Targeted Genome Editing Essay

CRISPR is a new gene-modifying tool that has the potential to treat numerous medical conditions by editing genes that are responsible for certain diseases. This technology is based on the ability of bacteria to destroy the DNA of invading viruses. Studies have suggested that this new technology can be applied to human cells, although the idea of chopping up regions of the human genome can be unethical and could even be harmful. In order for the treatment to be administered to a patient, a small piece of RNA and an enzyme that makes a cut in the DNA are delivered to the cells. A biotechnology company, known as Editas Medicine, located in Cambridge, MA, is already designing treatments for conditions of the blood and the eye using CRISPR. For

During January of 2013, scientists based at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard were able to demonstrate fixed change in human and animal cells using CRISPR-Cas9. This marked a turning point in genetic advancement—though CRISPR was far from mastered, its potential was beginning to show.

Throughout life, many individuals experience difficulties due to growing up in everyday life. While going in depth of the human life, it is discovered that there are many diseases and disorders that affect humans’ everyday functions. A very popular disease that has traumatically affected the human body is cancer. Cancer is a disease that spreads throughout your body in many ways. The purpose of cancer is to attach to a blood cell in your body and cause a plague within itself, causing the body to initially shut down and die. This disease contains many forms and have many causes to it. However its main goal is to destroy the human body.

Genome editing is a huge leap forward in science and medicine. Because of recent advances in technology, the study of genes and induced ‘point’ mutations have led to the discovery and advancement of methods previously used in order to mutate genes. The development of Clusters of Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPRs) and CRISPR associated system 9 protein (Cas9) technology is a hugely significant leap forward as this is a tool that could potentially be used for the research into and hopefully the treatment of a range of medical conditions that are genetically related. Cystic fibrosis (Schwank, G. et al, 2013), haemophilia and sickle cell disease are an example of some of the conditions that have the

Imagine that within the snap of your finger the very tumor in your body, that was once rapidly dividing and taking over your organs is now gone. All because of a “cure”. Well, snap your fingers right back into reality. Although a cure is very much wanted, there is not one. The only “cure” is within ourselves, a simple lifestyle change. According to the Cancer Center, next to heart disease, the largest cause of death today in the United States is cancer.

Every few years, advancements in technology alter the way scientists do their work. Recently CRISPR-Cas9, a RNA useful for working organisms in the animal kingdom has proven itself beneficial on a gene-editing platform. After performing many abortive attempts to manipulate gene function, including homologous recombination and RNA interference, scientists have finally had a breakthrough with CRISPR-Cas9.

Cancer has been one of the biggest killers in the world for the past 100 years. Previously, before science advanced to the point that it’s at today; no one really understand where cancer came from or why it would suddenly generate inside a human’s body. But, since finding out the reasons behind all of the hundreds of different cancers, there’s almost always a cause/health defect.

Cancer. We all know someone who has suffered from it or has passed away because of it. Cancer now affects one in every three people, and is the second highest cause of death in the United States. For decades, the medical community has been on the hunt for a cure for cancer, and have been subjected to intense ridicule from the public because of a lack of progression toward a possible cure. In recent years, many scientists, doctors, researchers, and the general public have come to believe that the cure for cancer is being suppressed because of this lack of progress. Those who say it is suppressed claim that the drugs used to treat cancer actually cause cancer, making a patient sicker and sicker. As a result, the patients are forced to spend

The war against cancer began in 1971 with the signing of the National Cancer Act by President Richard Nixon. Since then cancer has been in the limelight and billions of dollars’ worth of resources and time spent on research studies were expended, with one goal in mind “find that magic pill” to cure this dreadful disease. Although cancer has received a considerable amount of attention in the past 50 years, it is not a new disease by any means. Cancer has been plaguing man to as far back as the Ancient Greeks, when the disease was first recognized erstwhile between 4th and 5th century B.C.E1. This ancient disease of cancer has been with us it appears since the beginning of man, yet remains just as obscure to us as when is it was first discovered.

CRISPR-Cas9 is a unique technology that can be used to edit the human genome (1). Compared to other techniques of editing DNA, CRISPR and Cas9 are cheaper, faster, and more accurate. CRISPR-Cas9 gives geneticists as well as medical researchers the ability to edit specific parts of the genome by the removal, adding, or altering of certain sections of DNA sequences (1). CRISPR stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats and is a part of bacterial defense system (2). The two key molecules of CRISPR-Cas9 are Cas9 (an enzyme that can cut DNA at specific locations) and guide RNA (a small piece of RNA sequence that guides where the Cas9 should cut) (1). CRISPR is a crucial component

The animals that belong in our ecosystem is diminishing as time goes on, many of which we have not thought of becoming endangered, are being threatened. Scientists have figured out an alternative solution to save species from being threatened by humans and natural disasters. This alternative way is gene editing, as Joseph Dussault stated in the Christian Monitor: “Gene drive, a controversial genetic editing technique through which scientists could alter or eliminate entire species, is mostly discussed alongside Zika and malaria fears” (par. 2). It can help save species as well as turn it around and attack themselves for carrying a disease. With the use of gene editing, helping preserve the species

“The Emperor of All Maladies” captured the whole essence of cancer. This book gave a very good narrative of the historical record of cancer, the scientists and important public figures who contributed to the fight against a disease that has so much caused despair, pain, disfiguring of the body and worst of all, death. Cancer is seen as the abnormal growth of cells. A normal cell becomes cancerous when there is a defect in the regulation of its growth. Cancerous cells also tend to be elusive and resistant to treatments. Numerous attempts have been channeled into demystifying the nature of cancer. Some of these attempts proved abortive while a few served as a harbinger of hope. Cancer have proved to be part of our genetic makeup, hence, total eradication of it remains a future accomplishment.

Surrounded by patent and ethical issues lies a gene editing method with massive potential within the biotechnology industry. The CRISPR-Cas9 system works like ‘molecular scissors’ where Cas9 is an endonuclease that targets a specific DNA sequence (Griggs. 2015). This is more efficient than the previous methods such as zinc-finger nucleases (ZFNs) and transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs), as well as being simpler to use. CRISPR-Cas9 uses single guided RNA (sgRNA) to reach the desired gene, where it is able to cleave the double stranded DNA in the presence of a Protospacer Adjacent Motif sequence (PAM sequence) (Ran et al. 2013). This is the stage where the gene can be altered via the cells own repair system due to the break in the DNA (Nehme et al. 2014). Solutions to sickle-cell anaemia, malaria and beta thalassemia are just a few of the life changing impacts this method could have in the future.

This article discusses scientists from Oregon Health and Science University who successfully edited the DNA of human embryos to eliminate a mutant gene of a heritable heart condition, using gene editing technology known as Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR). They focused on an inherited heart disease called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which is the potential thickening of the heart muscle. The procedure consisted of using molecular scissors to cut out the mutation in the sperm right before it fertilized the egg. The embryo then repaired the cut in the sperm’s genetic material by copying the egg’s healthy gene, leaving the embryo free of a genetic disease that would otherwise be passed down by the father. It

Gene editing is one of the most researched fields of molecular biology, as manipulated genes deem possible studying the specific genes and their effects. In the past, there were several attempts to manipulate gene function, including homologous recombination, RNA interference (RNAi), zinc-finger nucleases (ZFNs) and transcription-activator like effector nucleases (TALENs). These past approaches are expensive and time-consuming to engineer as opposed to Crispr Cas9, limiting their widespread use. What the Crispr Cas9 technique offers, and biologists desire, is specificity: the ability to target and study particular DNA sequences in the expanse of a genome with ease of preparation as used in Fu et al. (2014) and Korkmaz et al. (2016).