With our second episode in our tri-part series on CRISPR, we’re going deep into the science, technology, tools, and people behind the breakthrough gene editing technology! If you remember from our first RNA rodeo, CRISPR is genetic technology that borrows the genius of bacteria to give humans unprecedented power over DNA. Head back to the previous episode if you want to catch up on Cellular Biology, which provides a baseline so we can all appreciate just how revolutionary CRISPR really is. This time around, Mitch & Petra explore the stories of the many visionaries who came together to discover CRISPR - and in the process, your hosts explain how the technology actually works. In our next episode, we’ll explore the wild world of CRISPR applications, including the many ethical quandaries that keep cropping up as the adoption of the technology grows. As always, thanks for getting real with us, and be sure to leave your comments and feedback on our website!
Show Notes
To get us started, here’s a great resource that provides an overview of the CRISPR story and the many discoveries that paved the way for Jennifer Doudna, Emmanuelle Charpentier, and their colleagues to create programmable editing tools:
https://www.quantamagazine.org/crispr-natural-history-in-bacteria-20150206/
If you’re more of a visual learner, you might enjoy this quick video describing how CRISPR works in the wild - featuring Jennifer Doudna herself, along with a fantastic reference to that genetic most wanted list:
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/how-crispr-works/
Or, if you want a deeper level of understanding on the science itself, check out this helpful overview of the biology associated with CRISPR:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5738243/
Here’s a useful overview of the delivery methods for CRISPR, which shows that even though the tool is remarkably straightforward, delivering that technology is another challenge entirely:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6058482/
This great interview with Francisco Mojica, one of the people who named CRISPR, speaks to just how many creative minds came together to make this transformative technology possible:
https://www.labiotech.eu/interview/francis-mojica-crispr-interview/
Finally, if you’re into legal issues, check out this epic, ongoing dispute over the patent rights and ownership of CRISPR:
https://synbiobeta.com/who-owns-crispr-in-2021-its-even-more-complicated-than-you-think/
What do you think? Who really invented CRISPR? Can humans ever really own a “technology” that bacteria use every day to defend themselves? Or, is it worth going to court over the scientific act of turning a biological defense mechanism into a programmable tool to cure genetic disease? And one last one to get you ready for the final episode in our tri-part series: who should have access to using CRISPR?
