In this week’s episode, PNM looks into the basic mechanism and potential of gene editing. This technique, often referred to as a tool, uses a delivery system for CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) containing a protein, mostly Cas9, that can snip out targeted genes, and optionally replace those genes. Our guest is Krishanu Saha, Assistant Professor in biomedical engineering at UW-Madison. The variety and range of uses of CRISPR is staggering. For instance, Kris’ lab studies the use of CRISPR on stem cells to see whether specifically induced tissue can resist the effects of various toxic chemicals. Our discussion barely scratched the surface of this groundbreaking technique, like its ethical considerations.

For more information, check out Radiolab’s episode called “Antibodies Part 1: CRISPR.”
On that page is a link to an article by science journalist Carl Zimmer that does a great job in describing gene editing. Here’s a link that article.
Another fairly decent description of CRISPR comes from the website nature.com.
To understand how CRISPR is being used in research, check out this New York Times article on research dealing with Muscular dystrophy.