Identifying Unintended Gene Changes

CRISPR is a developing technique used for genetic modification. Using this technique, scientists will be able to edit DNA, hopefully resulting in the ability to fix genetic disorders, better treat cancer, and modify other organisms to produce otherwise limited chemicals.
 
This technique shows promise, but like any other developing process, it is not without its hiccups. CRISPR can result in unintended gene changes. Typically, these edits come in the form of deletion. Previously, these deletions were difficult to locate. A recent innovation has shortened time required to identify these mistakes significantly. I hope that this improvement to CRISPR efficiency and safety allows to be used to treat more people.

Links:
https://www.labroots.com/trending/genetics-and-genomics/16314/tool-rapidly-detects-unintended-gene-changes-crispr
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-05736-3

Is DNA making more mistakes then you think?

Everyday people advertise ways to stop the second highest killer in America: cancer. One might see a commercial on tv saying taking vitamins, drinking a glass of red wine at dinner or even just taking a walk at dinner can help someone prevent cancer. While some things might help to significantly reduce the chance of certain types of cancers, such as quitting smoking will reduce the risk of lung cancer, is isn't always the case. According to an article written by Sara G. Miller for Live Science, Nearly Two-Thirds of cancers are due to random DNA mistakes. New studies have shown that unlike previously though a decent portion of cancer cases aren't due to heredity or environmental factors. When a cell divides it copies its DNA through a process called DNA replication and this happens in the billions of cells in our bodies every day. After time it is bound for our bodies to make a mistake, I mean hey they are just human. Some mistakes that can be made during this process are a substitution, insertion or deletion. This means no matter how perfect the environment or how amazing someones family tree is there is still about a 66% chance of getting cancer.  Although this doesn't mean we should all throw away our research on cancer prevention, the risk of some cancers can be highly lowered with changes to everyday life.    

This article shows crazy statistics about how cancer mostly really is just due to completely random mistakes. This could lead to insight on finding ways we can combat cancer with not just environmental changes.  Cancer is the second highest killer and any advancement we can make in finding ways to prevent or fix cancer would be extremely beneficial.