My Journey Through Synthetic Biology

Hey everyone, with exams coming to an end and summer break starting, I now have the time to start up the blog series again. And what better way to start off than picking up right where I left off with CRISPR. Except this time, instead of highlighting its positive impact on medicine, I’m going to focus on its impact on agriculture. Over the last few blogs, we’ve looked into how CRISPR has impacted the world by giving scientists the ability to edit human DNA and put their progress towards curing genetic diseases. But what if I told you that CRISPR could also be applied to edit DNA in other organisms, impacting and maybe even saving our planet.  By saving, I’m referring to the ever-increasing issue of climate change and its impact. Due to  rising global temperatures, our ecosystems have begun to collapse, resulting in the loss of valuable natural resources. This issue has caused scientists to look towards synthetic biology, and at the front of that is CRISPR. Let me explain. ...

Hey everyone! I know I haven't posted a blog in awhile and thought I would give a heads-up on what's to come. Over the last two weeks I've been preparing and taking AP exams which have kept me away from continuing the blog process. Friday is my last exam and from then on, I should be able to get back to a post on a week-to-week basis.  Thank you to everyone who has stuck with me so far, looking forward to what's to come.  - Aidan Kincaid

Hey everybody. With AP Exams coming up I haven’t been able to put as much time into these blogs as I have in previous weeks so bear with me. After May 16th I’ll be done with all my exams and ready to start with denser blogs for you all. Anyway, for today’s blog I wanted to touch back into CRISPR and dive into how we are able to use it to cure Genetic Diseases.  I’ll walk you through how CRISPR is already curing many real genetic diseases and what this technology means for the future of medicine.  What are Genetic Diseases + CRISPR’s Importance? I’ve touched on genetics a little in previous blogs but before I get started, let me run to give you some short contextualization. Genetic diseases happen when a person’s DNA mutates and causes health problems. Even a single wrong letter (A, T, C, G) can cause damages like blood cells breaking down, weaker muscles, or in more severe cases, disappearing vision.  Because the mutations with genetic diseases are in every single cell, t...