Safe CRISPR: Challenges and Opportunities

Conservatism is intrinsic to safety of emerging biotechnologies. Fear of unintended consequences, misuse, and bioterror are rightfully essential in our discussions of novel innovations. Clustered regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) and its associated proteins are no exception. This review will characterize environmental and health-related risks of CRISPR-applications and expound upon mechanisms that are or can be used to minimize risk. CRISPR is broadening access and simplifying genomic and transcriptomic editing leading to wide-range usage in all of biology. Utilization in gene therapies, gene drives, and agriculture could all be universally impactful applications that need their own safety technologies and guidelines. The initial ethical guidelines and recommendations, that will guide these technologies, are being steadily developed. However, technical advances are required to facilitate safe usage. Since the advent of CRISPR gene editing in 2012 advances to limit off-target edits (both cellular and genomic) have been developed. Delivery systems that use viral or nanoparticle packaging incorporate safety mechanisms to guard against undesirable side effects are being produced and rigorously tested. Besides its applications in basic biology and potential as a gene therapy, CRISPR had humbler beginnings. Industrially it was, albeit unknowingly, used to fend off infection in productions of yogurt batches. This was one of the earliest applications of CRISPR, however with the knowledge we now have ecological and industrial uses of CRISPR have multiplied. Gene drives have the power to spread genetic mutations throughout populations and agricultural uses to better crop genomes are also of interest. These uses have struck a chord with interest groups (environmentalists, anti-GMO groups, etc) who imagine how this technology can drastically alter species with unforeseen evolutionary changes that could reshape present-day ecosystems. This review will describe existing technologies that will safeguard humanity and its interests while fully employing CRISPRs far-reaching potentiality.