CRISPR Reflection - Exploring by the Seat of Your Pants

The presentation on CRISPR was given by Jesse Hildebrand and Rodolphe Barrangu. 

What is CRISPR?

CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) is a tool used for genetically modifying DNA and RNA by precisely cutting DNA. This creates a gap for the DNA to patch by-itself, and could be considered a mutation or as CRISPR classifies, gene editing.

Before attending the presentation, I thought that gene editing was only used in agriculture. In the grocery store, I often scan items on the shelves for the “Non-GMO” sticker, assuring me that the products I’m about to buy are not genetically modified. However, today I learned that genetically modified organisms can be edited for good purpose in order to add more nutritional value to once ordinary crops. CRISPR technology is used in many fields including: Therapeutics, research, and biotechnology along with agriculture. 

CRISPR in Medicine

In medicine, CRISPR technology has been used to treat patients with sickle cell anemia, a genetic disease that changes the blood cell shape and causes a loss of healthy cells due to the abnormal shape. Today I learned about the first patient to receive CRISPR technology as a form of medicine. Victoria Grey received the technology to target the sickle cell anemia in her genome, which was edited and then released back into her body to correct the genetic disease.

Ethics of CRISPR

An interesting point that one of my classmates brought up was the ethics of genetically modified organisms and if there are consequences to CRISPR. Dr. Barrangu talked about how there are ethical limitations to what genes should be edited. An example he used was germline cells, cells that pass down genetic information through generations, and explained that editing a human genome for someone who has not been born yet is unethical. 

CRISPR will be extremely revolutionary in the medical field for treating countless genetic diseases and has already made an impact on sickle cell anemia treatments however, there is a point when gene editing could become unethical. When I thought about CRISPR in the medical field, I was reminded of the fictional story, Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, in which human modification is taken too far, to the point of cloning people in order to harvest their organs. In the book, children are raised in an English boarding school from birth until they are young adults, however, they do not know or realize their purpose in life until they leave the school. The main character, Kathy, has an identity crisis for most of the story because she does not realize that she is a clone, and her sole purpose in life is to donate as many of her organs as possible. The book highlights the ethics of medicine and technology in the modern day, such as CRISPR, and questions how far is too far when editing the human genome. Human cloning is unethical and has not been attempted in this day and age, however, that is not to say that within the next century, Ishiguro’s fictional story is at risk of becoming a reality because of genome editing and copying. 

This is why ethical codes are so important within medicine, a field that is continuously making revolutionary research discoveries such as CRISPR. Technology to that advanced level must be kept in good hands to avoid morally and ethically wrong decisions in genome editing.

Curious question: If a person is using CRISPR to treat a genetic disease, is it possible for their body to reject an edited genome or respond negatively in some way?

Image Source:

Heidt, Amanda. “CRISPR Gene Editing Prompts Chaos in DNA of Human Embryos.” The Scientist, 26 June 2020, https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/crispr-gene-editing-prompts-chaos-in-dna-of-human-embryos-67668. Accessed 12 December 2022.