preview

Cosisp Essay

Decent Essays

Decades ago, if an individual was diagnosed with conditions such as Huntington’s Disease, cancer, or MRSA it usually resulted in a life filled with doctor visits, multiple treatment plans, and rigorous prescription regimens. However, these conditions and the way they are treat could drastically change thanks to a scientific breakthrough known as clustered regularly interspaced shorts palindromic repeats or CRISPR for short. CRISPR technologies has the capability to be used in a wide array of clinical applications including personalized medicine, cancer treatment, and the prevention of heritable diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa. With the ability to treat serious conditions and disorders such as these, CRISPR will revolutionize the …show more content…

CRISPR is versatile in that any target sequence can be modified by simply altering the gRNA sequence. In addition, multiple genes can be edited at the same time with great specificity (Cong 88-89). The convenience and accessibility of CRISPR resourced have also allowed thousands of laboratories worldwide to study CRISPR in different ways, which has broadened the horizons of its biomedical and clinical implications (Collins et al 259). Overall, the ease and simplicity of CRISPR technology has allowed for a rapid increase in the understanding of genome editing, which will allow CRISPR to revolutionize how certain conditions will be treated. In the United States, 50,000 patients are added to the organ transplant list annually, however, only 23,000 organ transplants are performed (Salomon 1089). This organ – donor shortage has become a major problem Researchers have been using CRISPR to modify induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) to provide personalized therapeutic transplants (Cai et al 247). This can be done by turning specific genes on and off using CRISPR to force the iPS to differentiate into the desired cell type. As the number of these differentiated cells increases they will eventually create a fully functioning organ. This eliminates the need to find an organ donor altogether. In addition, this

Get Access