Molecular Frontiers Journal

CRISPR-Cas9 is a revolutionary genome-editing tool. Understanding how Cas9 recognizes DNA and how to control its function will be critical in improving the system. We used single-molecule FRET to elucidate a key validation step during DNA target recognition. We also used X-ray crystallography to show how a Cas9 inhibitor is able to permit DNA binding but prevent cleavage. Finally, CRISPR research is notable not just for the exciting applications, but also for its profound ethical implications.

By synthesizing new polymeric materials and combining them with growth factors or cells, new tissues and organs can potentially be created for use in drug testing-thereby potentially reducing animal and human testing- and to treat disease. Examples discussed include blood vessels, heart muscle, spinal cord repair, artifi cial skin, cartilage, and pancreas.

The RNA-programmable CRISPR-Cas9 technology allows precise and efficient engineering or correction of mutations, modulation of gene expression and marking of DNA in a wide variety of cell types and organisms in the three domains of life. Because of its versatility and ease of design, this powerful technology has been rapidly and universally adopted for genome editing applications in life science research. It is also recognized for its promising and potentially transformative applications in biotechnology, medicine and agriculture.

All complex life on Earth is composed of ‘eukaryotic’ cells. Eukaryotes arose just once in 4 billion years, via an endosymbiosis — bacteria entered a simple host cell, evolving into mitochondria, the ‘powerhouses’ of complex cells. Mitochondria lost most of their genes, retaining only those needed for respiration, giving eukaryotes ‘multi-bacterial’ power without the costs of maintaining thousands of complete bacterial genomes. These energy savings supported a substantial expansion in nuclear genome size, and far more protein synthesis from each gene.

To understand the origin of life on Earth, and to evaluate the potential for life on exoplanets, we must understand the pathways that lead from chemistry to biology. Recent experiments suggest that a chemically rich environment that provides the building blocks of membranes, nucleic acids and peptides, along with sources of chemical energy, could result in the emergence of replicating, evolving cells. The broad scope of synthetic chemistry suggests that it may be possible to design and construct artificial life forms based upon a very different biochemistry than that of existing biology.

Dr. Lee Hood and researchers at Institute for Systems Biology pioneered the concept of medicine that is predictive, preventive, personal and participatory (P4). ISB’s exploration of scientific wellness and a systems approach to disease, along with its affiliation with Providence St. Joseph Health, one of the largest not-for-profit healthcare systems in the U.S., is accelerating momentum to transform the structure of modern healthcare, shifting from an almost complete focus on disease to a major focus on wellness.