There are various newly-formed biotech firms that are working to bring CRISPR technology right through the doors of the clinic. There is a working theory that CRISPR could be utilized to raise the abilities of the body’s T cells so that the immune system is strong at recognizing and taking out cancer. Diseases of the blood and immune system are also probable targets. One problem about all this work is a big flagrant battle over CRISPR. On one side is Professor Doudna’s team, on the other side is a business located in Boston, Massachusetts. The patent row could potentially have a major effect on who collects the financial royalties of this booming technology. Two original examples of gene editing have officially made it into the clinic. Last year a method known as TALENs was applied to help get rid of cancer by reversing it in a patient at London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital. Layla Richards possessed an intense kind of leukemia, and every other treatment hadn’t worked. She is now the first person to date whose life has been positively altered by gene editing. The world’s first ever trials in regards to gene-editing occurred right in sunny California, involving a different method, ZFNs. About 80 patients with HIV had immune cells in their blood taken out. Scientists then removed a gene entitled CCR5 which HIV needs to be able to get itself into cells. This method is based on a rare gene mutation which lets people have a more natural immunity to the disorder.
Using CRISPR, scientists can actually physically edit organisms, erasing the particles that end up having some unwanted outcomes. Ethicists are nervous about a push toward designer babies. And there have been some pretty disturbing experiments on that topic over in China. But, the only opportunity in the nearest reality has always been nature. Organisms are always going through this process naturally. They grow. It just takes time. Gene editing fast-forwards the routine of growing, cutting off years, decades and sometimes millennia. This is actually different from GMOs, otherwise known as genetically modified organisms. GMOs bring in unfamiliar organisms to create better outcomes. It’s best to think of their end product as a chemical form of Frankenstein’s monster. For instance, in 1994 Calgene got the approval to distribute the Flavr Savr tomato. To create a Flavr Savr, scientists genetically modified a garden variety tomato with aminoglycoside 3-phosphotransferase II, which is a compound that was inserted to keep the fruit from rotting.
3.) Hope For Alzheimer’s Patients
Martin Kampmann a cell biologist at the Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases at the University of California San Francisco, has aided in the development of a CRISPR-based method to be able to identify the controlling ways of genes that have the ability to cause neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.The goal at hand as of right now is to seek out new methods for developing treatments. Unfortunately, the disease is rarely looked upon closely enough, and with CRISPR, the time is now.
To learn more about CRISPR, watch the YouTube video below!