Quantcast
Channel: Biology
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 999

A powerful tool that lets scientists edit our DNA was discovered mostly by accident

$
0
0

You may have seen the headlines about CRISPR/Cas9, a powerful genetic technique that lets scientists "edit" genes.

It's been hailed as a miracle method that will cure disease, and also as the nefarious technology that will bring about the era of "designer babies."

CRISPR, which stands for "clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats," is a defense mechanism that evolved in bacteria, but has been adapted for use in many other organisms, including humans. It functions like a genetic "find-and-replace" algorithm, letting scientists go in and edit genes inside living cells.

But how did the technique come about? Here's a timeline of some of the main developments:

BI Graphic_CRISPR Timeline (1)

NEXT UP: Scientists may soon be able to 'cut and paste' DNA to cure deadly diseases and design perfect babies

SEE ALSO: CRISPR, the gene-editing tech that's making headlines, explained in one graphic

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Watch science writer Carl Zimmer explain CRISPR in 90 seconds


Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 999

Trending Articles



<script src="https://jsc.adskeeper.com/r/s/rssing.com.1596347.js" async> </script>