In a step that some of the nation's leading scientists have long warned against and that has never before been accomplished, biologists in Oregon have edited the DNA
of viable human embryos efficiently and apparently with few mistakes, according to a report in Technology Review.
n a step that some of the nation's leading scientists have long warned against and that has never before been accomplished, biologists in Oregon have edited the DNA of
viable human embryos efficiently and apparently with few mistakes, according to a report in Technology Review.
In July, researchers announced they had successfully edited the genome of
viable human embryos with CRISPR; the technique allowed them to fix a disease - causing mutation in the embryos» DNA (though some are now skeptical of the researchers» results).
This summer, scientists working in a U.S. lab announced they'd used CRISPR to
modify viable human embryos, which were kept alive just a few days.
The first results of gene editing in
viable human embryos reveals it works better than we thought, but that there's another big problem blocking the way
But in March, Lichun Tang of China's Beijing Proteome Research Center and colleagues reported using CRISPR / Cas9 to correct disease - causing mutations in a small number
of viable human embryos.
Nearly five years after the gene - editing tool debuted, researchers for the first time have used it to alter genes in
viable human embryos.
HUMAN DEBUT In the last year, research teams have announced CRISPR gene editing in
viable human embryos (single - cell embryo shown).
This year, scientists reported using CRISPR / Cas9 in
viable human embryos to fix mutations that cause heart and blood disorders.
But developmental biologist Fredrik Lanner of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm is the first researcher to publicly acknowledge editing genes in
viable human embryos.
Today, biologists from Oregon report in Nature that they have had unprecedented successes using that gene - editing technology to alter early - stage,
viable human embryos.
Using the gene - editing tool known as CRISPR / Cas9, the researchers have successfully edited disease - causing mutations out of
viable human embryos.
EMBRYO EDIT Researchers in China and Texas have used CRISPR / Cas9 to repair disease - causing mutations in
viable human embryos.
Thus far (2016), there is no organism it doesn't work on (CRISPR has been used successfully on human cells, but not yet in
viable human embryos).
Shoukhrat Mitalipov of Oregon Health and Science University led research in which scientists edited the DNA of
viable human embryos.
But, after researchers at Oregon Health and Science University managed to change the mutated version of the MYBPC3 gene to the unmutated version in
a viable human embryo last month, the predictable bioethical debate was reignited, and terms such as «Designer Babies» got thrown around a lot.