Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats

Overview CRISPR, Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats, is the transformative gene editing tool that has made significant progress in the last several years. There is much hope and hype around this new technology that may one day eradicate diseases such as Alzheimer’s, cancer, Malaria, and many others. At the same time, controversy shrouds any new progress in the field with many wondering about the bioethical implications of new use of the technology. Instructions Listen to this RadioLab podcast http://www.radiolab.org/story/update-crispr/ with background information on CRISPR and information about the latest developments. As you are listening, think about how you will answer the following questions: Explain in your own words exactly how CRISPR works. Do you agree or disagree that the controversy around CRISPR is similar to the controversy around IVF decades ago? Pick from one of the topics below and research fully to answer the question. Provide at least 2 references for your research. Come up with a short description in the Subject Heading, so that you don’t repeat what others have found. What can CRISPR do in the case of cancer? How can CRISPR replace antibiotics? What do you think of using CRISPR against malaria? What do you think about consent in using CRISPR for future generations? Some other references to help you craft your answers: CRISPR helps heal mice with muscular dystrophy Betting on the first disease to be treated by gene editing