The name of the game is “ CRISPR” which stands for "CRISPR-Cas9."
This novel technology is here, with reports emerging on edited and modified embryos and finding a cure for certain types of cancer. This technology which will revolutionize how we deal with debilitating and chronic disease through simplistic mechanism entailing molecular scissors, capable of cutting strands of DNA.
Is this coup d'état of our conventional scientific thinking? It’s not until 2017 when Mikihiro Shibata of Kanazawa University and Hiroshi Nishimasu of the University of Tokyo took the stance and showed us what it really looks like when a CRISPR goes in action. It is revolutionary, its genome editing at its best! It involves replacing DNA sequences as such manipulating the message of gene transcription.
Its clinical application promises a novel way for therapeutic intervention in humans. This technology has proven to be effective in correcting genetic defects in various disease including cystic fibrosis, cataracts, and Fanconi anemia. It also has an application in gene drives, through which gene editing and manipulation can lead to a new trait controlling well known deadly diseases and pathogen like malaria.
However, the public perception of this new technology and its ethical drawbacks and awareness cannot be concealed. The “off-target effects” makes one wonder if we are ready for this?
The "off-target effects," might lead to unwarranted mutations and untoward effects. The implications of tampering with human genomes are frightening, and the scope of its consequence could be detrimental and impose safety risks.
Who would be concerned and responsible if this technology finds its pathway to activists of dark science and practices? Would gene editing take a stroll on enhancing human characteristics? Hence, those and many other questions mandated that the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine come together and develop a comprehensive report with guidelines and recommendations for genome editing. The core message was to use caution and not a prohibition in germline editing rendering the activity of CRISPR to alter chronic and serious diseases.
Yet, the technology is continuously evolving and its applications are becoming diverse tackling the Zika virus, in-vitro modification of embryonic heart defects and the list keep growing bigger and bigger.
CRISPR is here to stay and its therapeutic intervention and modification are endless. Surely, human lust and perpetrator of dark science will infect any technology that is novel and inflict their practices on it. This will undoubtedly alarm public scrutiny which will be politicized toward different merits and agendas.
2024. All rights reserved