Using a modified version of the CRISPR genome-editing system, MIT researchers have developed a new way to screen for genes that protect against specific diseases.
Using a modified version of the CRISPR genome-editing system, MIT researchers have developed a new way to screen for genes that protect against specific diseases.
CRISPR is normally used to edit or delete genes from living cells. However, the MIT team adapted it to randomly turn on or off distinct gene sets across large populations of cells, allowing the researchers to identify genes that protect cells from a protein associated with Parkinson’s disease.
The new technology, described in the journal Molecular Cell, offers a new way to seek drug targets for many diseases, not just Parkinson’s, says Timothy Lu, an MIT associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science and of biological engineering.
“The state of the art right now is targeting two or three genes simultaneously and then looking at the effects, but we think that perhaps the gene sets that need to be modulated to address some of these diseases are actually broader than that,” says Lu, who is the senior author of the study.
Read more at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
