{"id":9049,"date":"2023-12-08T07:20:49","date_gmt":"2023-12-08T07:20:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/?p=9049"},"modified":"2023-12-08T07:20:49","modified_gmt":"2023-12-08T07:20:49","slug":"jennifer-doudna-believes-crispr-is-for-everyone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/?p=9049","title":{"rendered":"Jennifer Doudna Believes Crispr Is for Everyone"},"content":{"rendered":"


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It\u2019s been a monumental year for Crispr<\/a>, the molecular tool scientists use to edit genetic material. This November, the United Kingdom authorized<\/a> the first medical treatment using Crispr gene editing, giving people with sickle cell disease new opportunities to receive a one-time therapy to prevent episodes of terrible pain. This week, the US Food and Drug Administration is poised to make a decision about the therapy. What was once seen as a moonshot is already changing lives.<\/p>\n

Right now, though, it\u2019s still a rarefied treatment. \u201cIt\u2019s expensive,\u201d Jennifer Doudna, the pioneering biochemist who won a Nobel Prize in 2020<\/a> for her work on Crispr, told WIRED\u2019s Emily Mullin at the LiveWIRED conference this week in San Francisco. The therapy is expected to be priced at over a million dollars a patient, which could make it inaccessible to many of the people who need it most.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also a complicated process. Patients have stem cells taken from their bodies, edited in laboratory settings, and then put back in. Doudna is optimistic for a future where Crispr-based treatments are far less invasive than they are now. \u201cMaybe even a pill at some point,\u201d she says. \u201cToday that sounds a little bit fantastical, but I think it\u2019s very achievable.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2014, Doudna founded the Innovative Genomics Institute<\/a> to apply Crispr technology to health care questions. Doudna hopes that the IGI\u2019s research can also help make these technologies more affordable and accessible; she\u2019s also very interested in how Crispr might be used to fine-tune the microbiome<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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