CRISPR: It’s all the rage.
It’s time to pack up your pog collection and Lisa Frank organizational system. If you want to be cool right now and you happen to be molecular biologist, you should probably be ‘CRISPRing’ something.
What is CRISPR? Isn’t that the drawer in my refrigerator where vegetables go to die? Is it even a verb?
If you’re a scientist and you want to sit at the cool table, you have to CRISPR your gene of interest. CRISPR is the latest and greatest in gene editing. It’s cheap, it’s fast, and it’s so easy that even a first year graduate student can do it!
CRISPR is basically a bacterial defense system against bacteria-specific viruses called phage. In bacteria, the CRISPR system can recognize foreign DNA from viruses and in association with an enzyme called Cas that DNA is chopped up and stored for future reference. This system was originally discovered in the 1980s but has recently gained popularity because it can be used to alter DNA in mammalian cells.
(Side note: It seems to me like everything that is cool from bacteria is either in response to or adapted from viruses.)
What if you’re not at the gene editing stage of your project? It doesn’t matter.
Does it matter that you don’t yet have a clearly defined hypothesis to test? NO.
What if you spent the last three years on a project and you have data using siRNA to knockdown your gene of interest? Guess what? You’re going to have to CRISPR that now because no one cares what your data says unless you’ve CRISPRed everything this side of the Mississippi.
Really, is CRISPR even a verb? Scientists love making verbs out of nouns; we’re busy people.
What if you still don’t know if CRISPR is right for you? Talk to a doctor! No, not a real doctor, a biology PhD.
How will I know a biology PhD when I see one? Just follow these handy dandy criteria:
Characteristics of a biology PhD:
⋅Elevated levels of cynicism about the current academic job market.
⋅That pale indoors-y look.
⋅Inability to sustain a normal conversation but will light up when talking about cell culture or viral infections.
⋅Constantly asking everyone they meet if they know anyone in the biotech industry because they need to find a real job.
Does this mean that absolutely everyone has to jump on the bandwagon? YES.
Do you want your paper to be published? Do you ever want to be funded again? Then you must CRISPR.
But all joking aside, CRISPR has the potential to revolutionize the way we approach DNA and genetics and has amazing potential beyond the bench and basic science research.
MIT has put together this cool-looking explainer on CRISPR. Enjoy!