CRISPER! And futuristic uses are Here!

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CRISPER offers us a lot of potential Futurist

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Yep. CRISPR/Cas-9 offers way more editing opportunities than restriction enzymes ever could. It’s amazing how you can precisely control what genes are being edited.

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I so wish I had crisper tech when I was in school. All I could do was make bacteria poop more alcohol.

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Just to follow up on the original article:

[quote]This is not the first time human embryos have been edited by CRISPR. That was done in China, in 2015 and in 2016, but both times with non-viable human embryos. It is not the first time (presumably—the story does not expressly say) viable human embryos have been edited by CRISPR. That was done at least once in China in early 2017. And it is certainly not the first time that mammalian embryos have been edited by CRISPR. It is the first time it has been done in the U.S. but the human embryos and the science won’t care about researchers’ nationalities.

What seems new and interesting is that Mitalipov had more success at modifying embryos—but how much more success? No numbers are given. [/quote]

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The big hope is going to be in some genetics diseases. A cousin is working between Germany and Israel on a midicondral project that was going no where fast until the first crispers started coming on line.

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Another article on the human gene fixing experiment:

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Nice article in the Post, I read it this morning! I beat them by 6 days! :grinning: :blush:

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Also relevant:

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I have been referred to as one of the piglets

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My dad was working on some projects like this before he retired. This was before the discovery of CRISPR though, so they hadn’t made as much progress as can be made with CRISPR.

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A good AMA on reddit from a researcher who works with CRISPR in humans:

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New type of CRISPR system used successfully on mice:

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Improved gene therapy is right around the corner!

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Follow up:

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Related:

New apple that won’t brown when exposed to air. An enzyme that caused the reaction has been removed.

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What if that’s the enzyme that keeps the doctor away? :slight_smile:

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@Hunter & @nicholas,

CRISPR is badass. We would use guide RNAs to find “protospacer” elements (segments of complimentary DNA) within HEK cells and then Cas9 would go to work, “cutting” genes that were involved in microfilament assembly. It’s simpler and quicker than using alternative methods like ZFNs.

During my tenure in the lab, I came to understand that the restrictions researchers commonly faced when using CRISPR were that larger insertions were exceptionally limited. I recall that researchers were having difficulty inserting genes larger than 2kb. Some even “stitched” genes together, so to speak. This is important when the researcher seeks to induce pest or herbicide resistance through transformation. Moreover, the “accuracy” of expected Cas9 induced mutations can be difficult to predict using bioinformatics alone.

An envisioned use for CRISPR in cannabis might be the knocking down of THC synthase for a true CBD strain, or perhaps a gene upstream from an undesirable stress responses. Perhaps we could use it to insert a fluorescent protein into a tissue culture so one can view regional expression of hormones in the presence of stimuli later in the plants life.

Examples of CRISPR being used in plants (and the inevitable foreshadowing of cannabis being edited using this technology, if it isn’t already):

Insertion of GFP into sorghum
Validating accuracy of sgRNA in cotton plants
Insertion of GFP into tobacco

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They’re already doing the first in vivo human trial:
http://time.com/5025029/science-gene-editing-dna/

He has Hunter syndrome which is caused by a missing enzyme that the treatment will be attempting to fix.

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