"Certainly, certainly." The big man settled himself on the corner of his desk. "Viral surgery was an idea that first emerged in the 1980s and 1990s"-he grinned hugely-"mostly in science fiction. The technology to make it a reality wouldn't appear for decades. In fact, it's only just maturing now. The central idea is to use viral vectors to insert tailored strands of DNA into certain cells, and to force those cells to incorporate the new genetic material into their own genome."