![]() The technique appears to be safe in mice now, what comes next is to explore the possible long-term effects. ![]() Details of the experiment were published in the journal Science.Įric Olson, from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, talked about his research to EL PAÍS via videoconference from Dallas, Texas, accompanied by a Spanish colleague from his laboratory, biologist Xurde Menéndez Caravia, co-author of the new study, who explained that the results of the first proof of concept are very promising. Until now, the first rudimentary CRISPR techniques had focused on trying to correct specific mutations that cause rare diseases the new study helps broaden the therapeutic applications of base editors beyond just treating a single gene mutation. Liu himself applauds the new experiment, deeming it a clever use of base editors that brings up the possibility of not only treating certain types of heart disease, but also preventing their development, either spontaneously or after injury. Now, Eric Olson’s team has used one of the most accurate versions of these CRISPR tools: the so-called base editors, invented in 2016 by American David Liu, a chemist from Harvard University who is considered one of the geniuses of modern science. Then, in 2012, French biochemist Emmanuelle Charpentier and American chemist Jennifer Doudna noticed that these microbial scissors could be used to modify the DNA of any living being, a discovery that earned them the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Mojica, from the University of Alicante, named this mechanism CRISPR. The history of this ultra-precise pen dates back to 2003, when the Spanish scientist Francis Mojica discovered by chance that some microbes from the Santa Pola salt flats in Alicante, Spain, used molecular scissors to identify invading viruses and cut their genetic material. Olson’s group used “a fine-tipped pen” to change an A to a G a couple of times now the recipe is no longer the same. That manual is written with four letters, repeated millions of times: ATGGCGAGTTGC… each of these letters is the initial of a chemical compound with different amounts of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen: adenine (C₅H₅N₅), cytosine (C₄H₅N₃O), guanine (C₅H₅N₅O) and thymine (C₅H₆N₂O₂). ![]() Olson is cautious, but highlights the potential advantages of this new strategy: since heart cells last a lifetime, it is only a matter of making the change once.ĭNA is like a recipe book for making proteins, the minuscule machines that take care of the main tasks in a living being: carrying oxygen through the blood, fighting viruses, digesting food. This change was enough to silence a protein linked to multiple cardiovascular problems. His team was able to modify two letters – or bases – of the approximately 3 billion that make up the DNA of a mouse. ![]() The gene editing techniques that have revolutionized medicine since 2016 could also be used to treat common heart diseases, the number one cause of death in humans, according to a study published recently by one of the world’s leading scientists, Eric Olson, from the US. ![]()
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