Undoubtedly the biggest breakthrough in the life science field in decades, gene editing using CRISPR has the potential to affect every living person on the planet. Since the two landmark publications came out in 2012 laboratories all around the world have adopted this technology. Unlike many technologies these days, gene editing is fast, cheap and precise. If there is ever a time to jump in and try something new this is it!
Genome editing was selected by Nature Methods as the 2011 Method of the Year and the CRISPR-Cas system was selected by Science as 2015 Breakthrough of the Year – no question that gene editing is one of the hottest disciplines of life science research today. One of the most popular methods of genome editing uses CRISPR-Cas technology. These systems rely upon CRISPR-associated (Cas) proteins and have the potential to carry out genome editing functions or alter the gene expression of targets within complex eukaryotic genomes with high specificity. The components of CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing systems can be combined in multiple ways for various gene editing applications.
RNA interference is a biological process whereby RNA molecules inhibit gene expression or translation. Advances in this technology have led to highly specific and highly functional RNA molecules available for both common species such as Human and Mouse but also for other model organisms such as zebra fish, dog, pig, mosquito and cow just to name a few. There are now numerous ways to tap into the RNAi pathway, from the traditional siRNA synthetic duplexes to vector based microRNA as well as miRNA mimics, inhibitors and novel siRNAs designed against non-coding mRNA.
Horizon (previously Dharmacon)
As leaders in custom RNA synthesis, Dharmacon Inc was an early participant in the newly discovered field of RNA interference, and contributed several key scientific findings and some of the first commercially available, guaranteed to-silence siRNA reagents.
The Dharmacon line now falls under the Horizon portfolio and offers a full range of gene editing products from ready to use CRISPR-Cas9 components, siRNAs, transfection reagents and trans-lentiviral packaging kits.
Synthetic sgRNA
By far the most streamlined approach to gene editing! The latest offering from Horizon is their pre-designed synthetic sgRNA utilising the sophisticated Edit-R design algorithm designed to product functional protein knockouts and accompanying performance guarantee.
Knockout Cell LInes
Knockout (KO) cell lines offer additional tools for validation for researchers. A key benefit of cell lines is the ability to use gene-editing to construct isogenic cell line pairs - where a mutant model can be interrogated alongside a wildtype control.