16 ms·
CRISPR for gene editing: "Since 2013, the CRISPR/Cas system has been used for gene editing (adding, disrupting or changing the sequence of specific genes) and
by zt 11y ago
CRISPR for gene editing:
"Since 2013, the CRISPR/Cas system has been used for gene editing (adding, disrupting or changing the sequence of specific genes) and gene regulation in species throughout the tree of life. By delivering the Cas9 protein and appropriate guide RNAs into a cell, the organism's genome can be cut at any desired location."
(From Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CRISPR https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CRISPR)
Edit: Hear a recent Radiolab episode on the topic (http://www.radiolab.org/story/antibodies-part-1-crispr/ http://www.radiolab.org/story/antibodies-part-1-crispr/)
- baldfat 11y agoThis means curing: Color Blindness, Liver Disease, Hopefully Cancers, Genetic Defects, MAYBE one day Aging?
- JoeAltmaier 11y agoMore likely the first (profitable) applications will be: changing eye color, hair color, losing fat, changing height, changing skin tone. Billions in each market.
- dragonwriter 11y agoMore likely, the first profitable applications will not have anything to do with editing the human genome, as bad been the case for every other technique useful for genetic engineering.
- baldfat 11y agoCuring Genetic Defects will be the first use starting with Children. OR they will have a gene that cures Diabetes which will cause a major change in millions of lives. I still think of CRISPER as the new graphine though. Awesome discovery with promise around the corner for years and years.
- dragonwriter 11y agoCuring genetic defects in humans is sexy, but, aside from any issues of difficulty, human therapeutic applications have a longer pathway to commercial implementation than other applications. The first profitable commercial applications are more likely to involve industrially useful bacteria and new engineered crops long before any human therapies.
- mark-r 11y agoYou don't understand. You won't see any cures, because there's no money in cures - cure somebody and they're no longer a customer. The money's in treatments, so that's where the research goes too.
- JoeAltmaier 11y agoIts simple to do; there are billions sitting on the table. Somebody will do it, somewhere.
- dragonwriter 11y agoI think you overestimate the "simple to do" part in terms of actually implementing human therapies, but, in any case, crop and industrial bacteria applications are further along toward commercialization now (some of the former may actually already be commercialized), while human therapies may be among the eventual applications, its quite unlikely (and maybe already passed into "impossible") that they will be the first profitable applications.
- JoeAltmaier 11y agoBut the point of this technique is, its dead simple. Identify a gene and cut it out. Or add one.
- dragonwriter 11y agoIt is (compared to other available techniques, at least) dead simple to cut out or add genes, yes. Practical human therapies that rely on gene editing involve more than just gene editing (and to be viable, profitable commercial applications, they require a whole lot of regulatory steps -- trials, approvals, etc. -- once all the pieces of the process are put together.)
- JoeAltmaier 11y agoSo it won't be invented in America. But it will be made somewhere, then sold on the internet.
- jadeddrag 11y agoIf it's sold on the internet, it will be available for bitcoin only, and maybe only via the darkweb.
- avn2109 11y agoIf internet advertising is any guide, there is plenty of demand for baldness cures, penis enlargement, and bigger boobs. These might not be the first applications of genetic modification tech but I suspect they'll be among the commonest.
- bbcbasic 11y agoThose adverts are for the person who wants to enlarge their penis, not the parents of the unborn child who might like to.
- refurb 11y agoI highly doubt cosmetic uses will be the first. The FDA approves drugs based on risk vs. safety. Having the wrong eye color is pretty low risk in terms of health. Gene editing will be used in fatal or severely disabling diseases with no other options. Even if there are severe side effects, the FDA will likely approve them.
- JoeAltmaier 11y agoThe FDA will have little to do with a pill sold on the internet. Folks will do anything to look good. This is going to happen, ready or not.
- refurb 11y agoModifying your genes via a pill sold on the internet? They might give it a try, but they'll get shut down real quick without FDA approval.
- JoeAltmaier 11y agoHm. Silk Road took a while. And if they work, the guys that are supposed to shut it down will be taking the pills.
- Protostome 11y agoI would first want to see people accept GMO crops. Then I'll be willing to think of people going to the doctor to change their eye color.
- rs232 11y agoFor some reason I believe that cosmetic gene modifications will be more readily accepted than GMOs.
- baldfat 11y ago^ This is it. I can be GMO as a human and have acme free skin? Thank you and here is your $25,000. This will be seen as medical benefit since it cures disease and I can have Green/Hazel eyes. Seriously I refuse to eat Chipotle with their fear mongering Anti-GMO stance on the front window.
- zxcvcxz 11y agoSo is genetically modifying your body pretty safe?
- astazangasta 11y agoHell, no. CRISPR has the benefit of specificity, but the kit must be delivered to the cell by live virus, which can cause problems (heavy immune response), especially if you are infecting with a high enough titer to affect a majority of cells.
- coldpie 11y agoYeah, Chipotle's anti-gmo stance has really killed my desire to eat there. It's is a shame because they had previously been relatively good on the environmental front. Then they fell into the pseudo-science deep-end and here we are.
- iamcurious 11y agoPlus, it will end racism and make anime hair color a reality.
- pfh 11y agoIt also makes experiments to understand gene and regulatory element functions a whole lot easier.
- maxerickson 11y agoThat's the first I've come across gene drives and gene drive escape. It's every bad movie about genetic engineering come to life, and just as scary.
- astazangasta 11y agoIt's not so bad if you know some evolutionary biology. Most of these things have huge fitness costs (e.g. genes that render a mosquito sterile have a fitness of zero), so the possibility of escape is less than the chance of the sun turning into a pumpkin.
- maxerickson 11y agoWhat does "most of these things" mean in this context? Most of the ones that have been designed to date? The possible design space?
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- cconcepts 11y agoTruly extraordinary stuff. But does anyone else lie awake at night wondering why we can do amazing stuff like this yet can't provide everyone clean drinking water or enough protein to eat?
- bgilroy26 11y agoI don't. It is easier to control variables in a few laboratories than to control them in the entire world
- cconcepts 11y agoGood point, on the surface the big world problems seem more straight forward because they're technically less complex. But they are much more than technical problems. Social, geopolitical etc...
- bgilroy26 11y agoYou're right, though. Sourcing clean water & good food for everyone would be more important achievements. Investing in people brings cascading rewards as the people helped are better able to do themselves good and do good for others.
- cconcepts 11y agoI think the difficulty of such problems is what frustrates me about them. If asked me to build a whole new computer operating system there are 100s of books I could turn to to get me started. When it comes to these big social issues, I don't even know where to begin.
- ISL 11y agoThoughtful Nature feature on the subject: http://www.nature.com/news/crispr-the-disruptor-1.17673 http://www.nature.com/news/crispr-the-disruptor-1.17673
- InclinedPlane 11y agoThere has been a consistent pace of advancement in understanding gene regulation, microbiological evolutionary processes, and the systems of cellular machinery and regulation. There haven't been individual huge breakthroughs that are easy to point to and say "ahah! that's the lynchpin of everything, gimme a nobel!" but it's been a steady progression of improved knowledge. It'll be interesting to see if that trend continues and what that new understanding will translate into. In large part it's this stuff which is really fulfilling the promises of things like the human genome project.