Future of Regulation: Meet the 2025 Bertolino Impact in Government Scholarship Winner

What happens when scientific advancement outpaces regulatory frameworks? This fascinating episode features a conversation with Sakethram Ramakrishnan, our 2025 Bertolino Impact in Government Scholarship recipient, who offers a thought-provoking glimpse into the regulatory landscape of the future.

Saketh brilliantly unpacks the far-reaching implications of the Supreme Court's 2024 decision overturning Chevron deference, a critical principle that previously allowed regulatory agencies to interpret ambiguous laws. Without this flexibility, we face a potential regulatory vacuum in rapidly advancing fields like biotechnology and artificial intelligence. Through his scholarship submission, Saketh presents a compelling vision of a future where parents visit "trait selection clinics" to choose genetic modifications for their children without adequate oversight, all stemming from today's regulatory decisions.

What makes this conversation particularly powerful is how Saketh grounds futuristic predictions in current scientific milestones, referencing Penn Medicine's anticipated breakthrough in 2025 that could produce the first legally approved "designer baby" using CRISPR technology. As a first-year college student entering a bioinformatics program with aspirations for an MD-PhD or MD-JD, Saketh represents a new generation of interdisciplinary thinkers working to bridge critical gaps between science, healthcare, and policy. His commitment to ensuring equitable access to medical breakthroughs for underserved communities reminds us what's truly at stake in these regulatory discussions.

Are you a student passionate about making a difference in law, regulation, or public service? Visit Bertolino LLP's website to learn how you can apply for next year's scholarship and join this important conversation about the future of regulation! Learn more at: https://www.belolaw.com/about/government-regulations-scholarship/

Get more information, details and resources on Know Your Regulator - https://www.belolaw.com/know-your-regulator

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
This podcast is for educational purposes only, does
not constitute legal advice anddoes not create an
attorney-client relationship.
If you need legal assistanceabout a legal problem, contact
an attorney.
Welcome back to Know yourRegulator the podcast that
inspires you to engage.
I'm your host, simone Murphree,and in this special episode, we

(00:21):
are shining a light on thefuture of regulation.
I'm joined by our 2025Bertolino Impact in Government
Scholarship recipient, saket RamRamakrishnan.
This year's topic was how willthe recent US Supreme Court
decisions and the current makeupof the Supreme Court change
what the future regulatory worldlooks like in 50 years, and

(00:42):
Saket submitted an incrediblevideo imagining the future in
biotech and AI regulations.
Thank you so much for joiningme today and congratulations
again.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
Thank you, Simone.
It's a real honor to join youtoday and I'm quite excited to
dig into this topic and share mythoughts on where regulation
could go in the future.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
Yeah, absolutely.
Your submission centered aroundthe 2024 Supreme Court decision
overturning Chevron deference.
Can you talk about what thatmeans and why you chose that?

Speaker 2 (01:13):
Absolutely.
Chevron deference was a keyprinciple where courts deferred
to regulatory agencies'interpretations of ambiguous
laws.
Essentially, if Congress passeda law that wasn't crystal clear
, agencies like the FDA and EPAcould fill in those gaps.
But when the Supreme Courtoverturned Chevron in 2024, the
courts rather than the agenciesare now responsible for

(01:36):
interpreting laws, and theagencies lose the flexibility
they once had to interpret theseambiguities.
Now, this decision was importantbecause it effectively froze
regulatory progress, especiallyin fields where rapid scientific
advancement often outpaceslegislation.
More specifically, my work incomputational biology and

(01:56):
medicine inspired me to focus onthis issue.
I've seen firsthand how sciencecan advance rapidly, but it's
often stymied by the pace ofpolicy.
During my research at ArgonneNational Lab, I worked in the
intersection between AI andbiology, and this ranged from
things like genome mining todrug discovery, and the thing
that became quite clear to mewas, while we have these

(02:18):
incredible advancements intechnology, the legal and
regulatory frameworks oftencan't keep up, and when these
laws fall behind, it's not justbureaucratic inefficiency, it
becomes a moral and ethicalproblem, and that's why I chose
this topic.
I genuinely think it will haveprofound effects on everything
from gene editing to climatepolicy.

Speaker 1 (02:38):
That's such a deep dive into such an interesting
and niche topic too and, likeyou said it's I mean we're
seeing these advancements ofthese technologies rapidly and
will we see, you know, the lawand these lawmakers catch up,
and will they be able to keep upwith it?

(03:00):
Not even catch up?
I really liked in yoursubmission that you talked about
you know where do we draw theline.
You were looking ahead at theyear 2075 with the trait
selection clinics.
Can you summarize that scenariofor us?

Speaker 2 (03:16):
Sure.
So I speculate that in 2075,with these biotech advancements
like gene editing and AI,parents might walk into trait
selection clinics and choosegenetic modifications for their
future children, things likemuscle density, eye color or
even cognitive abilities.
And the twist here is thatthese choices wouldn't be

(03:39):
actively regulated by thegovernment, especially after the
Supreme Court's decision tolimit agency interpretation.
These regulators weren't ableto keep pace with that
innovation, and by 2075, a kindof regulatory vacuum emerged.
Technologies like gene editingmoved faster than the laws could
catch up, and so by the timeregulators tried to act, it was

(04:01):
already too late.
No one stopped these advances,but instead society simply let
them unfold with no clear rulesor morals in place.

Speaker 1 (04:10):
Yeah, and it's so.
It definitely felt very realand is a scenario that we are,
you know, probably likely to see.
But you tied the future to realscience that's happening right
now.
You referenced the CHOP PennMedicine gene therapy success in
2025.
Can you tell me a little bitmore about that?

Speaker 2 (04:32):
Yeah, of course.
So in 2025, researchers at theChildren's Hospital of
Pennsylvania, abbreviated asCHOP, and Penn Medicine, used
CRISPR technology to treat ababy with a genetic disorder,
and this was quite abreakthrough because it made
headlines as the first legaldesigner baby with genetic

(04:53):
editing.
Now it wasn't just about savinglife, but improving upon it,
and this quite stuck with mebecause it wasn't just some
science fiction story that wehear about, but it was real life
.
It happened right then andthere, and it made me think
about how this kind oftechnology could evolve rapidly,
but how our regulatory systemscan't evolve that fast, and this
breakthrough, paired with theregulatory stagnation from the

(05:16):
Supreme Court decision, set thestage for the speculative future
I envisioned.
The urgency of this issuereally hit home for me.

Speaker 1 (05:23):
Yeah, no, I think it's, you know, something where
we might get really excitedabout it and all the
possibilities of technology, butwe have to think about what are
the boundaries and what's theframework and what is the you
know ethical way to considerdoing some of these things.
You did a really great job ofblending all of that together,

(05:47):
you know, with law and ethicsand science.
It sounds like you've got areally bright future ahead of
you.
You said this is your firstyear heading into college.
What are you studying and whatinterests you academically?

Speaker 2 (06:02):
Yeah, so you're absolutely right.
It's my first year going intocollege and I'm entering the
guaranteed admission BSMDprogram at Virginia Commonwealth
University, and I'll bemajoring in bioinformatics, so
my focus is on combiningcomputer science and molecular
biology to study gene expressionand disease modeling.
I'm also quite passionate aboutpursuing an MD-PhD or an MD-JD,

(06:26):
or maybe even all three degrees, and the idea is to bridge that
gap between medicine and lawand shape policies in ways that
benefit both patients and thehealthcare system.
I believe that understandingboth the technical aspects of
medicine and the legalframeworks that surround it and
govern it would let me advocatebetter for healthcare access and

(06:47):
innovation.
On this note, I'm also studyingpublic health and Spanish to
ensure that I can communicateeffectively with diverse patient
populations and advocate forthe systemic change.

Speaker 1 (06:58):
That's amazing.
That is just so fantastic, andI know without a doubt you can
get all three of those degreesfor sure.
Where do you see yourself inthe future Like post-graduation?
What kind of impact are youhoping to make?

Speaker 2 (07:12):
Yeah, yeah.
In the future, I see myselfworking at this niche
intersection of science,healthcare and policy, where I
can combine cutting-edgeresearch with real-world patient
care, and my goal is to makesure that scientific
breakthroughs are accessible toeveryone, not just in the lab,
but especially to underservedcommunities.

(07:34):
I want to help make sure thatthe advancements that we make in
medicine are shared equitablyso that everyone, regardless of
their background or resources,can benefit from them.

Speaker 1 (07:45):
That's amazing.
That's very touching, that'sfantastic.
Well, we can't wait to see whatyou accomplish and, once again,
congratulations.
Thanks for joining me today tokind of dive in deeper to your
submission topic and to ourviewers.
If you're a student that'spassionate about making a
difference in law, regulation orpublic service, like Sokka here

(08:07):
, visit Bertolino LLP's websitefor more information on how to
apply for next year's BertolinoImpact in Government Scholarship
.
You can also check out Socket'ssubmission video that's going
to be linked below, get detailson Know your Regulator and more.
Thanks for tuning in and, asalways, stay inspired and
continue engaging with yourregulatory agency.

(08:27):
Know your Regulator the podcastthat inspires you to engage.