CRISPR:
“CRISPR” stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats, which are the hallmark of a bacterial defense system which forms the basis for the popular CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing technology.
CRISPR-Cas9 is a genome editing tool that is creating a buzz in the science world. It is faster, cheaper and more accurate than previous techniques of editing DNA and has a wide range of potential applications.
The CRISPR/Cas9 system has been used to achieve efficient genome editing in a variety of species and cell types, including human cell lines, bacteria, zebrafish, yeast, mouse, fruit fly, roundworm, rat, rabbit, common crops, pig, and monkey.
10 Latest Inventions are here,
1.CRISPR Gene-Editing tested in a Person for the First time to cure Cancer in China:
A Chinese group has become the first to inject a person with cells that contain genes edited using the revolutionary CRISPR–Cas9 technique.
China delivered the modified cells into a patient with aggressive lung cancer as part of a clinical trial at the West China Hospital. The introduction of CRISPR, which is simpler and more efficient than other techniques, will probably accelerate the race to get gene-edited cells into the clinic across the world.
2.Using CRISPR to reverse retinitis pigmentosa and restore visual function:
Using the gene-editing tool CRISPR/Cas9, researchers at University of California San Diego and few other researchers have reprogrammed mutated rod photoreceptors to become functioning cone photoreceptors, reversing cellular degeneration and restoring visual function in two mouse models of retinitis pigmentosa.
3.CRISPR helps to alleviate Depression:
Now Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Sage Therapeutics in Boston are trying a different approach to alleviate depression.
Most antidepressant drugs target serotonin receptors, aiming to boost serotonin, a chemical thought to regulate mood and social behavior. Using CRISPR technology, the scientists have been able to target an altogether different type of receptor called delta-type GABA receptors. They think that natural mood-boosting substances in the brain can target these receptors.
Researchers focused on GABA receptors located on neurons in the brain’s hippocampus, a part of the brain involved in learning and memory. Using CRISPR, they mutated the delta-type GABA receptors to isolate and test their role in brain functioning.
4.Researchers use CRISPR to edit DNA outside of the cell for the first time:
Scientists have developed a potentially breakthrough CRISPR gene-editing tool. It could allow researchers to take fragments of DNA extracted from human cells, put them into a test tube, and quickly and precisely engineer multiple changes to the genetic code.
The advance could have immediate value as a diagnostic tool, replicating the exact genetic mutations found in the tumors of individual cancer patients. Mutations that cause cancer to spread can differ from patient to patient, and being able to quickly identify the correct mutation affecting an individual patient can allow clinicians to implement a more targeted treatment strategy.
5.CRISPR successfully lowers Cholesterol in Mice:
Biomedical engineers at Duke University have used a CRISPR/Cas9 genetic engineering technique to turn off a gene that regulates cholesterol levels in adult mice, leading to reduced blood cholesterol levels and gene repression lasting for six months after a single treatment. This marks the first time researchers have delivered CRISPR/Cas9 repressors for targeted therapeutic gene silencing in adult animal models.
6.Curing disease by repairing faulty Genes:
MIT researchers have now developed a way to deliver the CRISPR genome repair components more efficiently than previously possible, and they also believe it may be safer for human use. In a study of mice, they found that they could correct the mutated gene that causes a rare liver disorder, in 6 percent of liver cells enough to cure the mice of the disease, known as tyrosinemia. The researchers believe their new technique could be used to treat wide range of diseases, especially those of the liver.
7.Chinese Scientists Create Low-Fat Pigs using CRISPR-Cas9:
Chinese scientists have created low-fat pigs using new genetic engineering techniques. The scientists created low-fat pigs in the hopes of providing pig farmers with animals that would be less expensive to raise and would suffer less in cold weather. The animals have less body fat because they have a gene that allows them to regulate their body temperatures better by burning fat. That could save farmers millions of dollars in heating and feeding costs, as well as prevent millions of piglets from suffering and dying in cold weather.
8.New gene-editing technology partially restores vision in blind animals:
Researchers from Salk Institute have discovered a holy grail of gene editing.
For the first time, they found the ability to insert DNA at a target location into the non-dividing cells that make up the majority of adult organs and tissues. The technique was able to partially restore visual responses in blind rodents, will open new avenues for basic research and a variety of treatments, such as for retinal, heart and neurological diseases.
9.Gene Editing Tool “CRISPR Cas9” paves way for Sickle Cell Cure:
A team of physicians and laboratory scientists has taken a key step toward a cure for sickle cell disease, using CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing to fix the mutated gene responsible for the disease in stem cells from the blood of affected patients. For the first time, they have corrected the mutation in a proportion of stem cells that is high enough to produce a substantial benefit in sickle cell patients.
10.CRISPR stores a Movie into the DNA of Bacteria:
For the first time, a primitive movie has been encoded in – and then played back from – DNA in living cells. The research team shows in foundational proof-of-principle experiments that the CRISPR system is able to encode information as complex as a digitized image of a human hand, reminiscent of some of the first paintings drawn on cave walls by early humans, and a sequence of one of the first motion pictures made ever, that of a galloping horse, in living cells.
When a virus infects a bacterium, CRISPR cuts out part of the foreign DNA and stores it in the bacteria’s own genome. The bacterium then uses the stored DNA to recognize the virus and defend against future attacks.
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