AI: gene-editing CRISPR

CRISPR gets an AI upgrade - GZERO Media

"CRISPR, the gene-editing method that won two female scientists the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, may soon get infused with artificial intelligence. One Northern California startup called Profluent is expected to present its new paper at a gene-editing conference next month, which describes its work using AI to analyze biological data and create new gene-editing systems.

As one professor explained to the New York Times, it’s a departure from how CRISPR typically does gene replacement. Instead of altering genes based on discoveries in nature, the startup instead uses novel methods surfaced by its AI. “They have never existed on Earth,” University of California, San Francisco professor James Fraser said. “The system has learned from nature to create them, but they are new.”

An AI Tool Just Revealed Almost 200 New Systems for CRISPR Gene Editing

"a team at MIT and Harvard led by CRISPR pioneer Dr. Feng Zhang took inspiration from an existing big-data approach and used AI to narrow the sea of genetic sequences to a handful that are similar to known CRISPR systems.

The AI scoured open-source databases with genomes from uncommon bacteria—including those found in breweries, coal mines, chilly Antarctic shores, and (no kidding) dog saliva.

In just a few weeks, the algorithm pinpointed thousands of potential new biological “parts” that could make up 188 new CRISPR-based systems—including some that are exceedingly rare."

Feng Zhang - Wikipedia

Feng Zhang (Chinese: 张锋; pinyin: Zhāng Fēng; born October 22, 1981) is a Chinese–American biochemist. Zhang currently holds the James and Patricia Poitras Professorship in Neuroscience at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research and in the departments of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and Biological Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He also has appointments with the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard (where he is a core member). He is most well known for his central role in the development of optogenetics and CRISPR technologies.

CRISPR rivals put patents aside to help in fight against Covid-19 - STAT

In January 2013, Zhang and Church published answers just a few weeks before Doudna did. Ever since then, Doudna and Zhang have been entangled in a complex and bitter battle over patents and prizes.

Jennifer Doudna - Wikipedia

Jennifer Anne Doudna ForMemRS (/ˈdaʊdnə/;[1] born February 19, 1964)[2] is an American biochemist who has done pioneering work in CRISPR gene editing, and made other fundamental contributions in biochemistry and genetics. Doudna was one of the first women to share a Nobel in the sciences. She received the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, with Emmanuelle Charpentier, "for the development of a method for genome editing."

The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race: Isaacson, Walter: 9781982115869: Amazon.com: Books