Forbes March 5, 2020
A recent article in Nature indicated that scientists are at the cusp of developing a way to make gene-editing technology safer: by creating proteins which will allow a more targeted approach to gene manipulation. But what exactly is gene-editing in the first place, and why is a targeted approach necessary? The excitement behind this field grew exponentially in the last decade with the increasing popularity of CRISPR-Cas9, a biological complex found in bacteria. Essentially, bacteria in nature use this complex as a defense mechanism against invading viruses by targeting and disabling DNA sequences essential to viral functions. Scientists realized the potential application of this natural phenomenon: if this DNA splicing defense mechanism can be harnessed and expanded in scope, perhaps...
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