CRISPR 2.0: The latest gene-editor

“Prime editing” takes this revolutionary technique one step further

For the proponents of the next-gen health technology CRISPR has been nothing less than miraculous, where you go at the cellular level to fix the genetic diseases by editing the double helix of the DNA. The tool acts as a pair of DNA scissors to modify the genes by replacing the defected ones.

Some researchers have already conducted successful human trials of the gene-editing tool. Last Year, a Chinese biophysicist, rocked the Medical World at The Second International Summit on Human Genome Editing in Hong Kong — when he announced that he had genetically modified the DNA of the twin baby girls (whom he named Lulu & Nana), using the CRISPR tool before bringing them into the World.

More recently, Chinese scientists were again in the news with the use of the CRISPR tool for trying to treat an HIV & Cancer infected male. Although the results were mixed, nevertheless, the controversial yet somewhat successful use of the CRISPR tool has brought hope to people who suffer from deadly diseases or the ones which can be easily transmitted to their offspring if untreated.

Critics, however, are of the opinion that apparently benign gene-editing technique is actually pretty hard on the genome. To address this…