California man invites scientists to experiment with CRISPR on his rare disorder

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Image: Malakkar Vohryzek

On one level, Malakkar Vohryzek always knew what was wrong with him. For as long as he can remember — he’s now 43 — the sun has been his enemy, making angry-looking moles pop up on his white-as-a-fish-belly skin.

But there is no name for what Vohryzek has, and no cure. There is no known inherited genetic mutation that might explain why just a few ultraviolet rays make his skin cells proliferate wildly, forming moles. One of these days, Vohryzek is convinced, he’ll overlook one, or wait too long before seeing a dermatologist, and he’ll wake up with malignant melanoma.

Vohryzek, a legal researcher and IT consultant in southern California, has therefore taken matters into his own hands. For the last few months, he has blitzed scientists, biotechnology companies, and biohackers as far away as Sendai, Japan, with email pleas to please CRISPR him.

“CRISPR science has the potential to save billions of lives, and end misery for billions more,” he said. “I have hundreds of reasons to willingly contribute my own body for furthering its research, and no reason at all not to.”

Read full, original post: ‘I just want to live’: California man pleads with scientists around the world to ‘CRISPR me’

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