Scientists Are Designing CRISPR Gene Editors With AI

Scientists Are Designing CRISPR Gene Editors With AI

To make CRISPR better at its job, researchers are turning to algorithms like DeepMind’s AlphaFold. Gene editing is like a molecular meet cute. When protein “scissors” dock onto the intended gene, even a tiny slip—no more than the width of a hydrogen atom—can ruin the connection, and the protein may latch onto similar DNA sequences nearby. In a rom-com, a missed connection means heartbreak; in gene therapy, it can trigger dangerous off-target eff…

CRISPR gets a power boost from AI-designed ‘molecular scissors’

(Nature) – Researchers used artificial intelligence to design functional CRISPR enzymes not seen in nature. Scientists have harnessed artificial-intelligence models to create synthetic CRISPR proteins that edit the genome more efficiently than their naturally occurring counterparts. Such synthetic CRISPR systems could one day power discoveries in fields from medicine to agriculture. The results were published on 16 July in Science. (Read More)