Guardian: Breakthrough as gene-editing technique restores sight to blind animals

[No Excuses]

Quote

 

Blind animals have had their vision partially restored using a revolutionary DNA editing technique that scientists say could in future be applied to a range of devastating genetic diseases.

The study is the first to demonstrate that a gene editing tool, called Crispr, can be used to replace faulty genes with working versions in the cells of adults - in this case adult rats.

Previously, the powerful procedure, in which strands of DNA are snipped out and replaced, had been used only in dividing cells - such as those in an embryo - and scientists had struggled to apply it to non-dividing cells that make up most adult tissue, including the brain, heart, kidneys and liver.

The latest advance paves the way for Crispr to be used to treat a range of incurable illnesses, such as muscular dystrophy, haemophilia and cystic fibrosis, by overwriting aberrant genes with a healthy working version.

Professor Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, who led the work at the Salk Institute in California, said: “For the first time, we can enter into cells that do not divide and modify the DNA at will. The possible applications of this discovery are vast.”

The technique could be trialled in humans in as little as one or two years, he predicted, adding that the team were already working on developing therapies for muscular dystrophy.

Crispr, a tool sometimes referred to as “molecular scissors”, has already been hailed as a game-changer in genetics because it allows scientists to cut precise sections of DNA and replace them with synthetic, healthy replacements.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/nov/16/breakthrough-as-gene-editing-technique-restores-sight-to-blind-animals?CMP=share_btn_fb

When all is said and done, CRISPR is likely to go down as one of the humanities greatest inventions and breakthroughs in technology. Being able to precisely edit DNA in non-dividing cells has massive implications.

[Taylor703]

I wish I would've been born about 150 years in the future just to see all the amazing things that humans are going to accomplish. It's very cool. 

[TheGoodBits]

This is potentially a huge breakthrough. 

[Destino]

33 minutes ago, Taylor703 said:

I wish I would've been born about 150 years in the future just to see all the amazing things that humans are going to accomplish. It's very cool. 

You're living that right now compared to 150 years ago.  Go back that far and you land in the 1860's, the joyous time of the civil war.  Consider the advances made since then.  

[No Excuses]

4 minutes ago, Destino said:

You're living that right now compared to 150 years ago.  Go back that far and you land in the 1860's, the joyous time of the civil war.  Consider the advances made since then.  

Yeah but think of how rapid the advances have been in just the last 20 years. I think we are on an exponential growth in technology, rather than a linear one at the moment. 

If we don't implode under the pressure of rapidly advancing tech, 150 years from now will be pretty damn cool.

[Taylor703]

2 hours ago, Destino said:

You're living that right now compared to 150 years ago.  Go back that far and you land in the 1860's, the joyous time of the civil war.  Consider the advances made since then.  

I agree with that Dest, I just think this stuff is incredibly exciting. I'd love to see it all play itself out. 

[PeterMP]

Ahhh!  I just graded a quiz where I told some students that we were not able to add back gain of function at a multi-cellular level in developed organisms efficiently yet!  Removing function efficiently (e.g. RNAi) was possible, but not gain in function.

Oh well.

[KingGibbs]

I keep praying for this to happen. Why? Because I have Retinitis Pigmentosa. 

It's why I'm an ahole sometimes. You would be too if your future was as uncertain as mine.