When CRISPR Meets the Coronavirus
Weâve been bombarding you with information about different technologies for the past couple of months on almost a weekly basis as weâve been working on our project. (And youâre getting one final dose today.)Â One of these technologies was CRISPR.Â
Have you ever thought about what would happen if CRISPR was used in tackling the Coronavirus crisis?Â
Many are familiar with CRISPR as a gene-editing technique, but CRISPR could actually make it easier to test for the Coronavirus.
As Piyush K. Jain writes:Â âThe coronavirus RNA activates CRISPR/Cas, transforming a pair of controlled molecular scissors into an unstoppable chainsaw. When the CRISPR/Cas enzyme activates, we know that the genetic sequence of the coronavirus is present in the saliva sample. To make the signal of the coronavirus stronger in the testing kit, we add millions of synthetic âreporter molecules,â which are also chopped up by the CRISPR/Cas mechanism. This means that within minutes we can detect the presence of coronavirus.â
Several labs and companies are rushing to develop CRISPR-based Coronavirus detection kits for saliva testing, and this could open an avenue for a faster and more accessible at-home Coronavirus test.Â
Check out this article for more! https://www.fastcompany.com/90507421/why-crispr-could-be-the-key-to-faster-at-home-coronavirus-tests.Â














