My favourite molecular machine is CRISPR-Cas9.
This is a combination of a protein and an
RNA, and it’s found naturally in bacteria,
where it’s the bacteria’s immune system,
fighting off phages and viruses that infect bacteria
But we have taken it and used it as a tool.
What sort of tool?
Well, if you change the RNA in this molecular
machine, you can make the machine go anywhere,
in any genome. In the human genome, in the mouse genome, in a plant genome.
And when the machine is on that DNA, it will
make a specific edit.
Using this, therefore, we can edit DNA to
our own design.
I hope you enjoyed watching these videos and
thanks to all my colleagues for sharing
their favourite molecular machines.
And I’m wishing all of you a happy, happy
Christmas!
