Welcome back to my blog, guys!! Sorry for the late post. I'm in California for the week and gave myself a pretty bad case of sun poisoning, so i've been a little MIA.
For this post, I really wanted to dig into the technology that makes genetic engineering possible. Unfortunately, that means I had to weed through quite a few articles before I found one that seemed pretty informative. The article by the website New England Biolabs, or neb.com, turned out to be a great resource. It was exactly the article I was looking for-- heavy on the science but also readable. Since this topic is highly scientific in nature, it was quite a hunt to find an article that explained things scientifically but also wasn't catering to the specific audience of other biological scholars.
According the the article, CRISPR, or Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats, is a defensive mechanism found in bacteria such as E. coli, to protect themselves from viruses. The bacteria copies a select part of the virus DNA and adds it to their own, allowing them to effectively eliminate the threat. This is pretty straight forward, and the "simplicity of the type II CRISPR nuclease, with only three required components...makes this system amenable to adaptation for genome editing." This really interested me, because I realized that this wasn't specifically developed for this purpose, but is able to be adapted for it.
When addressing the future of CRISPR/CAS9, the article states that of all systems that can be used for genome editing, CRISPR is by far the most simple and has a lot of potential, even going as far to say that "it's usefulness for genome locus-specific recruitment of proteins will likely only be limited by our imagination."
While this article was great and informative, I found that I needed a little more explaining before I could completely wrap my head around it. I decided to look into Youtube, to see if I could find a visual of the CRISPR process. This was definitely a winner, and I found a lot of useful resources that explain it pretty well. My two favorites:
This video is from an MIT youtube channel, so I felt that it was a pretty credible video, and it explained things really well.
This video is more of a wild card, but it did a great job elaborating on the process explained in the MIT video.
When comparing these two videos, I would have to say that the first focuses a little more on the process, whereas the second one seems to get lost a little bit in the science. However, they both do a good job explaining a very complex topic.
Where am I at now? I'm really glad I went searching for information on CRISPR/Cas9. It has definitely opened my eyes to what exactly is and isn't possible in terms of genome editing. I think the possibilities of where this technology may go is endless, but hopefully if it keeps being tested we can continue to try and understand what this type of technology means for the human race.
Happy blogging!
-Dani
Sources:
https://www.neb.com/tools-and-resources/feature-articles/crispr-cas9-and-targeted-genome-editing-a-new-era-in-molecular-biology
Digging into technology is exactly what you did. I find it interesting that you really must be into this topic because you understand all this scientific information. If I had to write about it, I would focus on the basics of what people need to know to be able to understand deeper. I felt very lost with the information, but that's only me. You have great information to offer. As for designer babies, I'm on the fence with that. There are so many factors and scenarios that would affect the side I picked.
ReplyDeleteYou were very informative in your blog. It really feels as if you did your research. The videos that you adding were great. It's crazy to see where science is at and where it's going in the future. Do you feel as if we maybe going to far? Are there just some things that we shouldn't mess with?
ReplyDeleteWhat did you find interesting about the response? I love how you used videos to show us the intensity if you will of technology used here.
ReplyDeleteWhat would you add to this post? OR What questions does this post generate for you about the topic? This blog entry is great so I don't feel that you need to add anything. I think that your blog has truly became more and more interesting. The question I have is Do you think we are heading in the right direction with this technology?
What do you agree OR disagree with and why? I am really into your topic about designer babies. I don't necessarily agree with it but it is very very interesting. I look forward to what else you can find about this topic.
What did you find interesting about the response? The exploration of the science of the genome, the CRISPR method. What would you add to this post? An overview of the video with a bit more common language would have helped me understand. What do you agree OR disagree with and why? I agree studying the genome is incredible with great potential for people. Reminds me of the work of Aubry de Gray. https://youtu.be/T0lvxTm2iLg
ReplyDeleteThis is my first time visiting your blog and I wish I had been following the whole time. You seem to have started this blog with a basic idea of the subject and this post showcases everything you have learned. I love that this blog is so informative and made me think about this technology more. Do you feel that this is reaching a point of us playing "god" or is it still being used for knowledge?
ReplyDeleteThis is very interesting and i like how you were able to include 2 visuals explaining and showing more detail of exactly what the process is of "designing babies" What are the dangers possible? Do scientists know of any yet?
ReplyDelete