CRISPR-Cas9 is an emerging technology in the field of genetics that has opened an incredible number of  doors and revolutionized the field. It permanently changes the genome of cells while they are alive. CRISPR stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats. This sounds confusing but the actual technology is simple. Feng Zhang uses the analogy of proofreading a book to explain it.Let us say you are proofreading your novel and you find the phrase “twinkle twinkle big star”. Now you want to change it to “twinkle twinkle little star”. In this scenario, the words are base pairs and the change from “little” to “big” is a mutation. You can not just delete “big” or just “add” little you must do both. And that is what CRISPR does. It uses an enzyme to cut the DNA and silences that gene. It also can do the opposite and activate certain genes.

A diagram of how CRISPR works

This precise controls of genes have allow scientists to do research faster and cheaper. Its applications go beyond just research however. This technology can be used to treat certain genetic mutations by correcting the incorrect base pairs accurately.

Link to article:

https://www.broadinstitute.org/what-broad/areas-focus/project-spotlight/questions-and-answers-about-crispr

Other Links:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/12/151210125648.htm

https://www.addgene.org/crispr/guide/

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