The Power and Peril of Gene Editing CRISPR/Cas9 Technology
The must-read summary of “A Crack in Creation: Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution” by Jennifer A. Doudna and Samuel H. Sternberg.
This complete summary of Jennifer Doudna and Samuel Sternberg’s book tells the story of CRISPR and “gene-editing.” CRISPR is a cutting-edge gene-editing technology that mimics what happens naturally in bacteria. It enables scientists to “play god” with plant or animal DNA, with unlimited power and peril.
The technology of gene editing is the most important advance in our era. The possibility of forever altering the genetic composition of humankind is frightening. Yet we can’t overlook the opportunities that may lead to inventions for cures of HIV, debilitating genetic diseases, and cancers, and end food shortages.
The book will demystify this exciting area of science and inspire you to seek answers to tough moral and ethical questions on the use of this technology.
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Read this summary and get involved in the debate on the moral and ethical issues on the use of this technology.
Genre: STUDY AIDS / Study GuidesSince the 1960s, researchers at the National Institution of Health (NIH) have been studying a rare hereditary disease known as WHIM syndrome, a painful immunodeficiency disease caused by a single letter mutation in the DNA. Kim, known as WHIM-09 to the NIH researchers, had been diagnosed with the disease since birth and hospitalized multiple times with serious infections caused by the disease. In 2013, Kim presented with her two daughters to the staff at NIH for her follow up study. The two daughters, both in their early twenties, had classic signs of the disease, but Kim herself seemed fine.
After running a battery of tests, the NIH scientists slowly put together an explanation for Kim's cure. They concluded that a single cell in her body must have experienced an uncommon phenomenon known as chromothripsis. Chromothripsis is a phenomenon in which a chromosome suddenly shatters and is then repaired, leading to a massive rearrangement of the genes within it. This rearrangement of DNA letters within the chromosome is known to cause both cancer and congenital diseases. But in Kim's case, the rearranged chromosome had rid of the diseased copy of CXCR4, the gene causing WHIM syndrome. That fortunate cell was a hematopoietic stem cell, which had passed along its rearranged chromosome to all its daughter cells, repopulating Kim's entire immune system with healthy new white cells free of the CXCR4 mutation. This chain of events had wiped out the disease that Kim had since birth.
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