Editing the Genome - Revolutionary Possibilities

Genome-engineering technologies can rewrite a cell's genome, thus emerging as powerful tools for biotechnology, energy and agriculture. Researchers led by George Church of the Harvard Medical School note that genome-scale editing tools which are fast and easy to use are revolutionary.

"The payoff doesn't really come from making a copy of something that already exists," said Church. "You have to change it—functionally and radically." The change has three goals: (1) add functionality to a cell by encoding for useful new amino acids; (2) introduce safeguards that prevent cross-contamination between modified organisms and the wild; and (3) establish multi-viral resistance by rewriting code hijacked by viruses.

"We're trying to challenge people," Harris Wang, research fellow said, "to think about the genome as something that's highly malleable, highly editable."

Subscribers to the journal Science can read more about this research. A feature article is available at http://www.focushms.com/features/editing-the-genome/