The promise of CRISPR
CRISPR is a biological tool that in future will be as impactful as the microchip if not more.
Cas-9 protein is used to delete or insert DNA into cells at a specific site. It may allow us to detect viruses, cure cancer cells and genetic diseases like Sickle cell anemia.
Infact a Chinese researcher actually edited the babies in vitro to be HIV resistant. He is behind the bars right now.
The idea is that molecules can be programmed. You can edit the genome of embryo. Some are worried that playing with nature will have disastrous consequences at some point in the future.
This is true, it is not as straight-forward as you delete one gene for any ailment and get rid of that.
The promise of this technology only becomes reality if we form a common standard in which precise situation should we use CRISPR.
The advantages would be plenty if we manage to do just that.
RNA is what hold the promise. The vaccines for COVID19 are based on the mRNA technology. There is messenger RNA and transcription RNA. Vaccines are instructions to the RNA that prime the host in advance to attack the antigen if the host get it.
Jennifer duodna along with his team contributed in the development of this revolutionary technology.
It will bring out some incredibly hard as well as morally challenging problems in the coming days. But this is how every technology progress.
I am hopeful that this technology will increase life-span, get rid of pain, enhance our abilities like seeing and hearing clearly even in very old age.
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