The power of gene therapy to cure disease, prolong life and change the course of human evolution will be explored by world- leading scientist Professor John Rasko AO in the landmark 60th year of the ABC’s Boyer Lecture series.

Professor Rasko’s ‘Life Re-engineered’ lectures, which will be broadcast on ABC RN’s Big Ideas from 15-18 October at 8pm, will examine how developments in cell science and genetics are transforming medicine and changing what it means to be human.

‘We stand at the start of a revolution that may alter the very fabric of our being and the essence of what it means to be human,’ Professor Rasko said. ‘Reproductive technologies and gene and cell-based technologies offer the possibility of prolonging life and curing disease – and controlling even our evolution as a species.

I hope to ignite a broader community discussion about issues that confront us all, which is surely what the Boyer Lectures are for.

Professor Rasko AO is President of the International Society for Cell & Gene Therapy, Head of the Department of Cell & Molecular Therapies at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and Professor of Medicine at the University of Sydney’s Centenary Institute. In 2012, he was made an Officer of the Order of Australia for services to biomedical research in the field of gene and cell therapy, as a clinician, author, administrator and philanthropist.