repair, fresh copies of the right gene are sent in with the zinc fingers.
‘And then, dear friend, by the magic of nature, the cell takes the good genes and uses them as templates for the repair operation. The faulty parts are exchanged for fresh parts. And once repaired, the cell divides normally with all the new cells carrying the correct gene. Quite something, isn’t it?’
‘Sounds like a cross between a film editor’s suite and a commercial garage.’
Sir Moses laughed. ‘I suppose it is. It always sounds easy after some poor slave to science has spent years sweating to make it happen! Having said that, Dr Ashe, as far as I know they haven’t reached the level of statistically verifiable certainty.’
‘Not fully tested yet?’
‘No. But they’re very close.’
‘How close?’
‘Six months. But even if they can test it, I’d reckon it will be only a portion of cells – maybe 15 to 20 per cent – that can have faulty genes corrected. Still, what a start!’
‘Would you be surprised if I suggested al-Qasr might have made a breakthrough?’
‘Of course it’s possible, but where’s your evidence? You’ll need to be sure of your facts. People claim extraordinary things in this field all the time. I’m sure al-Qasr will have seen some of the problems with the earlier gene therapy. He was on to my discoveries pretty damn quickly. But, like I said, he went to Iraq – out of sight, out of mind. And then, the question of motivation comes in.’
‘In what sense?’
‘Well, if you follow my line about him wanting to be the star. You’d expect him to publish his discoveries and make a great name for himself. You’d be hard pressed to keep him quiet about it – even if he was under a no-disclosure contract with the government. I mean, this kind of discovery could save millions of lives. Imagine the publicity: “Brilliant Arab Saves the World!”’
‘Unless what, Dr Ashe?’
‘Well, unless he had even bigger fish to fry.’
‘I’m not sure I can help you there. It starts to get science fiction. I mean, what happens when you fall off the cutting edge?’
‘Quite.’
Ashe thought hard, trying with all his will to get into the mind of al-Qasr, trying to understand what might be driving him, pushing him, leading him. The information he’d received from Beck was painfully inadequate. What was worse, it seemed well at odds with the picture he was receiving from Sir Moses Beerbohm.
‘Are you there, Dr Ashe?’
‘Yes, there’s just…’
‘I think I see my friend. Yes, that’s him. I really have to go now. I’m—’
‘Sir Moses. A quick question.’
‘Is there really such a thing?’
‘It’s most urgent. I can’t put it more strongly than that.’
‘Hold on a second.’