Imagine there is a couple in the year 2024. The husband just found out that his wife is pregnant. Although he is excited, the fact that his son could be born with diseases like Hepathitis B or (in severe cases) Cancer, worries him. But recently, he finds out about this tool that science has perfected recently. Now you can stop imagining because this is now a reality! Yes, no lies. We have got to the point where we can genetically modify certain genomic structures in our body. Introducing, CRISPR.CAS9, a genomic engineering and modification tool that can be used for modifying different structures of diseases such as West Nile, the rising Zika virus, and even specific types of Cancer, to produce and market these antidotes to diseases.
CRISPR was invented by Dr. Rodger Novak, Dr. Emmanuelle Charpentier and Shaun Foy in November 2013 with initial funding from Versant Ventures and the mission of developing gene-editing based therapeutics for serious diseases. The company was established in Basel, Switzerland and subsequently opened R&D operations in Cambridge, Massachusetts. After formation of the company, the founding team was expanded to include leading scientists with diverse expertise as scientific advisors. “Our team is comprised of experts in fields such as CRISPR/Cas9 and other systems for gene editing, stem cell biology, advanced drug delivery technologies, RNA interference and gene silencing.” Said Shaun Foy.
Now to the science behind how CRISPR works and the history behind it. A genome editing tool. CRISPR is actually a naturally-occurring, ancient defense mechanism found in a wide range of bacteria. They called this odd configuration clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats,” or CRISPR. This was all puzzling until scientists realized the unique sequences in between the repeats matched the DNA of viruses—specifically viruses that prey on bacteria. It turns out CRISPR is one part of the bacteria’s immune system, which keeps bits of dangerous viruses around so it can recognize and defend against those viruses next time they attack. The second part of the defense mechanism is a set of enzymes called Cas (CRISPR-ASsociated proteins), which can precisely snip DNA and slice invading viruses. Conveniently, the genes that encode for Cas are always sitting somewhere near the CRISPR sequences.
Overall, CRISPR.CAS9 has proven to not only be one of the biggest scientific breakthroughs in history, but a successful modification tool developed by Dr. Emmanuelle Charpentier and Dr. Rodger Novak. Sure, one could agree that the people that made CRISPR are overconfident about the situation but according to genomeweb.com, “CRISPR sequences were first observed nearly 30 years ago,” that means that since the 1986, the CRISPR sequence has been tested, modified, and almost perfected to benefit the lives of humans everywhere. I don’t know if you need more evidence than that.
Grover Middle School's Jagazine 