Quest To Use CRISPR Against Disease Gains Ground (scientificamerican.com) 14
The prospect of using the popular genome-editing tool CRISPR to treat a host of diseases in people is moving closer to reality. From a report: Medical applications of CRISPR-Cas9 had a banner year in 2019. The first results trickled in from trials testing the tool in people, and more trials launched. In the coming years, researchers are looking ahead to more sophisticated applications of CRISPR genome editing that could lay the foundation for treating an array of diseases, from blood disorders to hereditary blindness. But although the results of clinical trials of CRISPR genome editing so far have been promising, researchers say that it is still too soon to know whether the technique will be safe or effective in the clinic. "There's been a lot of appropriate caution in applying this to treating people," says Edward Stadtmauer, an oncologist at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. "But I think we're starting to see some of the results of that work."
It has only been seven years since researchers discovered that a molecular defence system called CRISPR-Cas9, which microbes use to fend off viruses and other invaders, could be harnessed to rewrite human genes. Since then gene-editing has attracted attention for its potential to modify embryos -- an application that is ethically and legally fraught if those embryos are destined to become human beings. But in parallel, scientists have been testing CRISPR's much less controversial ability to disable or correct problematic genes in other cells in order to treat a host of diseases.
It has only been seven years since researchers discovered that a molecular defence system called CRISPR-Cas9, which microbes use to fend off viruses and other invaders, could be harnessed to rewrite human genes. Since then gene-editing has attracted attention for its potential to modify embryos -- an application that is ethically and legally fraught if those embryos are destined to become human beings. But in parallel, scientists have been testing CRISPR's much less controversial ability to disable or correct problematic genes in other cells in order to treat a host of diseases.
Re: (Score:2)
Dude, you've gone too far.
Semi-mature, please. With extra desu.
Anglin foresaw this. (Score:2, Interesting)
Anglin foresaw [dailystormer.name] this new line of attack by the Frankfurt School.
At the time, I thought he was nuts, but I guess maybe I gotta respect his cultural barometer.
Re: (Score:1)
Anglin fucking is a neo-Nazi [wikipedia.org] and The Daily Stormer is a fucking neo-Nazi site. Brainwashed fucks like you also have zero idea what the Frankfurt School [wikipedia.org] is. Hint: it's not a conspiracy, just a school of thought critiquing consumer society and mass media. The thinkers associated with it likely wouldn't even approve of pop music, much less fucking "catgirl waifus".
Upvoting fuckwitted posts like yours is low even for Slashdot.
It won't end well. (Score:2, Informative)
[Except for the outright psychopath biologists, who' ll understand exactly what they'll be doing.]
Re: (Score:2)
We're still taking baby steps, CRISPR may be like Ogg finding that scratching a burnt stick on the cave wall leaves a black line. It's only been two decades since analyzing a human genome took thousands of scientists at hundreds of labs worldwide billions of dollars and a decade, now a tech sticks your cheek swab in the machine and emails you the results in the morning. Genetic editing will be crude at first, but some developments will be very valuable for our species, such as radiation resistance and st
Serious dude (Score:3, Funny)
Kahn!!!! (Score:3)