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	Podcast:		UC Science Today
	Episode:		A step closer to developing an effective DNA-editing therapy
	Category:		Science & Medicine
	Duration:		00:01:03
	Publish Date:		2017-02-26 18:00:00
	Description:		Researchers might have found a way to improve a powerful gene editing tool called CRISPR, which scientists hope can one day treat genetic disorders. According to microbiologist Benjamin Rauch of the University of California, San Francisco, the technology hasn't been precise enough and often makes mistakes. "CRISPR is not perfect. CRISPR will actually cut DNA in the wrong place, if we give it enough time to do so. You can't edit in the wrong place, because it will have some negative effects." So called anti-CRISPR proteins that Rauch and his colleagues recently discovered could stop CRISPR before it makes the wrong cut. The researchers basically used bacterial viruses to replicate what happens in nature. “CRISPR's job in nature is to kill virus by cutting its DNA. So virus by encoding anti-CRISPR is able to fight back against CRISPR." Rauch says a safer and more accurate CRISPR brings scientists a step closer to developing an effective DNA-editing therapy in the future.
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