The Nobel Laureate tells of the ecstasy and anxiety of gene editing

, June 8, 2012, on a bright Friday afternoon, Jennifer Dudna officially presented her paper to Science. Twenty days later, it was published online. The world is different from here.
papers show that they have found CRISPR-Cas9, the newest and possibly most effective tool in gene editing. With CRISPR, genes can be inserted, edited, or deleted, technology that gives humans the ability to control genetic mutations. Almost overnight, a new era began: in the field of genetic engineering, there was nothing unexpected, nothing could be done.
Dudina's quiet laboratory research life was broken, and the professor in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology and Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, was no longer an ordinary scientist who would face a "big wave" that she didn't expect.
do Dudina face a "big wave"? How did all this happen? This can be found in a book she has worked with her student Samuel Stenberg on for the general public.
2015, the book first competed online for copyright under the title
, and several domestic publishers bid for the book's simplified characters, which ended up in Hunan Science and Technology Press. Wu Wei, editor of the agency involved in the purchase of copyrights, has a clear idea, and one of the authors, Dudna, is a leading figure in gene editing, and she appears to talk about this hot topic, not to be missed, not to mention the first CRISPR-themed science book.
2017, the book was officially published in the United States and renamed
. That year, he was named Amazon.com's Science Book of the Year, Science News' Love Book of the Year, and Los Angeles Times' Best Book of the Year shortlist.
The book' simplified version, "Breaking Machine: The Amazing Power of Gene Editing," is divided into two parts, the last is Tools, the next is Mission, the last is about the story behind CRISPR technology, and the next explores CRISPR's current and future use in animals, plants, and humans, discussing the opportunities and challenges that come with it.Although the book was written a few years before Dudna won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Dudna's work was highly recognized, and in 2013 she became a regular in the headlines of Nature Science.the
book is written in a more special way, using the first person to describe, from Dudna's perspective, although not Dudna's autobiography, but the reader can share her unique experiences, including her background in learning, the times, research experience;
was a time for Duduna? Before she entered the field of research, research in the field of life sciences had been in constant progress for decades.
Watson and Crick discovered the double helix structure, scientists completed sketches of the human genome, gene therapy competition began, gene targets were widely used, gene editing experiments made breakthroughs, first-generation gene editing techniques emerged in 2009, and so on.
was fascinated by these scientific advances. In the early 1990s, when she was doing postdoctoral research, and at the beginning of her research career, she discussed with her lab partners the possibility of editing the source of defective RNA.
book is not intended to provide a well-documented history of early development in gene editing. "In this book, you can see the research developments that are most relevant to Dudna's work, and how their work is linked to other people's research.
2006, Dudna's lab began CRISPR research on a subject like detective, but the opposite goal was not how the virus invaded the host, but how bacteria defended against the virus. They are particularly interested in genes associated with CRISPR, or bacterial genes that they believe are involved in fighting the virus.
THE CRISPR study attracted more attention, and in 2008, the first CRISPR conference was held at the University of California, Berkeley. And in a few years" time, "the field has developed a theory of how the bacterial adaptive immune system works from the initial stages of loose, interesting, but lacking conclusive evidence." "
dudna, they are also inspired by the companies involved and the university colleagues, constantly, little by little breakthrough. In one idea and experiment after another, they finally found and validated this "wonderful molecular machine", Cas9, which can cut the virus's DNA with great precision, as well as DNA from other cells, including human cells. This means they have found a way to rewrite the code of life.
time, I came to realize that I was part of a larger scientific community, and that each of us was exploring the truth of nature on our own path. With each small step forward, it feels as if you've found another little piece of the puzzle, which is part of a larger puzzle game. Each of us depends on the work of our forethoughts, which are interrelated and work out a larger picture. "
sure, Dudina found an important piece of the puzzle."I'll never forget the first time I heard the term CRISPR. One day in 2006, Dudina received a call from Professor Gillian Banfield.
Gillian, also an accomplished female scientist who teaches at another department at Berkeley, gave Dudna a detailed account of CRISPR's research, and Dudina understood the meaning of "regular intervals into clusters of short echo repetition sequences", which gave her a "slight feeling of electric shock." The collaboration between the two laboratories suggests that the biochemist has come out to clarify the workings of CRISPR.
other story related to CRISPR is a "chance encounter."
2011, dudina met Emmanuel Carpentier, a French scientist who won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, while attending the annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology in Puerto Rico. The two female scientists wandered around San Juan's Old Town, exchanged ideas, commented on the report, and naturally talked about their scientific research. At the end of an alley, Emmanuel proposes to work together to clarify the function of the mysterious Csn1 protein, later renamed Cas9.
this is a collaboration that is going to be recorded in the anthrnosm.
just happened to find her, and she did. Fu He, the translator of this book, said what seemed to be a joke, but it was a word.
people believe that talent, the environment, personal efforts are the three elements of success. Dudna's experience seems to correspond to this one by one.
1966, her father was a university professor, had a better family environment and received a good education. Around the age of 12, she read Jim Watson's Double Helix, "the first time I felt that fate would send me on a similar path."
1982, she went to college and took part in her first experiment in her life , going to the lab of a professor in the Department of Biology and exploring with other students how a fungus had infected papayas. They also revealed an important feature of the fungus, "the first time I felt the ecstasy of scientific discovery", and after her own experience, her desire for knowledge begred even stronger.
Although Dudina and talent and effort are sufficient, from Dudna's growth experience, like other researchers of the era, step by step from undergraduate to doctoral, in the laboratory to do research, concerned with the development of the field, thinking about their interest in the project, and then down-to-earth work, to achieve more or less results.
, however, Fu He, who now studies at the University of Georgia, cautions that Dudina's achievements have something to do with the fact that she has been at the forefront of research. Her academic experience has been remarkable, such as her Ph.D. at Harvard, where she was mentored by Nobel Laureate Professor Jack Shostak, and her postdoctoral tutor at the University of Colorado, Tom Cheick, who was also a Nobel Laureate. After setting up her own laboratory, she became a world-renowned expert in RNA structure. Thus, her starting point is not low, from the beginning has a unique scientific research environment and strength. book's simplified character title is "Breaking machine", a bit literary, like the name of a martial arts novel, than taiwan's traditional version of the main title "gene editing revolution" to show the impact of this work. In fact, the word
in the English title "Creative" means "Genesis", and if translated directly, it can be said to be "a crack in Genesis". Fu He as a translator, he thought, although Chinese does not correspond to the concept of "genesis", but Chinese awe of "day", the evolution of the world of life can be said to be "sky machine." Now, the human mistaken collision found the gene editing weapon, that is, the ability to directly intervene in the evolution of genes, so, as if "exploration of the sky machine", the title of the book came out.
year after the publication of the paper, which broke the "sky machine", the scientific community blew a CRISPR whirlwind, which researchers around the world put to good use. Dudna felt as if she had gone to sleep in Berkeley and woke up to find herself on Mars. "And the word CRISPR has become a household word, from a state of fog heard by academics at academic conferences.
was in the th upsurge, Dudina remained calm, thinking and questioning.
one day in 2014, Samuel, another author of the book, received an unfamiliar e-mail from an entrepreneur who asked him to meet with him about business plans and wanted him to join their company as a science consultant. It turned out that the company was offering healthy "CRISPR custom babies".
's "bold" vision made Samuel shudder. Both he and Dudna realized that CRISPR's use in editing the human genome was sooner or later. Dudna was worried about it, and even had a hard time sleeping.
, who walked out of the lab, thought that as a scientist, she couldn't stay out of the way, and she was actively involved in the discussion. And this book spent almost half of the time to explore how scientists and researchers face this scientific development, what needs to be considered, what should be the bottom line and so on.
Dudner thought of opbenhammer, the father of the atomic bomb and a former professor of physics at the University of Berkeley, who reviewed the history of recombination DNA technology, the cautious attitude and tactics of Nobel Laureate and chemist Paul Borg, and three recommendations from the Borg Letter for relevant scientific research.
In January 2015, Dudner and her scientific colleagues organized a bioethics forum with 17 participants, many heavyweight scientists, including Borg, and Nobel Laureate David Baltimore, which resulted in an article published online in science magazine.
, Dudina began preparing for the first international conference on human gene editing. The Summit was held in December 2015 and was attended by scientists from the United States, China and the United Kingdom, as well as other countries from around the world, leading gene editing researchers. One theme that has recurred in these conversations is how scientists should use the newly discovered technology. "We haven't found the answer yet, but we're getting a little closer to it."
herself has a deeper understanding of the thinking of scholars from different positions, allowing her to further refine her understanding of the topic of reproductive cell editing.
but Dudner's first heart and dreams never changed, and "one day gene editing could help cure human diseases."
the public needs to know more about gene editing and dialectically analyze different perspectives, Fu said, and the book will help readers understand and take a comprehensive view of gene editing.
It's also an important purpose of the book's writing, " Dudna says at the end of the book, "CRISPR's story reminds us that technological breakthroughs often come from unexpected places, so it's important that our curiosity about nature leads us forward." But the CRISPR story also reminds us that scientists and the public need to work together to take responsibility for the progress of science and the results of science... Every time we uncover the mysteries of nature, it represents the end of an experiment, and the beginning of more experiments. ”