Technology has finally brought genome editing to life. CRISPR-Cas9 is changing the way we see biology by allowing us to make changes to specific genes directly from our living cells. This has been possible through other techniques, but now it is easier, more efficient, and safer.
CRISPR-Cas9 Is the Scientific Breakthrough of the Year
Despite the ethical debates surrounding this topic, the point of this technology is to understand how the cells in human bodies work and understand how certain genes behave. This technology will be of great help to answer these questions.
This Genome Editing Technology Will Help Patients
What’s more, CRISPR-Cas9 will be of fantastic help in the medical field. It can help pinpoint what changes in genes cause certain diseases like cancer, and it can repair genomes to adjust and remove the risk of cancer. In labs, the technology will facilitate experiments that were too time-consuming or strenuous before. This technology could in be the answer to curing HIV. By deleting the HIV genome from cells, it can heal completely.
CRISPR-Cas9 Will Save the Planet
CRISPR-Cas9 also has applications in other ecosystems. It can help turn genes in plants on and off to also cure plant diseases. All in all, this new technology has the ability to help out nearly every scientific field in the book, and this is just three years after it was first unveiled.
The Debate Remains, CRISPR-Cas9 Technology Will Bring the Sims to Life
Regardless of the importance of the invention, the ethical debate still stands. This technology does have the ability to facilitate ‘made-to-order babies’ and could bring the word mutants to life. But the researchers in charge of the technology aren’t really interested in that.
For some people, this means that their dreams to bring The Sims to the real world. For others, it means that we can finally start finding ways to win fights against disease. It will also be a means to protect our plants, our trees and ultimately our planet. Of course people who love X-Men will see the this as the opportunity for mutants to be created, and video game fanatics will see this as the next great human tragedy. But for now, it’s intentions are only good.
