CRISPR: A New Biological Superpower

In the modern age of science, many advancements coupled with the newest technology have been made to improve health and reduce risk of disease. Recently, a new, Nobel Prize-winning phenomenon called CRISPR has taken the medicine world by storm. It stands for “clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats,” and is used by research scientists to selectively modify the DNA of living organisms. Essentially, it is a component of bacterial immune systems that can cut DNA and has been repurposed as a gene editing tool. Now, CRISPR is used as a rapid diagnostic. The advanced nature of the tool may allow research scientists to enter a new age of science with heightened possibilities for genomics and biology. Although it seems like CRISPR holds promise for the future of humanity and health, it also raises concerns about accessibility and ethics when it comes to experimenting on animals and humans. Might it do more harm than good?

There’s no denying that CRISPR is an efficient design; the National Center for Biotechnology Information analyzed in a 2022 report that CRISPR-Cas9 only requires a nuclease (a protein that splits the DNA) and a guide RNA (a copy of DNA used as a messenger), which bind to each other to form an RNP (proteins which influence processing of ribonucleic acids) to begin editing. It can conduct simultaneous editing of multiple genes, which makes it efficient for targeting several gene regions. It’s also cost effective and cheaper compared to other gene editing techniques. Furthermore, it has been used to develop resistance in crops against natural disasters and pesticides, as well as to increase the nutrition of certain foods. 

CRISPR, however, has a primary purpose; it can also be utilized to help reduce risk of diseases such as malaria, HIV, AIDS, COVID-19, and potentially cancer. Its technology can help expand research into diseases and has been used to treat blood conditions such as leukemia and lymphoma. It has also been used on humans who carry blood disorders like sickle cell disease (SCD) and beta thalassemia; according to a 2022 update by the Innovative Genomics Institute, it uses a clever strategy of avoiding correction of the gene variants that cause the disease and aiming to fix production of adult hemoglobin, but instead aims to increase levels of fetal hemoglobin that is unaffected by the sickle cell mutation to take the place of the defected adult hemoglobin.

But even with the power CRISPR holds as a disease control tool, it raises concerns about fairness and accessibility. Scientific advancements and technological breakthroughs automatically cater to those who are socially advantaged. Because of this, people living in poverty have difficulty accessing protective health resources. While CRISPR is cheaper than previous gene editing tools, it still promotes increased accessibility for wealthy populations. Minority populations facing additional barriers in healthcare have always been an issue, and consequently, the tool’s limited accessibility decreases trust due to past unfair medical practices and reduced availability to those who cannot afford it. Moreover, it raises ethical concerns about expanding experimentation to people; some believe our current knowledge of genomics is not advanced enough to begin altering the DNA in humans. There is not a 100% success rate, of course, and in a study published by Molecular Cell, there is an approximate fail rate of 15%, which might be attributed to inaccuracy and a lack of on-target alteration.

In the current advancements technology has made in biology, it’s safe to say that CRISPR is at the forefront. There is no doubt that CRISPR has the power to completely revolutionize genetic engineering, and has already been used to make further advancement into disease research and treatment. However, not everyone suffering from these diseases can afford or access the technology, and the tool has gotten skepticism about its effectiveness and if it should be used on sentient beings. Is there a certain case in which CRISPR can be used in a widely beneficial and moral way? There is not a clear answer yet, but it can be concluded that this new technology should be accessible to all if it does manage to change the world of genomics and medicine.