I think this warrants it's own thread.
CRISPR:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CRISPR
This new article is just he beginning of potential applications of CRISPR gene editing technology.
https://www.newscientist.com/article...-get-underway/
Quote:
In fact, CRISPR works so well that the first human trial involving the method has already begun. In China, it is being used to disable a gene called PD-1 in immune cells taken from individuals with cancer. The edited cells are then injected back into each person’s body. PD-1 codes for an “off switch” on the surface of immune cells, and many cancers evolve the ability to thwart immune attacks by flipping the PD-1 switch to “off”. On the edited immune cells there is no switch for cancer cells to flip.
A trial in the US due to start soon is far more ambitious. This involves adding an extra gene engineered to make the immune cells target tumours and then using CRISPR to disable PD-1 and two other genes. The addition of tumour-targeting genes has already produced very promising results in trials for cancers like leukaemia, but it has not worked well for solid tumours. The hope is that combining the two techniques will make treatments far more effective.
If these trials show that editing cells’ genomes is safe, it could soon be used to treat a much wider range of diseases, likely starting with eye disorders.
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Kurzgesagt has a great, albeit optimistic, video about this technology.
This is one of those technologies that has kind of slid under the radar, but has implications far reaching. Cheap, effective gene editing. Crazy times we live in.
Noted Skeptical websites, such as Dr. Novella @ Science based Medicine, are optimistic about this technology.
https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/cri...-gene-editing/
The ethical discussion around this is very interesting though. How far should we go?