Today, the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University and Cytosurge AG, a company manufacturing unique high-precision nanotechnology instruments, announced that they will collaboratively investigate CRISPR-based approaches to more effectively introduce multiple edits into the genome of single cells, while minimizing CRISPR-related toxicity. This capability could become instrumental in driving forward diverse large-scale efforts such as the engineering of cell lines for pharmaceutical, clinical and biotechnological applications, transplantable immune-compatible pig organs, and the resurrection of extinct species.
The CRISPR system with its ability to precisely manipulate the DNA sequences of cells to repair dysfunctional genes, and alter the fates of cells and traits of entire organisms, has tremendous potential for curing diseases and understanding the biology underlying normal and disease-related traits. However, key challenges such as cell toxicity caused by damage to the cell’s DNA due to unspecific activity of the CRISPR-Cas9 enzyme, and the stress and toxicity caused by the intracellular delivery of the editing reagents, remain to be solved. These problems are amplified in cases where multiple changes need to be edited into a single cell’s genome to engineer transplantable tissues or model complex diseases and stand in the way of harnessing the CRISPR system’s full potential.
