Researchers record breakthrough with new technique of gene-editing

Researcher  have discovered a new technique which vastly improves the accuracy of gene-editing technology. Gene-editing medicine envisions  utting a guided biomachine into the body to seek out defective gene sequences in each cell and to edit in the correct information with accuracy. Researchers from the University of Alberta carried out the study published in Nature […]

Researcher  have discovered a new technique which vastly improves the accuracy of gene-editing technology.

Gene-editing medicine envisions  utting a guided biomachine into the body to seek out defective gene sequences in each cell and to edit in the correct information with accuracy.

Researchers from the University of Alberta carried out the study published in Nature Communications, and funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.They discovered a way to greatly improve the accuracy of gene-editing technology by replacing the natural guide molecule it uses with a synthetic one called a bridged nucleic acid, or BNA.

The study promises to bring the technology much closer to therapeutic reality and applications to patients.Basil Hubbard, Canada Research Chair in Molecular Therapeutics and an assistant professor in the U of A’s Department of Pharmacology, who led the study said: “We’ve discovered a way to greatly improve the accuracy of gene-editing technology by replacing the natural guide molecule it uses with a synthetic one called a bridged nucleic acid, or BNA.”

He and his team have filed a patent on their discovery and are hoping to partner with the pharmaceutical industry to incorporate it into a therapeutic.

Interest in gene-editing technology has been rapidly rising since the discovery of CRISPR/Cas9. This system is naturally present in bacteria, which use it for protection against their natural predators, called bacteriophages.

“What researchers have realized is that this system can be programmed to cut a specific DNA sequence in a human cell also, allowing us to edit our genes. One of the main issues, however, is that the system is not perfectly specific — sometimes it cuts a similar but incorrect gene.”

Even though gene-editing technology still has several obstacles to overcome, including how to deliver it effectively into the human body, it may someday be used to treat a wide variety of genetic diseases, from muscular dystrophy to hemophilia and various cancers