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IPFS News Link • Biology, Botany and Zoology

CRISPR gene-editing tool causes unintended genetic mutations

• newatlas.com by Rich Haridy

But questions over how precise the CRISPR tool is have been raised in a new study from Columbia University Medical Center, which shows this gene-editing technology can introduce hundreds of unintended mutations into the genome.

CRISPR has sparked a flurry of new avenues of research around the world, from targeting cancer to HIV, with the first human trials involving CRISPR-edited cells already underway in China and a US trial slated for 2018. But this new study urges caution moving forward, suggesting we are still yet to understand the greater genomic effects of the tool.

The team of scientists involved in the study had previously been working with the CRISPR tool to treat a serious eye disease called retinitis pigmentosa, which leads to blindness.


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