TED Talk Extra Credit 3 - Other PDF

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The title of this TED Talk was CRISPR: Editing your genetic instructions and the speaker was Rachel Haurwitz. The topic of the talk was DNA and how current technology is being made to alter DNA. The discussion started by talking about how mutations in DNA can cause diseases like sickle cell anemia or cystic fibrosis. A new technology called CRISPR cas9 allows scientists to access DNA and make changes to the DNA. CRISPR cas9 allows scientists to cut out specific genes and fix the genetic sequence. CRISPR technology could cause challenges because cells do not like their DNA broken. Cells have ways to fix those breaks in DNA such as non-homologous end-joining. Non-homologous end-joining is the molecular equivalent of gluing the pieces of DNA together, but in this process, the cell inserts or deletes a few nucleotides changing the sequence of DNA. The other method is called homology-directed repair where cells take cues from extra strands of DNA of what sequences should be put. This allows new genetic material to be put in the site. In order to work properly, cas9 needs guide RNA to help make cuts in DNA. Scientists can reprogram this guide RNA by spelling out a new sequence in the genome and pairing it with cas9 to make the cut. According to the talk, Cas9 comes from a bacterial immune system called CRISPR. In this immune system, bacteria are able to steal small pieces of viral DNA when they are infected and are able to store it in their own genomes and use it as a reference of past infections. The speaker also talked about how scientists are excited to use genome engineering because this technology has the potential to inspire great research. For example, with this technology scientists could be able to make better cellular models of disease. Scientists could use this technology to cure diseases like sickle cell anemia. This technology could also be used to help animal health and well being. For example, gene editing could be used against viruses that affect pigs. CRISPR technology could also be used in agriculture with crops. For example, a mushroom that does not brown as quickly or crops that are drought resistant. In conclusion, according to the video, this technology is inspiring a lot of debates today and still is not ready to be used....