#cas9

[twinkdrama]

hey sorry i used crispr on your boyfriend. yeah it deleted his whole dna. im so sorry you had to find out this way

[pickuplinesandexistentialcrises]

log #1

have you heard of crispr before? because i think you look crispr cas- fine

CRISPR-Cas9 Mechanism & Applications

This interactive module explores how CRISPR-Cas9 technology works and the many ways in which scientists are using it in their research.

[zeck143]

ideas for Cas9 tactical:

Yes they're all puns, fight me

snap draggin

bites enemies for 10-15 dmg to health, and pings for Cas9 on map

or

pulls multiple enemies to a center point (like ash's snare) for 5-10 dmg, immediate release

take stalk

attaches to first enemy to come by, alerts Cas9 pins outline to them for 5 seconds, can plant multiple stalks

(kind of like Hound, but is triggered rather than instant and can only attach to one player at a time)

(...so sort of like ash’s passive but better)

branch out

creates a small platform to walk across, up to 6(stealing Catalyst's concept tact because I’m still bitter)

thorn down

thorny patch that deals damage and slows because Alec was right when thinking of it first

(fucking catalyst)

aloe there

pulls players within range to 1-2M away, causes 5-10 dmg to enemies(after typing it out, i thought “oh fuck that's just Roadhog's hook”)(or path’s zipline if you attach it to an enemy)

at bay / bushed away / bush back

pushes enemies back a small distance (like 2-5M) for a small amount of damage, pretty much a punch at a distance(might rework this because the image of it funny as hell to me)

patched up

something something health

power plant

something something shields

names without abilities

bark's bite

rough patch

plot twist 

thyme crunch

party thyme

hem locked

feeling vine

log in/out

I’m already dead set on his passive being called “Upsy Daisy” which, revives allies in a quicker time and gives them a small bonus of health

He was supposed to be named Catalyst because his ult relied on vials of catalyzing agents (technically they can also be called an enzyme). He holds out his bowl and you can choose to heal or harm and throw a distance (either the L or R button). Sort of like Moira? Only it doesn’t bounce around and is grounded, lasting for... 8-10 seconds? Not sure if that is a fair amount of time.

I remember when the dev’s were testing out abilities with the Dummy’s Day Out event. They had an ability that allowed an immediate heal for a certain radius. Problem with that included you being the center of the heal, and it also healing enemies (from this event, they fixed Mirage’s ult into ‘dance party’. remember seeing 6 mirages standing in a field? good times).

If you think it takes too much time, think of Newcastle’s, Path’s or Ash’s ults. You need to aim those strategically and can’t immediately spam throw them down without tact like you can with Lifeline’s, Caustic’s or Horizon’s. I mean you can, but it might not be as accurate if you want to plan things out.

The ult still needs a name though. Hm.. Vile vial? The plant’s named Captain Fuzzy Britches... Fuzzing around? It’s based on oleander (appearance), venus fly and guarana (as a mouth and center), lotus flowers (roots), and vine snakes (body). As well as a made up plant called “whistler reeds” (typha sibilus aurae) to explain the noises it makes. It sounds like when you blow through a leaf or grass to whistle. So like a chimera. I wanted to add more animal genes, but too much and it’ll be obvious. Nature’s course?

[intelligentliving]

Next-Gen CRISPR System Enables Genome Editing With Precision

A new CRISPR genome-editing approach was developed by a team of scientists that could correct up to 89% of known disease-causing gene variations.

[sciencenewsforstudents]

CRISPR enters its first human trials

A host of new human trials are using a gene-editing tool known as CRISPR to treat genetic diseases — from sickle cell and cancers to a blinding eye disorder.

The answer to some genetic diseases may be a powerful “molecular scissors.” Known as CRISPR/Cas9, it has healed genetic diseases in some animals. Soon, doctors may learn how well it works in people. The first human studies to test its promise are just getting underway.

CRISPR/Cas9 cuts through DNA. But it doesn’t randomly chop. This gene editor comes in two parts. The CRISPR part is a short piece of genetic material called a guide RNA. Like seeing-eye dogs, these guides lead Cas9, an enzyme, to where it needs to go. Scientists can use CRISPR/Cas9 to intentionally break some genes or repair others.

Explainer: How CRISPR works

In the first group of human trials, scientists are using the technique to fight cancer and blood disorders. Other researchers are set to study how CRISPR/Cas9 works inside the human body. In one upcoming trial, people with an inherited blindness will have the molecular scissors injected into their eyes.

If successful, such tests could lead to CRISPR trials for diseases affecting millions of people.

Out of body experience

In one pioneering trial, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia are treating two people with recurring cancers. One has multiple myeloma (a disease that starts in the blood’s plasma cells). The other has a sarcoma. Both patients received a type of immune cell that had been programmed with CRISPR to go after cancer cells. (Similar trials are under way in China.)

Another trial is under way for two blood disorders: sickle-cell disease and beta-thalassemia (Bay-tuh Thah-lah-SEE-mee-uh). Both result from defects in the gene for hemoglobin. That’s the oxygen-carrying protein in red blood cells.

People who inherit a sickle-cell mutation or a beta-thalassemia mutation normally get these diseases, says David Altshuler. He’s the chief scientist at Vertex Pharmaceuticals. It’s a drug company based in Boston, Mass., and London, England. Changing a different gene may help people avoid these disorders.

In the womb, one form of hemoglobin helps fetuses grab extra oxygen from their mother’s blood. The body normally stops making this hemoglobin right after birth. But in some people, a harmless gene variant causes fetal hemoglobin to be produced throughout their lives.

People who have mutations that cause beta-thalassemia or sickle cell disease didn’t get either disorder if they also had the lifelong fetal-hemoglobin gene.

Vertex and CRISPR Therapeutics, a company in Cambridge, Mass., are now testing whether CRISPR/Cas9 can engineer changes in the body to mimic the change that keeps fetal hemoglobin turned on for life.

Both the cancer and blood-disorder trials take cells from people’s blood. DNA in those cells is edited with CRISPR/Cas9 in lab dishes. Scientists can test the cells to make sure the DNA has been edited properly. In the case of the blood disorders, CRISPR/Cas9 cuts a piece of DNA that usually helps turn off fetal hemoglobin after birth. Now the fetal-hemoglobin gene can turn on again. Doctors then return these edited cells into the sick people.

One person was given this treatment for beta-thalassemia in February. One got the treatment for sickle-cell disease in July.  

Inside job

Other scientists are trying something much harder: editing DNA in cells that are still inside the body. Researchers will test this in people with an inherited type of blindness.

Explainer: What is a clinical trial?

Some people have a mutant form of the gene known as CEP290. It causes rod cells in the eye’s retina to die, leading to blindness. In July, two companies started recruiting patients for a clinical trial of the gene editor.

One company is Editas Medicine of Cambridge, Mass. Editas is working with the drug maker Allergan. In their trial, CRISPR/Cas9 will make two cuts in the defective gene. This should snip out the troublesome piece of DNA.

The first people to get the test therapy will be adults who are nearly blind, says Charles Albright. He’s the chief scientist at Editas. “We’re going into arguably the most difficult patients to start with,” he says.

Small amounts of the CRISPR editor will be injected under the retina to test the treatment’s safety. Such low doses may not improve vision. But if those doses prove safe, later volunteers will get higher doses. The researchers may also test the therapy in children.

Editing as few as 10 percent of retinal cells might help restore some sight, Albright says. In animal tests, CRISPR edited up to about 60 percent of cells in mice and almost 28 percent in monkeys. The study’s authors reported their accomplishment in the February Nature Medicine.

Even if these first trials don’t work quite as hoped, CRISPR won’t be shelved, Albright says. “This is a technology that’s here to stay.”

“CRISPR is so intriguing,” adds Laurie Zoloth, “and so elegant.” A bioethicist, she works at the University of Chicago Divinity School in Illinois. Science, she says, just has to explore whether this new technology can live up to the hype.

[artbymonikajasnauskaite]

Some genome editing artwork. I've been working on a CRISPR-Cas9 related illustration lately. Coloured pencils on paper.

[shelbylookshuman]

chronch

available on products here! 

[neurosciencenews]

Gene Therapy Via Skin Protects Mice From Lethal Cocaine Doses

Researchers describe a novel approach that was able to stifle the desire for cocaine and to protect against an overdose.

The research is in Nature Biomedical Engineering. (full access paywall)