292 - Gene Editing with CRISPR/Cas

omega tau science & engineering podcast

Guest: Sam Sternberg Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Thomas Machowinski

CRISPR is a family of DNA sequences in bacteria and archaea that are a part of these organisms’ cellular defense system. A recent discovery showed how this mechanism can be used to edit genes much more easily than legacy methods. In this episode I chat with Sam Sternberg about the naturally occuring CRISPR systems, how they work, and how CRISPR together with its associated enzymes can be used to cut, and subsequently, edit, DNA. We conclude the episode with an outlook on the potential use in medicine.

Check out Sam’s book A Crack in Creation: Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution.

Es gibt außerdem ein Kurz&Knackig Video:

Intro and General

00:02:22

Guest is Samuel Sternberg | CRISPR Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats | CAS9 CRISPR Associated protein 9 | DNA | Gene | RNA | Protein | Enzymes | 2007 Discovery: CRISPR gene sequences stores DNA information from pathogenes / e.g. viruses

Genome Editing with CRISPR/CAS9

00:23:02

Genome Editing | Nucleus | ZFN | TALEN | 23andMe | Homolgy directed repair | Transfection | Off-target effect | GMO | Genome splicing | CRISPR/CAS9 Method in comparsion to traditional genome editing and breeding

Genral Discussion

01:09:45

Patents in Biology | Sam's work in detail | Cas13 edits RNA instead of DNA | Sam's book