CRISPR stands for Clustered Regularly Interspace Short Palindromic Repeats. What CRISPR does is basically cut out a specific part of a genome and replace it with a corrected form. It is able to do this because of two important components. There is the guide molecule and the Cas enzyme. The guide molecule is responsible for taking the Cas enzyme to the piece of DNA sequence that will be edited. The Cas enzyme is responsible for breaking down a segment of the DNA sequence. The cell then has its own way to repair the broken DNA. So this is when scientist provide a corrected form of the DNA sequence to act as a template for the cell to copy. This type of repair is a Homologous Recombination. There is one other way the cell can repair itself
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Now that we know the clear advantages of CRISPR, lets discuss the two types of editing. They are Somatic Editing and Germline Editing. In Dr. Kelly Grant presentation, she used Cystic Fibrosis as an example to highlight the difference between the two forms of editing. Basically in Germline Editing, all of the individual’s cells would be healthy and have the corrected genome, including his sperm while with Somatic Editing only the lungs would have the corrected genome. The rest of his body would still be ill and his off springs could still get the disease.
Now even though this technology has incredible potential there is some very clear ethical and moral dilemmas surrounding CRISPER. For example, as stated earlier, Germline Editing will correct every single cell including the reproductive cells. This means that the offspring would lose out on the ability to consent to being genetically modified. Another problem is that this technology could open up a whole new Pandora’s box. For example, in the wrong hands, it could lead to an even more advance form of Eugenics. Also, some would argue that man is playing God by editing organism genes like this. There is also the issue of discerning what needs to be “corrected”. For example, if we were to correct Bipolar Disorder what would be the other effects. There is also the issue of shrinking our gene
Now that we know the clear advantages of CRISPR, lets discuss the two types of editing. They are Somatic Editing and Germline Editing. In Dr. Kelly Grant presentation, she used Cystic Fibrosis as an example to highlight the difference between the two forms of editing. Basically in Germline Editing, all of the individual’s cells would be healthy and have the corrected genome, including his sperm while with Somatic Editing only the lungs would have the corrected genome. The rest of his body would still be ill and his off springs could still get the disease.
Now even though this technology has incredible potential there is some very clear ethical and moral dilemmas surrounding CRISPER. For example, as stated earlier, Germline Editing will correct every single cell including the reproductive cells. This means that the offspring would lose out on the ability to consent to being genetically modified. Another problem is that this technology could open up a whole new Pandora’s box. For example, in the wrong hands, it could lead to an even more advance form of Eugenics. Also, some would argue that man is playing God by editing organism genes like this. There is also the issue of discerning what needs to be “corrected”. For example, if we were to correct Bipolar Disorder what would be the other effects. There is also the issue of shrinking our gene