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The virus that causes COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, can be precisely located using a new designed CRISPR-based technique. The extremely sensitive detector promises to make COVID-19 and other illness testing quick and simple. Researchers from Rice University and the University of Connecticut improved the CRISPR-Cas13 RNA-editing technology to increase its capability of spotting minute quantities of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in biological samples. It does this without the time-consuming RNA extraction and amplification phase required in gold-standard PCR testing, which is a major advantage. Comparing the novel platform to PCR testing, it was quite successful. In reality, tests on clinical samples obtained directly from nose swabs revealed 10 out of 11 positives and no false positives for the virus. The researchers demonstrated how their method can detect SARS-CoV-2 in quantities as low as attomolar (10–18). The research will be released in the journal Nature Chemical Biology today, September 22, 2022...

The CRISPR genome editing technique is incredibly efficient but not necessarily secure, the researchers warn. Sometimes cleaved chromosomes do not regrow, compromising genomic stability, which over time might support cancer. According to recent research from Tel Aviv University, using CRISPR therapeutics, a breakthrough, Nobel Prize-winning approach that entails cleaving and editing DNA, to treat ailments including cancer, liver, and intestinal disorders, and genetic abnormalities, has risks. Up to 10% of the treated T-cells, which are white blood cells in the immune system, had genetic material destroyed, according to research on how this procedure affected them. They clarify that such loss might cause the genome to become unstable, which might cause cancer. The Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center (Ichilov) and Tel Aviv University collaborated on the study, which was led by Dr. Adi Barzel of TAU's Wise Faculty of Life Sciences and Dotan Center for Advanced Therapies, as well as Drs. ...