CRISPR and Human Life Research Assignment

CRISPR and Human Life
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CRISPR and Human Life
The last half-century has experienced a revolution in genetic engineering. Discovered in 2013, CRISPR has been considered as the biggest game changer to hit biology since PCR. CRISPR is a gene-editing tool and compared to other methods of editing genes with molecular tools it is not only cheaper and quicker it is also easier to use, the reason for its widespread use in laboratories today. However, just like in vitro fertilization (IVF) in the 1970s, when it was introduced, there are those who have concerns about its rapid progress. Unlike IVF that does not make any changes to the human genome, only changes the site of fertilization, CRISPR edits the human genome. While some scientists are worried whether technique generates stray and risky genome edits, others, such as religious leaders see it a threat to the nature of humanity as it interferes with God’s creation (Ariana, 2018). Despite the concerns, CRISPR technologies are being applied in research and beyond, for example, genome screening and in food and industry biotechnology.
Louise Brown, the world’s first baby born through IVF, turned 40 a few months ago (Henig, 2003). Her birth was prominently featured in the headlines for varied reasons and was surrounded by controversy. Although IVF was a significant step in science, many were horrified by it, and even some scientists feared that she would not be normal and that laboratory manipulation would leave dreadful genetic derailments (Henig, 2003). IVF has led to the birth of birth of seven million children worldwide and the fears people had at the time of its introduction may seem quaint and absurd. IVF brings hope to barren marriages and fertility clinics are currently a $17 billion business globally (Ariana, 2018). However, the same fears surround the human cloning and other genetic interventions such as CRISPR and PCR; that they may become as commonplace as a test tube baby. Religious leaders, especially the Catholics considered IVF as unnatural, immoral and possibly dangerous, and feared that IVF babies would possess superhuman powers or weird defects not known to humans. (Ariana, 2018) Critics of IVF kept the federal govern from funding research and unwillingly paved the way for its tremendous growth with little oversight as private companies filled the funding volume to support entrepreneurial scientist. Due to lack of oversight, it only in the recent years that the rate of congenital disabilities and low birth weight related to IVF has come to light (Henig, 2003). In the same way, some scientists fear that the rapid increase in the application of CRISPR, with little oversight, may lead to genetic defects that may be kept hidden from the general public. The concerns about CRISPR revolve around its potential for treating disease or gene-editing of human embryos.
The first use of CRISPR-Cas9 was reported by researchers in early 2013, to slice the genome in human cells at the preferred locations (Ledford, 2016). Since then, molecular biologists have widely adopted the technique which is an extraordinarily powerful way to understand the functioning of the genome. CRISPR-Cas9 is altering how biologists can tinker with cells in the following ways: broken scissors, CRISPR epigenetics, CRISPR code cracking, CRISPR in blue light and model CRISPR (Ledford, 2016). The CRISPR-Cas9 system is made up of two components: “a Cas9 enzyme that snips through DNA like a pair of molecular scissors, and a small RNA molecule that directs the scissors to a specific sequence of DNA to cut”(Barrangou & Doudna, 2016). The cell’s natural DNA repair machinery generally mends the cut, but prone to making mistakes, inspiring scientists who want to interfere with a gene to learn its functions. CRISPR offers biologists specificity: “the ability to target and study particular DNA sequences in the vast expanse of a genome” (Barrangou & Doudna, 2016). CRISPR is a useful tool in epigenetics as it allows for testing or a gene’s function (Ledford, 2016). Scientists believe that CRISPR will assist in cracking the genomic codes that are not yet broken.
CRISPR has found applications in technologies in research and beyond as “programmable DNA cleavage enables efficient site-specific genome engineering in both single cells and whole organisms” (Barrangou & Doudna, 2016). The highly versatile genome editing enabled by CRISPR is useful in the research areas such as imaging chromosomes, conducting genome-wide screens, modifying epigenomes and controlling transcription. CRISPR–Cas9 provides tools for genome manipulation in animals, plants, and microorganisms; cell therapy will start in localized tissues such as the liver, blood, and eye. CRISPR systems are being used to treat genetic disorders in animals and most probable eye and blood diseases in human. The application of genome-wide screening in diseases, such as leukemia, will result in the design of anti-cancer drugs. For example in China and the United States, two clinical trials were approved to target cancer therapies using CRISPR-Cas9 (Barrangou & Doudna, 2016). Beyond applications in biomedical, CRISPR tools are finding applications in expediting crops and livestock breeding, engineering new antimicrobials and using gene drives to control disease-carrying insects.
According to Jasanoff & Hurlbut (2018), the development of CRISPR systems is faster than our understanding of the ramifications. The Washington summit of 2015 brought stakeholders from both science and academics to discuss this issue, particularly the use of CRISPR-Cas9 in human genome editing. They agreed that is it a pre-implantation genetic diagnosis that usually necessitates modification with a few exceptions. The summit advocated for the establishment of a global observatory for gene editing as the first step in evaluating how science can promote the values and priorities of the society (Jasanoff & Hurlbut, 2018).