Gene scissors, molecular scalpel – these descriptive terms are intended to convey what the new method of gene editing with rather unwieldy name of CRISPR/Cas9 can do. As they suggest, the system, which, in its natural form, consists of two RNA molecules and one protein molecule, can cleave the hereditary molecule DNA. Moreover, it can do this with surgical precision at a specific site in the genome. This enables researchers to switch genes off or insert new sequences at the cutting site. As a result, DNA can be modified much faster and more easily than was possible using previous gene-editing methods. Although the system basically sounds simple, various factors must be coordinated with extreme precision for the gene scissors to be able to function with such accuracy. For this reason, even after 30 years of research, the functioning of CRISPR/Cas9 is still not entirely understood.
Stefan Mundlos, Research Group Leader at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics in Berlin, holds a very critical view of interventions in the human germline
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Scientists from China, the United States and Germany, among them Detlef Weigel of the Max-Planck-Institute for Developmental Biology in Tübingen, propose a regulatory framework for genome editing in plants
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At first, the discovery that bacteria are able to fight viruses with a adaptable immune system attracted only microbiologists. Only when scientists found out that CRISPR/Cas9, as the defence mechanism is called, is also suited for manipulating the genome of all kinds of organisms the system recieved broad attention. Find out how it works.
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Gen-editing mit CRISPR/Cas9 (english subtitles)
At first, the discovery that bacteria are able to fight viruses with a adaptable immune system attracted only microbiologists. Only when scientists found out that CRISPR/Cas9, as the defence mechanism is called, is also suited for manipulating the genome of all kinds of organisms the system recieved broad attention. Find out how it works.
YouTuber Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim talks to Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry Emmanuelle Charpentier about the discovery that revolutionized genetic engineering – the Crispr-Cas9 gene scissors – and the possibilities of genome editing
Many publications by Max Planck scientists in 2020 were of great social relevance or met with a great media response. We have selected 13 articles to present you with an overview of some noteworthy research of the year
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has awarded this year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Prof. Dr. Emmanuelle Charpentier, Scientific and Managing Director of the newly established Max Planck Unit for the Science of Pathogens in Berlin for her groundbreaking work on the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology. She shares the prize with Jennifer Doudna from the University of California, Berkeley, USA.
Scientists delineate molecular details of a new bacterial CRISPR-Cpf1 system and open possible avenue for alternative gene editing uses like targeting several genes in parallel