Recently there have been significant advances in CRISPR gene-editing technology. The CRISPER stands for "Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats" which refers to a family of DNA sequences that are found in genomes of bacteria and other microorganisms.
In recent news, researchers apart of Harvard University, Broad Institute, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute have found advances in the CRISPR gene. Two papers were published with the work and the finding. The first paper deals with the introduction of cytosine base editors. These cytosine base editors reduce off targeting and edit by a 10 to 100-fold, and this is showing for treatment in human diseases.
The second paper deals with the new finding of CRISPR-Cas9 proteins and how they are capable of targeting larger fractions of pathogenic mutations like the ones that are responsible for diseases related to sickle cell anemia. With these findings are also advancements which are trying to minimize risks of adverse effects and start to expand the components of CRISPR in genome editing. In the research it showed how CRISPR has limited ability to access the entire human genome and introducing us to proteins which are able to recognize DNA sequences without a common pattern. This allows us to target half of DNA sites, even those that were challenged mutations. Because of these findings we have been introduced to more ways to edit genomes and find treatments for genetic diseases.
Source:
How CRISPR technology is advancing — Harvard Gazette
Other:
What is CRISPR/Cas9? - PMC (nih.gov)
Gene editing technology is kind of scary to me, knowing that we can not edit genes to how we want can be very good or very bad in todays society. It will be god because now we can be more preventative with disease, but bad because if it falls in the wrong hands they might abuse it.
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