A QUICK INSIGHT INTO GENETIC ENGINEERING AND THE CRISPR TECHNOLOGY

An End To Sickle Cell, HIV, Cancer, and all sorts of diseases

BACKGROUND
Since time immemorial, humans through selective breeding have strengthened useful traits in plants and animals via diverse processes. Thanks to scientific and technological advancements, these processes were later discovered in the mid 20th century to be modifications on the DNA (DeoxyriboNucleic Acids) of such plants and animals. Consequently, scientists in the 1960s bombarded plants with radiation to cause a mutation in their genetic code with the aim of getting useful variations by chance. With future significant advancements, the first genetically modified food was created in 1994 - The flavr Savr Tomato, a tomato with an extra gene that suppresses the build up of rotten enzymes, subsequently granting it a longer life span.
On human engineering, a certain set of babies were made to carry genetic information from 3 humans in the 90s to treat maternal infertility, making them the first babies ever to have 3 genetic parents. In that era and the subsequent decades, gene editing has been well documented to be extremely expensive, complicated and time intensive - until the advent of a revolutionary new entry technology known as CRISPR.


WHAT IS CRISPR?
CRISPR, which stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats is a relatively new gene-editing technique based off of a bacteria defense system.





HOW DOES IT WORK?
Since the dawn of life, viruses and bacteria had been at war. Virus overpowers a bacterium by injecting its genetic code into it, forcing it to do its work. However should a bacterium survive this attack, it keeps a little portion of the virus' DNA locked in a genetic archive called CRISPR. In case of a future invasion from this virus, the bacterium accesses its archive and converts this viral DNA into RNA, which is in turn transformed into a secret weapon called Cas9 - an enzyme that hunts down any DNA that matches the one in the archive and expertly cuts it out of the bacteria.
The CRISPR system targets and modifies precise gene sequences with the aid of the Cas9 and guide RNA (gRNA), which implies it's mechanism is simply based on the naturally occurring ability of bacteria to recognize and destroy invading viruses via a genetic memory.
In an attempt at getting rid of diseases from the root, this mechanism will be deployed by scientists in fixing all genetic errors responsible for the disease in an individual’s DNA.


WHAT DOES CRISPR DO?
According to an info graphic on futurism.com, CRISPR technology can be used in -
❄ Deleting undesirable genes from the genome (the complete genetic information of an organism)
❄ Introducing new genes to the genome and increasing the overall functionality of cells
❄ Controlling gene activity levels which help in maintaining protein balance in the cells
❄ Reactivating dead genes to resume their integral functions.
CRISPR technology will be primarily used in modifying baby's genes as well, hereby eliminating all hereditary diseases and abnormalities prior to their birth


HOW IMPORTANT IS CRISPR?
The overall benefits of CRISPR encompasses, but not limited to -
❄ Revolutionizing gene therapy, making it possible to treat diseases that would have been naturally impossible to treat without this process.
❄ Engineering cells to enhance productivity while generating drug precursors in bacterial factories, significantly reducing therapeutic costs.
❄ Permitting the creation of new plant and animal models on which drugs and vaccines researches can be conducted on.
❄ Editing crops to resist harsh environmental hazards and infections, hereby increasing global food security and many more.

HOW SOON IS CRISPR COMING TO OUR DOORSTEP?
Ever since scientists edited living human cells in 2013 via CRISPR-Cas9, multiple emphasis have been made on how this technology would be channeled towards the eradication of diverse life-threatening diseases in the immediate future.
However, thanks to the breakneck speed by which CRISPR technologies have advanced in the past few years and it's commercialization by reputable companies, patients in Europe and the United States could be treated with CRISPR-based therapies as soon as 2018.
While there's been no documented research on CRISPR here in Nigeria, several trials in developed countries are about to spring up in the forthcoming year. CRISPR THERAPEUTICS in Cambridge have officially requested a permission from European regulators to begin a trial next year. Beta thalassemia, an inherited blood disorder would be genetically fixed in patients with the aid of this gene-editing technology.
As revealed by the CEO of CRISPR Therapeutics Samarth Kulkarni, the company will seek approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration to begin a CRISPR trial for Sickle-cell disease in the first half of 2018.
Should these trials prove successful and void of harmful complications, it would be paving a way for a long future of innovative and boundary-pushing CRISPR treatments. From antibiotic resistance to the treatment of cancer and HIV via disease reversal and obliteration, gene-editing could become the new fundamental and essential therapy that defines the medicine of tomorrow.

HOPE FOR NIGERIANS?
Since the Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy (HAART) era started in 1996,
following the publications of studies revealing the greatly enhanced efficacies of triple therapies in the management of HIV-AIDS. The National AIDS treatment
programme geared towards expanding access to
Anti-Retroviral drugs in Nigeria was instituted in 1999 and 7 years later, the benefits of HAART
on a Nigerian population of people living with HIV￾AIDS (PLWHA) were reported in Port Harcourt.
While it's an undeniable fact that most developed countries are scientifically and technologically ahead of their counterparts in this part of the world, it's safe to presume we're just few years behind these nations in terms of access to the CRISPR technology as long as appropriate measures are taken by the Nigerian government in ensuring its availability.

Article written by the creator of this thread
Twitter /Instagram - @SureTeeBoy

REFERENCES FOR FURTHER READING
futurism.com/first-crispr-clinical-trial/
https://www.whatisepigenetics.com/gene-editing-crispr-cas9-designer-babies/
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/609722/crispr-in-2018-coming-to-a-human-near-you/
https://mobile.the-scientist.com/article/51174/crispr-to-debut-in-clinical-trials

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAhjPd4uNFY
Cc lalasticlala, mynd44

The field of genetic engineering interest me a lot

With the development of specialized proteins in gene editing such as the CRISPRs, genetic engineering is becoming interestingly easy.
In addition to CRISPRs, there are other varieties of specialized proteins used in gene editing, which include Zinc Finger Nucleases (ZFNs) and Transcription Activator Like Effector Nucleases(TALEN). But I think scientists are more fascinated to the CRISPRs because of its simple cell delivery and elegant design.
I don't think Nigeria is ready for this kind of technology. Genetic engineering has its own risks. Also ethical issues should be put into consideration.
At OP, this is a brilliant article.

Chukwudaalu:
With the development of specialized proteins in gene editing such as the CRISPRs, genetic engineering is becoming interestingly easy.
In addition to CRISPRs, there are other varieties of specialized proteins used in gene editing, which include Zinc Finger Nucleases (ZFNs) and Transcription Activator Like Effector Nucleases(TALEN). But I think scientists are more fascinated to the CRISPRs because of its simple cell delivery and elegant design.
I don't think Nigeria is ready for this kind of technology. Genetic engineering has its own risks. Also ethical issues should be put into consideration.
At OP, this is a brilliant article.

Your salient contribution is graciously acknowledged. I don't think Nigeria is ready for anything pertaining to technology in the first instance. I'm just optimistic this technology will be adopted should the trials prove successful.

Promising technology indeed, and very well summarized. While it may seem like an almost untouchable topic to most peers, I'm seeing some really interesting changes in the industry. For instance, more and more ""off-the-shelf"" solutions exist, an example being: https://www.geg-tech.com/lentiviral-vectors/vectors-crispr/
One thing that's still shaky in my opinion is the legal & financial implications if lab-created genes have to be used on humans. I mean, let's imagine for a second that an uncurable virus hits multiple countries, and a solution is found, and has to be urgently trialed on human subjects. I can't for a second imagine it being simply from a legal and financial perspective.

brainstorm21:
Promising technology indeed, and very well summarized. While it may seem like an almost untouchable topic to most peers, I'm seeing some really interesting changes in the industry. For instance, more and more ""off-the-shelf"" solutions exist, an example being: https://www.geg-tech.com/lentiviral-vectors/vectors-crispr/
One thing that's still shaky in my opinion is the legal & financial implications if lab-created genes have to be used on humans. I mean, let's imagine for a second that an uncurable virus hits multiple countries, and a solution is found, and has to be urgently trialed on human subjects. I can't for a second imagine it being simply from a legal and financial perspective.

Valid point Bro