CLASSROOM & BEYOND
Above: Ben Gulmann ’23 and Roberto Marzot ’23
CRISPR Gene Editing at the MBL Eight Falmouth Academy students participated in the Marine Biological Laboratory’s CRISPR/Cas9 Gene Editing of Aquatic and Marine Organisms course, an immersive four-day residential hands-on research and learning experience that's part of the lab’s High School Discovery program. Falmouth Academy’s own Dr. Alison Ament was involved in the initial planning of the program, which was launched in 2019 with the goal of making high-level science available to high school students. MBL Director and University of Chicago professor Dr. Nipam Patel and MBL manager of Marine Research Services and Secondary Education Scott Bennett taught the course. Students worked in Patel’s lab with his research team, learned microscopy techniques, manipulated zebrafish genes using cutting-edge CRISPR technology, and participated in roundtables on CRISPR, embryology, bioethics, and careers in science. They also visited the MBL’s Rare Books Library, toured research labs, and visited the MBL’s Marine Resources Center, which houses everything from coral and anemones to horseshoe crabs, cephalopods, fish, and sharks. “I really loved visiting the Center and seeing the axolotls, which are nearly extinct,” said Roberto Marzot ’23. Axolotls are a species of salamander native to Mexico, and MBL
has over fifty in different tanks. Researchers are studying their astonishing regenerative capabilities. CRISPR is an acronym for “clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats.” In simpler terms, CRISPR refers to short repeating sequences of DNA that can be recognized by a guide RNA molecule and cut by an enzyme such as Cas9. This cutting allows researchers to disable a gene (called a “knockout”) and to insert gene sequences in new places in a DNA sequence/ chromosome. There is great potential for treating genetic diseases and disorders with CRISPR by disabling a defective gene or inserting a corrected copy of a gene. It is already being used in experimental trials to treat sickle-cell anemia. CRISPR’s potential as a gene-editing tool was first observed and described by a researcher working for a yogurt company in France in 2007. Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier were subsequently awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their discovery and pioneering work with the CRISPR/Cas9 “genetic scissors.” In 10th-grade biology, Falmouth Academy students learn how to micropipette and genetically transform bacteria using restriction enzymes. They also learn the basics of genetics the GAM
SPRING 2022
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