Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2020
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Listen to the following A Capella Science song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k99bMtg4zRk and, if necessary, search the Internet to find answers to the following questions.
How are Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuel Charpentier related to the topic of the song?
They won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (2020) for discovering genetic scissors—CRISPR/Ca9 (abbreviation for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats), which is the subject of this song.
2. What was the role of Martin Jínek in the research? (You can find the answer to this question in the following video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jm5QqxN7Hkw )
He was a postdoc in Jennifer Doudna's lab. His task was to find out which parts of tracrRNA are use in the studied process. He discovered that two parts are dispensable. That allowed them to reduce the complex system of cutting the DNA and design the sequence of the guide RNA. By that, he shows that this method could be programmable and be used in genome editing.
3. What are the benefits of the method? Where is it currently used or may be applied in the future?
Is there any controversy associated with the method?
CRISPR is a useful tool with high precision and efficiency. Another benefit is its versatility – it can be applied to a wide range of living organisms from bacteria to animals. That leads to its use in many areas – disease treatment, agriculture, genetics, and more.
The most common use of CRISPR is in medicine, where it is currently being tested for treating cancer, cystic fibrosis, and other illnesses. There is also a hope that CRISPR will be the first treatment for HIV.
In agriculture, CRISPR is being used to develop special crops with abilities to survive environmental stress and dry climates.
Scientists also talk about controlling the population of invasive species. This could lead to significant ecological benefits but it also brings together the risk of disrupting the balance of ecosystems.
Among side all of its benefits CRISPR has also a lot of controversies. Ethical concerns are discussed with the idea of editing human embryos and creating “designed” babies. Another discussed concern is about potential unequal access to this method or its use for creating new types of biological weapons. All of these problems need to be solved, which is why many rules and regulations are being prepared.
Note: By the way, Tim Blais, the author of the lyrics and singer of the parody, earned a Master of Science degree in high energy theoretical physics. He is a perfect example showing that science and fun are complementary.