Grounds for Science - CRISPR/Cas9: From Bacterial Defense to Gene Editing Revolution

 

CRISPR/Cas9 is making headlines as a groundbreaking tool for genome editing.  But what was the original purpose of this enzyme and how does it work? What is a “CRISPR” and who knew that bacteria get sick? Join us for a conversation on bacterial immune systems and how a single protein has become the hottest new tool in biology.

Speaker: Alexandra Seletsky is a graduate student in the Doudna Lab at UC Berkeley. The Doudna lab pursues mechanistic understanding of fundamental biological processes involving RNA molecules. Research in the lab is currently focused on three major areas: bacterial immunity via the CRISPR system, RNA interference, and translational control logic.