"Directed evolution" gets around CRISPR's inherent limitations
New gene editing technology may make molecular scissors more useful
I’m a Chemical Biology graduate student at UC Berkeley studying how cells in our bodies take up foreign objects, like medicines, viruses, or nutrients. Cells have clever ways to decide where to put the things they let in. For example, the cell has to distinguish between something toxic that would ideally get degraded, and something helpful that would need to reach a specific location in the cell. I’m interested in learning more about this decision-making process to create better medicines that will get inside cells more effectively.