CRISPR-Cas9 stands for “clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats”. Two women, Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna, won a Nobel Prize in 2020 for their “breakthrough research on CRSPR technology.”
For the past decade, the Nobel Prize has been anticipated to see which peoples would receive the magnificent discovery. If you have not heard of CRSPR technology, don’t worry. I will be explaining this innovative technology in a language that everyone can (hopefully) understand!
According to MedlinePlus, CRISPR-Cas9 is a technology that allows scientist to modify and edit the genome of all sorts of organisms- from bacteria, to mammals to humans! It’s a discovery that has the potential to change the course of the future. CRISPR-Cas9 works through the use of a bacteria’s genome editing system that can target and cut DNA from viruses to remember them for the next time the bacteria is attacked by the virus again. Cas9 is the enzyme these bacteria will use to “disable the virus.”
Researchers like Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna created an artificial cleaving system like the ones seen in bacteria. They were able to create a “small piece of RNA with a short guide sequence that attaches to a specific target sequence of DNA in a genome.” At this point, the cas9 enzyme will cut the DNA at that specifitic target sequence, which can be fixed through the organism’s own systems or replaced with a totally different DNA sequence.
In 2020, a research article was released that explores the use of CRISPR for treating Cystic Fibrosis. The article made the claims that the advancements of gene therapy has the ability to correct all sorts of “mutations in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane regular (CFTR) gene.” CRISPR-Cas9 has the potential ability to treat a variety of illness that we see as uncurable today, such as cancer. That is crazy!
Recent CRISPR-Cas9 Discoveries
The most recent CRISPR-Cas9 discovery I will talk about today is one that may not be favorable to talk about. I chose this topic to raise awareness of the dangers of groundbreaking and usually successful discoveries such as CRISPR. In 2020, it was discovered that the use of CRISPR can cause damage to cells of the human embryos, which is especially dangerous since we plan on using CRISPR in the future to prevent unavoidable diseases. As a result, many places, including the US, do not allow experiments on CRISPR and embryonic cells.
Lyn 4 Science 