Musings of a BIOL463 Student

This article from Nature describes an advancement in CRISPR technology! Currently, Cas9 enzyme (the one that does the cutting) is a little too large for clinical use. Ran et al. found a Cas9 enzyme used by Staphylococcus aureus that is 75% smaller than the one normally used. This allows for more efficient shuttling of this enzyme in cells. Perhaps with more and more research on this technology, we may actually be able to use in for treatment of some diseases. I am very interested in engineering proteins to be more efficient or more functional. I hope in the future I can contribute to society with a protein I have engineered.