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Jennifer Doudna: How CRISPR lets us edit our DNA

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Geneticist Jennifer Doudna co-invented a groundbreaking new technology for editing genes, called CRISPR-Cas9. The tool allows scientists to make precise edits to DNA strands, which could lead to treatments for genetic diseases ... but could also be used to create so-called "designer babies."

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McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT

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Every cell in our body contains a copy of our Genome, over 3 billion letters of DNA. DNA consists of two strands twisted into a double helix and held together by a simple pairing rule. A pairs with T and C with G. Our genes shape who we are as individuals and as a species. Genes also have profound effects on health and thanks to advances in DNA sequencing researchers have identified thousands of genes that affect our risk of disease. To understand how genes work researchers need ways to control them. Changing genes in living cells is not easy, but recently a new method has been developed that promises to dramatically improve our ability to edit the DNA of any species, including humans. The CRISPR method is based on a natural system used by bacteria to protect themselves from infection by viruses. When the bacterium detect the presence of viral DNA, it produces two types of short RNA, one of which contains a sequence that matches that of the invading virus. These two RNAs form a complex with a protein called cas9. Cas9 is a nuclease a type of enzyme that can cut DNA. When the matching sequence, known as the guide RNA, finds its target within the viral genome, the cas9 cuts the target DNA, disabling the virus. Over the past few years, researchers studying the system realize that it could be engineered to cut not just viral DNA but any DNA sequence at a precisely chosen location by changing the guide RNA to match the target. And this can be done not just in a test tube, but also within the nucleus of a living cell. Once inside the nucleus, The resulting complex will lock onto a short sequence known as the PAM. The cas9 will unzip the DNA and match it to its target RNA. If the match is complete, the cas9 will use two tiny molecular scissors to cut the DNA. When this happens, the cell tries to repair the cut, but the repair process is error prone, leading to mutations that can disable the gene, allowing researchers to understand its function. These mutations are random, but sometimes researchers need to be more precise by for example, replacing a mutant gene with a healthy copy. This can be done by adding another piece of DNA that carries the desired sequence. Once the crispr system has made the cut, this DNA template can pair up with the cut ends, combining and replacing the original sequence with the new version. All this can be done in cultured cells, including stem cells that can give rise to many different types. It can also be done in a fertilized egg, allowing the creation of transgenic animals with Target and mutation.

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This "new" technology (came out three years ago) allows scientists to edit genomes (one whole set of all your genes plus all the DNA in your genes). This technology mimics the way bacteria fight viruses in their environment. Viral infections are like ticking time bombs, and the bacterium has only a few minutes to defuse the bomb before it gets destroyed. Many bacteria have an adaptive immune system called CRISPR, that allows the to detect the viral DNA and destroy it as soon as the virus injects it into the host bacteria. Part of that system is a protein called Cas9, and it's function or main job is to seek out, cut, and eventually degrade the viral DNA in a specific way.

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The CRISPR-Cas9 technology was derived from the study of how bacteria fights viral infections

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The Interesting Topic Of Genetically modifying Babies

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The Interesting Topic Of Genetically modifying Babies

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There are many opinions on the ethics behind whether or not parents should be able to genetically modify their children. Genetic modification is interesting because the fact that we are able to control what our children will look like or act like in the future is so amazing, it’s as if humans are attaining the power of God. Scientists who do this for a living would study proteins/ enzymes and gene patterns. They would extract DNA and study what pattern of nitrogenous bases affect which traits. I believe that to be able to do such research, one must study biochemistry, biochemical engineering, and biochemical engineering. The average salary of a biochemist is $ 82,150 U.S dollars.

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Ted Talk with Jennifer Doudna on How CRISPR Works

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Ted Talk with Jennifer Doudna on How CRISPR Works

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https://www.ted.com/talks/jennifer_doudna_we_can_now_edit_our_dna_but_let_s_do_it_wisely?utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare

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A Recipe For Designer Babies (Very General)

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A Recipe For Designer Babies (Very General)

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1. First, take an embryo that has been in vitro fertilized, or an egg that has been fertilized by sperm in a test tube, and remove a cell from the embryo.

2. Next, locate the "affected" region inside the cell/ DNA double strand.

3. Then, design a counterpart for that region. This counterpart is used to detect the region on the DNA strand so that it knows where to go to.

4.  After having located the region on the DNA, cut out the undesired part of the strands with the protein, Cas9. It uses a map to find the exact place where it’s supposed to cut.

5. After cutting out the region, use the Cas9 protein to insert in the already programmed genes that you want into the DNA strand and integrate that piece into the empty space in the DNA strands. And then, you have the genetically modified cell.

6.  Take the modified cell and duplicate it through mitosis until it becomes a cluster of cells, resulting in the making of a fetus well on it's way to becoming an embryo.

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Designer babies start as embryos (8 weeks developed) that have their genetic information changed by locating and cutting out unwanted DNA while replacing it with the desired characteristics and genes. Jennifer Doudna, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at the university of Berkeley has recently created a new kind of technology derived from the study of how bacteria fight viral infections. Bacteria have an adaptive immune system called CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) which allows them to detect and destroy viral DNA.  The new technology uses the CRISPR system and has already been tested out on the cells of monkey, mice, and other organisms that have a similar genetic makeup to our own. CRISPR technology also allows cells to record the viruses they've been exposed to so the next time they're exposed to it, the bacteria will be able to repel it. Even though this technology sounds great and can solve all of our problems, in many countries it is forbidden to let a modified embryo develop further than a couple of days. A study from Hokkaido University in Japan found that 29 countries banned genetic editing. Some countries may choose to do this because of their dominant religion (believing that playing with DNA is a way that humans are trying to act like God), or because they simply fear of what would happen if it were to get out of control. Because of the research in stem cells, parents are able to produce a healthy child without having to worry about any undesirable traits they would have had to pass down to their child if they hadn't used the CRISPR technology in the first place. I am not saying that we need to customize children like we do at build a bear workshops, our difference and shortcomings make us human, but to ignore the life-saving benefits of genetic engineering and to not design baby's disease free is foolish and disregards human life.

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South Korean Scientist First to Clone Human Embryos

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South Korean Scientist First to Clone Human Embryos

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This microscopic photo shows the injection of a somatic cell, right, into a nuclear-removed human egg cell during an experiment at Seoul National University. South Korean scientists have cloned the first mature embryonic stem cell line, a step toward using the cells to replace or repair damaged cells in humans.

South Korean Scientists Clone Human Embryo." UPI Photo Collection, 2008. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CT4099900030/OVIC?u=eths_main&xid=e2ed82ac. Accessed 9 Mar. 2018.