The picture shows a moment in the sample-collecting effort leading to this Pnas paper about a novel heat-tolerant CRISPR enzyme called IgnaviCas9. Exploring nature’s molecular diversity in extreme environmental conditions such as Yellowstone hot springs can yield exciting discoveries and applications.
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The analysis of tweets discussing CRISPR from 2013 to 2019 shows that public enthusiasm for genome editing has cooled a bit, and that’s physiological. As you can see below, a bioRxiv paper associates peaks of strong negative sentiments with specific events.
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I binge-watched Unnatural Selection, as many CRISPR enthusiasts have done. My review in a few words: the Netflix miniseries is a patchwork of bad and good. On the minus side, too many biohackers and too little real science. On the plus side, some interesting reporting on social issues, such as public engagement of local communities and the challenge of patient access to novel therapies. To sum up: episode 1 on biohacking is the worst, episode 3 on gene drives is the best. So my advice is: don’t give up at the first disappointing scenes. You might want to, but do not stop.
Great piece of science by the Liu Lab in Nature, describing the brand new “Search-and-replace genome editing without double-strand breaks or donor DNA”. How is the CRISPR community reacting?
Best quote: “One of those ‘Yay, science!!!’ kind of moments” (Fyodor Urnov quoted in Science)
Most ironic: “Congratulations @davidrliu. We’d probably have published this paper as well (The CRISPR Journal tweet)
Best title: Genome Editing Heads to Primetime (Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News)
Most understated: A New Gene Editing Tool Could Make CRISPR More Precise (Smithsonian Mag)
Most hyped: A New CRISPR Technique Could Fix Almost All Genetic Diseases (Wired)
Here is a semi-serious selection of the things that I liked the most in the documentary by Adam Bolt (please see the gallery’s caption to know why)
The CRISPRmobile driven by Rodolphe Barrangou (the CRISPR journal’s editor-in-chief); Fyodor Urnov’s communication skills (and t-shirt); Francisco Mojica replaying his seminal experiment in Spain; Alta Charo’s Star Trek-inspired bio-optimism; Vladimir Putin representing the voice of bio-pessimism (“it may be more terrifying than a nuclear bomb” he said at the World Youth Festival in Sochi, 21 October 2017); Ruthie and David playing basketball while their relatives worry about their health problems; last but not least the movie’s real star, the gorgeous Cas9!
After Berkeley 2017 and Boston 2018, CRISPR takes center stage in the Netherlands later this week. We’ll be there to hear about science, society and the future of gene editing!
History in the making: student experiment edits DNA with CRISPR technology in space (Iss national lab blog)
Emails reveal that a facility in Dubai and others have asked geneticist He Jiankui for help in gene-editing embryos (The Scientist)
New worries about CRISPR babies: gene edits might have shortened their life expectancy (Nature)
CRISPeR FRENZY 