CRISPR | gene editing breakthrough | End of cancer?

CRISPR, a new genome editing tool, is a medical breakthrough, transforming the field of biology and about to change the world.

CRISPR allows scientists to edit genomes with unprecedented precision, efficiency, and flexibility. A simple analogy is CRISPR is like a word processor - it can cut, copy, paste, and delete DNA of any living organism (humans, plants, insects, food, etc). The past few years have seen a flurry of "firsts" with CRISPR, from creating monkeys with targeted mutations to preventing HIV infection in human cells. In April 2015, Chinese scientists edited human embryos (here), hinting at CRISPR's potential to cure any genetic disease. Last week, scientists used CRISPR to build a malaria-resistant mosquito (here) which in theory could eradicate malaria. Moral issues aside, it's possible to create "designer babies". These are just a few examples of this revolutionary yet intimidating new power. The application of CRISPR is very broad.

In the realm of cancer, it's a very powerful tool that researchers are now using to model cancer in ways that were traditionally tedious, time consuming and lacked accuracy. This technology will accelerate numerous cancer breakthroughs.

Here's a few CRISPR related cancer articles:

Could revolutionary gene-editing technology end cancer? Nov 2015

In vivo CRISPR-Cas9 screen sheds light on cancer metastasis and tumor evolution

Short 2 minute video about CRISPR gene editing.