Elena Shao '21 is from Suwanee, Georgia. Geneticist Jennifer Doudna co-invented a groundbreaking new technology for editing genes, called CRISPR-Cas9. Open Translation Project. And scientists in Philadelphia showed they could use CRISPR to remove the DNA of an integrated HIV virus from infected human cells. A subway line with museum-worthy art. We Can Now Edit Our DNA. Further investigation led Doudna to the Cas9 protein, which binds specifically to CRISPR RNA to alter gene sequences. Go deeper into fascinating topics with original video series from TED. CRISPR gene-editing technology co-inventor Jennifer Doudna addressed the opportunities and challenges of editing genomes in a Thursday conversation with political science and ethics professor Rob Reich and genetics professor Kelly Ormond. Doudna highlighted the diverse fields CRISPR technology has the potential to revolutionize. Why there are still so few women at the top. How will it change you? co-inventor Jennifer Doudna addressed the opportunities and challenges of editing genomes in a Thursday conversation with political science and ethics professor Rob Reich and genetics professor Kelly Ormond. So if we were able to program the CRISPR technology to make a break in DNA at the position at or near a mutation causing cystic fibrosis, for example, we could trigger cells to repair that mutation. Doudna highlighted the diverse fields CRISPR technology has the potential to revolutionize. All contributions are tax-deductible. Watch, share and create lessons with TED-Ed, Talks from independently organized local events, Short books to feed your craving for ideas, Inspiration delivered straight to your inbox, Take part in our events: TED, TEDGlobal and more, Find and attend local, independently organized events, Recommend speakers, Audacious Projects, Fellows and more, Rules and resources to help you plan a local TEDx event, Bring TED to the non-English speaking world, Join or support innovators from around the globe, TED Conferences, past, present, and future, Details about TED's world-changing initiatives, Updates from TED and highlights from our global community. Should scientists edit the human genome, striking out undesirable traits like so many typos? What's wrong with that? https://ideas.ted.com/opinion-should-we-use-gene-editing-to-produce-disease-free-babies-a-scientist-who-helped-discover-crispr-weighs-in, Reframes, rethinks and bold calls: 16 speakers share ideas at TEDGlobal>London, https://blog.ted.com/2015/09/29/16-speakers-share-ideas-at-tedgloballondon. translators. Opinion: Should we use gene editing to produce disease-free babies? After 45 years of construction and $4.5 billion spent, the first section of New York City’s Second Avenue subway line opened on January 1 with four stations. The tool allows scientists to make precise edits to DNA strands, which could lead to treatments for genetic diseases ... but could also be used to create so-called "designer babies." Geneticist Jennifer Doudna co-invented a groundbreaking new technology for editing genes, called CRISPR-Cas9. He Jiankui’s work on gene-editing human embryos — which has since been condemned by the Chinese government for violating state regulations — drew criticism due to the ethical implications of genetic manipulation. This allows the cells to keep a record of infection, and as my colleague, Blake Wiedenheft, likes to say, the CRISPR locus is effectively a genetic vaccination card in cells. on Ethics and Leadership, Thursday’s talk emphasized the wide-ranging implications of CRISPR and the importance of responsibly testing and deploying gene-editing technologies. In the world of biology -- and coming soon to the wider world -- enthusiasm and optimism continue to spread about CRISPR, a technology that allows precise editing of DNA. The tool allows scientists to make precise edits to DNA strands, which could lead to treatments for genetic diseases ... but could also be used to create so-called "designer babies." It’s a mechanism that allows cells to record, over time, the viruses they have been exposed to. Open Translation Project. Amplifying 2 million women across the U.S. Chinese scientists showed recently that they could even use the CRISPR technology to change genes in human embryos. And when those sites are found — as you can see here, the blue molecule is DNA — this complex associates with that DNA and allows the Cas9 cleaver to cut up the viral DNA. Cas9 can recognize a twenty-letter sequence — an “address label” — to specifically target a region of the DNA sequence, making it a very precise tool. Below, a few highlights. CRISPR gene-editing technology co-inventor Jennifer Doudna addressed the opportunities and challenges of editing genomes in a Thursday conversation with political science and ethics professor Rob Reich and genetics professor Kelly Ormond. “In other words, how do we safely introduce the machinery necessary for genetic engineering?”. Please feel free to donate towards this mission. A subway line with museum-worthy art. Below, some highlights. Watch, share and create lessons with TED-Ed, Talks from independently organized local events, Short books to feed your craving for ideas, Inspiration delivered straight to your inbox, Take part in our events: TED, TEDGlobal and more, Find and attend local, independently organized events, Recommend speakers, Audacious Projects, Fellows and more, Rules and resources to help you plan a local TEDx event, Bring TED to the non-English speaking world, Join or support innovators from around the globe, TED Conferences, past, present, and future, Details about TED's world-changing initiatives, Updates from TED and highlights from our global community. We’ve had technologies for sequencing DNA, for copying DNA, and even for manipulating DNA. Doudna’s innovation was leveraging the specificity of the natural system for targeted gene editing. Since former Stanford postdoctoral fellow He Jiankui announced that he had created the world’s first gene-edited babies using CRISPR-Cas9, the ethical implications of using biomedical technology to conduct gene-editing experiments has been a topic of international controversy. After 45 years of construction and $4.5 billion spent, the first section of New York City’s Second Avenue subway line opened on January 1 with four stations. Genome engineering is actually not new, it’s been in development since the 1970s. This work paved the way for widespread use of electricity. And importantly, those bits of DNA are passed on to the cells’ progeny, so cells are protected from viruses not only in one generation, but over many generations of cells. Doudna even met with the Chinese scientist several times — as did. Sign up for our daily or weekly emails to receive Part of the CRISPR system is a protein called Cas9, that’s able to seek out, cut and eventually degrade viral DNA in a specific way. notifications whenever new talks are published. The age of bioengineering is upon us, with scientists' understanding of how to engineer cells, tissues and organs improving at a rapid pace. Below, some highlights. In 1831, Michael Faraday stood in a lecture hall and demoed an idea that changed everything: electromagnetic induction. So when a plant or an animal cell detects a double-stranded break in its DNA, it can fix that break, either by pasting together the ends of the broken DNA with a little, tiny change in the sequence of that position, or it can repair the break by integrating a new piece of DNA at the site of the cut. TED2019 may be past, but the TED community is busy as ever. “It has to be about teaching young people about [gene-editing technology] — what it is, how it works and how to think about using it responsibly.”. Hailing from Phoenix, Arizona, Yash Pershad '21 is a writer for the Academics beat majoring in Bioengineering. This enables fighting genetic diseases (cutting out HIV, altering cancer cells) as well as, potentially, opening the road to "engineered humans.".