Thanks to new research from a team at Western University, we may be closer than ever to curing some of humanity’s most devastating diseases…The latest version of CRISPR/Cas9 promises to make “gene-editing more efficient and potentially more specific in targeting genes.”
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“The problem with CRISPR is that it will cut DNA, but then DNA-repair will take that cut and stick it back together,” David Edgell, associate professor at Western’s Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, noted. “That means it is regenerating the site that the CRISPR is trying to target, creating a futile cycle. The novelty of our addition, is that it stops that regeneration from happening.”
The addition Edgell is referring to is the new enzyme called TevCas9, which Western University explains, cuts the DNA in two places (right now, it’s only cut in one), which makes it harder for DNA to repair itself.
Related on the SLP
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“Because there are two cut-sites, there is less chance that these two sites occur randomly in the genome…” said co-author Caroline Schild-Poulter, associate professor at Schulich Medicine & Dentistry….
The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion, and analysis. Read full, original post: We Might Be Closer Than Ever to Using CRISPR to Cure Diseases
