If you've been following my blog for a while you may have read about some of the interesting things being done in the field of genetics in 2017. Things appear to be picking up around this field and scientific interest in CRISPR, the gene editing technology, is heating up as well. The most viable use case at the moment is using CRISPR to address genetic diseases.

In this article I will briefly discuss Microsoft's plans to harness artificial intelligence in the effort to perfect CRISPR methods and speed up the process of finding new treatments for genetic diseases.

The primary medical potential of the gene-editing technology CRISPR is to eliminate many types of genetic diseases. This could be achieved through eliminating certain genetic codes responsible for specific illness. There are various barriers to achieving this, ranging from public policy, to funding, and the current state of the technology itself.

The elimination and addition of specific genetic codes has a possibility of curing diseases that we have yet to conquer and improve quality of life for millions of potential patients.

Another issues arises with so-called off-target effects. This means induced mutations at sites other than the intended on-target site. This is of particular concern with therapeutic and clinical applications. These issues, for example, have been raised by Dr. J. Keith Joung, of Massachusetts General Hospital, at the American Society of Hematology’s recent workshop on genome-editing.

This is my biggest fear regarding this new approach to genetic editing. Off-target effects may sound harmless but we are talking about unintended consequences of messing with the human genome. We don't know what types of effects these consequences may have on future generations and we could see some very deadly mutations occur as a result of tampering with the genetic code of the human species.

To help address off-target effects, the technology giant Microsoft is hoping to use artificial intelligence to help to fix this problem. Unintended changes could, for example, inadvertently result in new health problems for a patient, such as cancer.

I think this is a step in the right direction but in no way do I feel confident about the current state of AI being able to reduce or eliminate all the genetic consequences of making a mistake in editing the human genome. We are opening up a sort of pandora's box and after this point, anything goes.

If you are unaware of what CRISPR actually is, it stands for 'Clustered regularly-interspaced short palindromic repeats.'

In short, it is a biological cut-and-paste technique that allows researchers detect a gene defect within living cells and then use molecular “scissors” to make changes. Changes include deleting the gene; repairing it; or replacing it.

As an example of what can be achieved, Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier repurposed a protein called Cas9 protein to develop a low-cost, precise and straightforward gene editor for initial studies, using an animal model to address a severe type of muscular dystrophy affecting males called Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Symptoms of this condition include muscle weakness, an doss of intellectual function.

We have seen the first CRISPR gene editing technique approved by the FDA come into play in 2017 and there are sure to be new treatments coming this year. The potential to do a lot of good is certainly possible but the opposite is just as likely.

Scientists realize that CRISPR needs to be refined and made to be more accurate. As a result, researchers around the world are making a true and sincere effort to fine-tune CRISPR.

Microsoft is of the view that artificial intelligence can assist with this and the company has developed a new tool called Elevation. The aim of the platform is to predict off-target effects when scientists edit genes with CRISPR technology. Here, according to Gizmodo, Elevation can suggest which approach is less likely to result in off-target effects for a particular gene. The platform will improve in time through machine learning.

This seems like a good move for Microsoft in terms of modernizing their business and the potential to help humanity protect itself from using CRISPR without safety mechanisms is much higher without their assistance.

We must hope that their new tool 'Elevation' can help genetic scientists to be more precise in their efforts to use CRISPR to cure disease without adding additional 'unintended consequences.'

The future is sure looking like it will be a fantastic place where the imaginationary settings of sci-fi applications meet the real world in a stunning display of technological marvel.

What do you guys think of CRISPR and it's potential to change lives? Do you think that this new venture into genetics is a good move by Microsoft?

Please leave thoughts and comments below!

Thanks for reading @Techblogger!

Source:

Microsoft to use artificial intelligence to improve CRISPR - Digital Journal

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