The December issue of Le Scienze (the Italian edition of Scientific American) has a feature by me on the ignorome. Yes, you read that right: the ignorome is the genome of which we ignore all or most, and it amounts to about a third of the total. The so called “dark genes” are under-studied precisely because researchers usually prefer to focus on targets closer to clinical applications. Yet hidden among these overlooked elements could be the blockbuster drugs of the future. I discussed this challenge with Danish bioinformatician Søren Brunak and two winners of the first Telethon call dedicated to the dark genome. Enza Maria Valente and Silvia Nicolis both work in neurodevelopmental genetics, although they focus on different diseases. [NB: you won’t be surprised to know that CRISPR is one of the tools being used to shed light on genes that are still enigmatic even if the human genome is over 20 years old]
The research institute CREA is experimenting with CRISPR to improve Italian typical products. The project called BIOTECH is funded with 6 million euros from the Italian ministry of agriculture. Wheat, tomatoes, vines, fruits and more are on the menu, as reported by me in a 6-pages feature published in Le Scienze, the national edition of Scientific American. 
CRISPeR FRENZY 