Stunning, revolutionary, momentous: these are some of the adjectives sprinkled by leading international journals over CRISPR. In the last few years the new technique of genetic modification has been mentioned in hundreds of studies, not counting the articles published in the lay press. The keyword CRISPR (pronounced crisper) produces 6 million Google search results. Being the author of a book and a blog on the topic I can be dubbed as a genome-editing-enthusiast, but the title and logo I’ve chosen for my news and views diary are a way of kidding about the frenzy. The mug standing out on the homepage echoes the famous claim “Keep calm and carry on”. Keep calm and crispr on. When major scientific achievements arrive, or unexpected obstacles come between, because there are always some, or controversy erupts over this or that application of the technology, it won’t be the end of the world. Don’t panic and keep on crispring. Continue reading
Crazy 4 CRISPR
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Refining, chiselling, correcting DNA letter by letter. You can do it simultaneously in dozens of selected sites, or in one place, leaving no trace. A new kind and powerful technique is changing the face of biology. Cheap and easy to handle but precise as a laser. It allows reaserchers to change living organisms as they wish, by carefully targeting their DNA. It doesn’t bombard them by means of random mutations, it doesn’t cut and sew the DNA in a traditional way, as in the past. Will it transform medicine, agriculture and the world as we know it? Enthusiasm and fears are chasing each other, and this book explains the unfolding revolution. Welcome to the age of CRISPR. 
CRISPeR FRENZY 