Future Tech : Microsoft AI and CRISPR Combine Forces!

in genetics •  7 years ago 

If you've been following my blog for a while you may have read about some of the interesting things being done in the field of genetics in 2017. Things appear to be picking up around this field and scientific interest in CRISPR, the gene editing technology, is heating up as well. The most viable use case at the moment is using CRISPR to address genetic diseases.

In this article I will briefly discuss Microsoft's plans to harness artificial intelligence in the effort to perfect CRISPR methods and speed up the process of finding new treatments for genetic diseases.

The primary medical potential of the gene-editing technology CRISPR is to eliminate many types of genetic diseases. This could be achieved through eliminating certain genetic codes responsible for specific illness. There are various barriers to achieving this, ranging from public policy, to funding, and the current state of the technology itself.

The elimination and addition of specific genetic codes has a possibility of curing diseases that we have yet to conquer and improve quality of life for millions of potential patients.

Another issues arises with so-called off-target effects. This means induced mutations at sites other than the intended on-target site. This is of particular concern with therapeutic and clinical applications. These issues, for example, have been raised by Dr. J. Keith Joung, of Massachusetts General Hospital, at the American Society of Hematology’s recent workshop on genome-editing.

This is my biggest fear regarding this new approach to genetic editing. Off-target effects may sound harmless but we are talking about unintended consequences of messing with the human genome. We don't know what types of effects these consequences may have on future generations and we could see some very deadly mutations occur as a result of tampering with the genetic code of the human species.

To help address off-target effects, the technology giant Microsoft is hoping to use artificial intelligence to help to fix this problem. Unintended changes could, for example, inadvertently result in new health problems for a patient, such as cancer.

I think this is a step in the right direction but in no way do I feel confident about the current state of AI being able to reduce or eliminate all the genetic consequences of making a mistake in editing the human genome. We are opening up a sort of pandora's box and after this point, anything goes.

If you are unaware of what CRISPR actually is, it stands for 'Clustered regularly-interspaced short palindromic repeats.'

In short, it is a biological cut-and-paste technique that allows researchers detect a gene defect within living cells and then use molecular “scissors” to make changes. Changes include deleting the gene; repairing it; or replacing it.

As an example of what can be achieved, Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier repurposed a protein called Cas9 protein to develop a low-cost, precise and straightforward gene editor for initial studies, using an animal model to address a severe type of muscular dystrophy affecting males called Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Symptoms of this condition include muscle weakness, an doss of intellectual function.

We have seen the first CRISPR gene editing technique approved by the FDA come into play in 2017 and there are sure to be new treatments coming this year. The potential to do a lot of good is certainly possible but the opposite is just as likely.

Scientists realize that CRISPR needs to be refined and made to be more accurate. As a result, researchers around the world are making a true and sincere effort to fine-tune CRISPR.

Microsoft is of the view that artificial intelligence can assist with this and the company has developed a new tool called Elevation. The aim of the platform is to predict off-target effects when scientists edit genes with CRISPR technology. Here, according to Gizmodo, Elevation can suggest which approach is less likely to result in off-target effects for a particular gene. The platform will improve in time through machine learning.

This seems like a good move for Microsoft in terms of modernizing their business and the potential to help humanity protect itself from using CRISPR without safety mechanisms is much higher without their assistance.

We must hope that their new tool 'Elevation' can help genetic scientists to be more precise in their efforts to use CRISPR to cure disease without adding additional 'unintended consequences.'

The future is sure looking like it will be a fantastic place where the imaginationary settings of sci-fi applications meet the real world in a stunning display of technological marvel.

What do you guys think of CRISPR and it's potential to change lives? Do you think that this new venture into genetics is a good move by Microsoft?

Please leave thoughts and comments below!

Thanks for reading @Techblogger!

Source:

Microsoft to use artificial intelligence to improve CRISPR - Digital Journal

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I love the possibilties of CRISPR technology. Of course, with such big breakthroughs also come new controversies (i.e. can you afford to pay $1k to have that genetic threat removed so your newborn child will live longer as an adult? etc). One great resource I found to learn about CRISPR is on a couple episodes of Radiolab podcast on the subject. It's fascinating.

This is one of the moral dilemmas with gene editing. Is creating a superhuman race (a genetic elite) morally or ethically appropriate? If not, could we as a species come together to stop large corporations and wealthy elite from doing such a thing? Thanks for leaving your thoughts!

Will corporations be held responsible for the negative consequences that result from genetic tampering? Most likely not.

I read crisps was negated in human body.

Absolutely not, the term for those consequences is an 'externality' and it's almost a certainty that there will be many problems unattended to by corporations.

Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats(CRISPR)took good use of the bacteria immune system to create the anti-attack method to defeat virus. I think that is the magic thing in the biological area. Scientists should admired for these marvelous achievement.

Amazing

In future, It will be fantastic place to learning

genial@techblogger

Realy Open al is one of the best artificial intelligence I've ever seen. Good job

I don't know much about this, and how it works. But commend you for sharing the information, I would have loved to make my contribution if I have enough knowledge about the subject matter.

AI are so strong now! I think they will replace labor very soon!

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Rewards Pool Farmer Alert

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HE IS DOING IT OVER AND OVER AND OVER.. He is farming the pool.. If you could help it would be appreciated..

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Also kinda a dick move to use the actual good post of another person to post a comment for no other reason to come back and farm it later.

Post Author, @techblogger I do apologize.. This dude makes no actual articles of his own so the only way to draw attention to what he is doing is to comment his comments. My sincerest apologies for cluttering up your blog, outing the abusive self voting behavior of @ryacha21

This is Cool.

It has been said that our technology has advanced faster than our humanity. I think for this reason genetic manipulation technology should not be in the hands on corporations or governments. But in today's world everything is owned by a corporarion or a government.

i am student of steem educate initiative (s.e.i) team. I am very proud of your thinking and i hope so you sucessful

Off-target effects are one of the biggest safety concerns with CRISPR.
New AI project from Microsoft called Elevation uses a ton of CRISPR data and machine learning to predict where best to edit a strand of DNA to alleviate side effects and speed up the editing process itself. Thanks for the information @techblogger

Nice and wonderful post! I commend Microsoft for initiating the combination of A1 and CRISPR - Digital Journal. No doubt, this move will further enhance Global technological development. I follow and upvote you.

i am a student of steemit
very nice post.
i love this technology.
thanks

Your posts are really good man. Hands down

Sir your post is so beautiful and very very interesting.
You are very talented man sir.