Charpentier And Doudna Win Nobel Prize For DNA Engineering Technology CRISPR / Cas9, What Is It And Why Is It Controversial?
Illustration (Instagram/@nobelprize.org)
JAKARTA - Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna have won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Both are the figures behind the creation of CRISPR / Cas9, the most advanced gene modification technology today. What is CRISPR and why is this finding so controversial?
Charpentier is a scientist from the Max Planck Unit fot the Science of Pathogens, Berlin, Germany. Meanwhile, Doudna comes from the University of California, Berkeley, United States (US). CRISPR / Cas9 or also known as life code scissors (DNA) is a technology that allows scientists to convert DNA, whether in animals, plants or other microorganisms with very high precision. Not only that. The engineering process can also be done in a relatively short period of time, a matter of weeks.
DNA is one of the biggest mysteries and challenges to science. If likened, DNA is the manual for the life of the universe. And CRISPR / Cas9 is working in the middle of that, helping to target areas within the genetic material. In that way scientists are able to alter and deactivate certain genes or introduce new genetic material in mapped regions.
Cas9 is a modified protein and acts like a scissor that can cut parts of DNA strands. And CRISPR stands for clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats, which means that DNA sequences are repeated in the genome.
"Doudna and Charpentier show that CRISPR works like a scissors that can be targeted to cut a specific DNA sequence," said Andrew Holland, assistant professor in the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics at Johns Hopkins medical school, quoted by CNN, Thursday, October 8.
"Once the cuts are made, the DNA code is possible to change. This allows scientists to modify the DNA code by targeting it so they can understand and treat genetic diseases," he added.
Towards a lot of innovation
CRISPR / Cas9 was first implemented in 2016. To date, CRISPR / Cas9 has been carried out on almost all organisms, including plants, animals, microbes, and even humans. The discovery of these DNA scissors opens opportunities for many innovations in the treatment of genetically inherited diseases. In cancer, for example. DNA scissors make new cancer therapies possible.
"What the system does is it can recognize certain specific genes in and fix the mutations. We can do copy paste or some changes, like we change the text. The system can change the genome and change the properties of genes," said Charpentier, interviewed by CNN 2016 ago.
Apart from clinical medicine, CRISPR / Cas9 is also able to provide many innovations in agriculture. CRISPR / Cas9 can be used to grow rice containing heavy metals, which are potentially toxic in lower levels. CRISPR / Cas9 can also help create more refined livestock, which in Charpentier is "more desirable."
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The CRISPR / Cas9 trial was conducted by the US. Scientists used experimental technology to treat dozens of patients with sickle cell disease or inherited blood disorders. Scientists say technology has the potential to correct up to 89 percent of genetic defects.
"It's no exaggeration to say the technology that has emerged from the discoveries of Doudna and Charpentier has revolutionized this field (clinical medicine)," Jessica Downs, deputy head of the Cancer Biology Division at the Institute of Cancer Research in the UK, told the Science Media Center in London.
"We are adopting the CRISPR / Cas9 technology in our lab to investigate the molecular changes that lead to cancer development. This has changed what we can achieve, but there is also great potential for using this technology in the clinic," he added.
However controversial
Bringing many possibilities for innovation, CRISPR / Cas9 is also riddled with controversy. The story of the Chinese scientist, He Jiankui, for example. In 2018, He created the first baby whose genes were engineered. The scientist was sentenced to prison in 2019, with a three-year sentence. What the Chinese scientists did shocked, caused horror, and sparked ethical debate in the world scientific community.
At that time, He "created" twin girls with DNA that had been modified to become resistant to HIV. He modified the gene with CRISPR / Cas9 before the twins were born. He did it. Pride overwhelmed Mr. He. However, the world actually criticized him. He's been described as gruesome, unethical, and even seen as a blow to the reputation of Chinese biomedical research.
Claes Gustafsson, professor of biochemistry and biophysics at Stockholm University who is also secretary of the Nobel committee for chemistry said, there is always the possibility of abuse behind the creation of major knowledge innovations. "Obviously, this Chinese researcher (He Jiankui) is wrongly applying the CRISPR / Cas9 technology through his experiments," Gustafsson, told CNN.
"You can't make heritable changes in human DNA. You can treat certain genetic diseases with CRISPR / Cas9, but not like the Chinese scientists did," he said.
Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna
Doudna, who created this technology, once expressed deep concern over what He was doing. He said He's experiments are not medically necessary when there are proper ways to avoid HIV transmission.
Before Doudna and Charpentier, three scientists, Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice from the US-UK have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine, Monday, October 5. The three of them are the people behind the discovery related to the hepatitis C virus which opens up opportunities for the development of tests and treatments.
On Tuesday, October 6, the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Roger Penrose, Reinhard Genzel, and Andrea Ghez for the discovery of black holes. Today, the Nobel Prize for Literature will be announced, following the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, and Economics on Monday, 12 October.