Topic > Genetic modification of DNA: Crispr

Have you ever wondered how genetic modification can change our lives. A recent turning point, which can change the way we live and what we perceive as normal, forever. Since the 1960s, scientists have been tampering with plants with radiation to cause random mutations in the genetic code. The idea was to obtain useful plant variations by pure chance, sometimes it would even work. In the 1970s, scientists inserted fragments of DNA into bacteria, plants and animals. Study and modify them for research, medicine, agriculture and just for fun. We say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The first genetically modified animal was born in 1974 producing mice and standards for research, saving millions of lives. In the 1980s, we obtained the first commercial patent for a microbe designed to absorb oil. Today we produce many chemicals through engineered life, such as life savers, clotting factors, growth hormones, and insulin. In the 1990s, there was also a briefing on human engineering to cure maternal infertility, children were created who carried genetic information from 3 humans, making them the first humans to have 3 genetic parents. Today there are super-muscled pigs, fast-growing salmon, featherless chickens and transparent frogs. Gene editing was already impressive, but until recently it was becoming complicated and expensive, and time-consuming. The situation has now changed with the new revolutionary technology that is entering the CRISPR phase. Overnight, the cost of engineering dropped by 99% instead of a year, it takes a few weeks to conduct experiments, and virtually anyone with a lab can do it. CRISPR literally has the potential to change humanity forever. You may be wondering why revolution suddenly happens and how does it work? Bacteria and viruses have been fighting since the dawn of life. So-called bacteriophages or phages hunt bacteria. Bacteria can sometimes survive the attack only if they can activate their most effective antivirus system and save part of the virus's DNA in their own genetic code DNA archive called CRISPR. Which is stored safely when needed. CRISPR works by providing a copy of the DNA that you want to edit and insert into the system into a living cell. In addition to being precise, cheap and easy, CRISPR offers the ability to edit live cells, turn genes on and off, and identify and study the sequence of DNA. This would also work with microorganisms, plants, animals or humans. In 2015, scientists used CRISPR to eliminate the HIV virus from patients' living cells in the laboratory, proving that this was possible. Just about a year later, they did a larger-scale project with rats that had the HIV virus in virtually every cell in their bodies. By simply injecting CRISPR into the rat's tail, they were able to remove more than 50% of the virus from cells throughout the body. In a few decades, a CRISPR therapy could cure HIV and other retroviruses, viruses that hide in human DNA such as herpes could be eradicated this way. CRISPR could also defeat one of our worst enemies: cancer. CRISPR gives us the means to modify immune cells and make them better cancer hunters. The first clinical trial for a CRISPR cancer treatment in human patients was approved in early 2016 in the United States. And then there are genetic diseases. There are thousands of them and they range from the mildly annoying to the deadly or those who suffer for decades, e.g.