New CRISPR Technique That Will Change Gene Editing

As we know, CRISPR has been known to cause possible genetic variations that could lead to multiple diseases. However, Dr. David Liu at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard in Cambridge, MA, introduced a new technique that may correct 89 percent of all disease-causing genetic variations caused by CRISPR gene editing.

CRISPR works by deactivating the gene and inserting new DNA. This can cause more mutations that are very difficult to predict. With CRISPR related prime editing, scientists can change individual DNA letters, delete letters, or insert blocks of new letters into the genome. With this technique, almost no damage is done to the actual DNA strand, avoiding risk of additional diseases in the future.

Prime editing has opened up over 7000 cures to potential diseases that CRISPR 1.0 could have never fixed. It also works in cells that no longer divide on their own and can remove an exact number of letters from a given spot on the genome, which is significantly more efficient and precise.

Although it is still in its testing phase, the results are looking really good for mainstream use of this technique in the future.

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