Scientific MOOCs follower. Author of Airpocalypse, a techno-medical thriller (Out Summer 2017)


Welcome to the digital era of biology (and to this modest blog I started in early 2005).

To cure many diseases, like cancer or cystic fibrosis, we will need to target genes (mutations, for ex.), not organs! I am convinced that the future of replacement medicine (organ transplant) is genomics (the science of the human genome). In 10 years we will be replacing (modifying) genes; not organs!


Anticipating the $100 genome era and the P4™ medicine revolution. P4 Medicine (Predictive, Personalized, Preventive, & Participatory): Catalyzing a Revolution from Reactive to Proactive Medicine.


I am an early adopter of scientific MOOCs. I've earned myself four MIT digital diplomas: 7.00x, 7.28x1, 7.28.x2 and 7QBWx. Instructor of 7.00x: Eric Lander PhD.

Upcoming books: Airpocalypse, a medical thriller (action taking place in Beijing) 2017; Jesus CRISPR Superstar, a sci-fi -- French title: La Passion du CRISPR (2018).

I love Genomics. Would you rather donate your data, or... your vital organs? Imagine all the people sharing their data...

Audio files on this blog are Windows files ; if you have a Mac, you might want to use VLC (http://www.videolan.org) to read them.

Concernant les fichiers son ou audio (audio files) sur ce blog : ce sont des fichiers Windows ; pour les lire sur Mac, il faut les ouvrir avec VLC (http://www.videolan.org).


Affichage des articles dont le libellé est #CRISPR. Afficher tous les articles
Affichage des articles dont le libellé est #CRISPR. Afficher tous les articles

A medical thriller about CRISPR (soon out)

Catherine Coste

Le Corps du CRISPR

Natalie Shau
Please note that this material is under copyright. It will appear in my upcoming medical thriller, French version, "Airpocalypse".

Le corps du CRISPR

Pour Desktop Genetics

Les patients souffrant de cancer
Réclament à corps et à CRISPR
L’outil qui permet
De traiter le génome humain
Lorsque notre ADN se met
A dérailler en se recopiant à l’in-
Fini.

L’ADN se copie
Encore et encore.
Quand il y a des erreurs,
Gare au cancer !
L’ADN qui se reproduit,
Ca peut déclencher tout un tas de maladies.
On attrape le cancer
Lorsque nos cellules font des erreurs
En copiant l’ADN.

L’ADN se copie
Encore et encore.
Quand il y a des erreurs,
Gare au cancer !
L’ADN qui se reproduit,
Ca peut déclencher tout un tas de maladies.
On attrape le cancer
Lorsque nos cellules font des oh-rreurs
En copiant l’ADN.

En lisant l’ADN,
Les chercheurs 
Capturent
Un gène pas très catholique
Causant, par croissance anarchique,
Des tumeurs.

Supprimer, puis réécrire un gène
Dans une cellule humaine
Pour voir comment l’organisme
Se comporte
Sans ce traumatisme,
Ce n’est pas de la tarte !
L’ADN est tout emberlificoté
Dans une microscopique cellule,
Retranché derrière deux membranes qui l’isolent.

Or voici que prendre l’ADN pour cible
Est désormais possible.
Ce n’est pas de la magie,
Plutôt de la biologie.
L’ADN a beau être entortillé
Dans une cellule microscopique
Entourée de deux parois,
Fini le désarroi.
Une nouvelle technique
Permet de supprimer, copier et coller
Des gènes en toute sérénité.
Les bactéries 
Ont un système immunitaire.
Si un virus les attaque,
Elles suppriment tout à trac
L’ennemi.
Cette stratégie immunitaire,
Cette technique
100% biologique,
A été étudiée
Puis imitée
Par des scientifiques.
CRISPR est né,
C’est un outil qui permet de réécrire ou changer,
Comme vous voudrez,
L’ADN humain.

Des protéines-ciseaux capables de couper
N’importe quelle séquence d’ADN
Dans n’importe quelle cellule déterminée
Du corps humain.
Cibler l’aiguille dans la botte de foin.
Ces ciseaux moléculaires
A couper l’ADN
Sont programmés grace à des « software ».
Ces ciseaux moléculaires
S’insèrent
Dans les cellules de tout 
Organisme vivant.
Avec CRISPR, vous
Coupez d’un coup de ciseaux 
L’ADN des cellules can-
Céreuses.
Un gène pas catholique ?
Clac, un coup de ciseaux,
Ca lui coupe la chique
Et le cancer
Va se faire voir
Ailleurs.

CRISPR est le croisé du cancer
Qui rime avec futur.
Il va évangéliser la Terre
Plus vite que son ombre.
Gare !
CRISPR est le croisé du cancer
Qui rime avec futur.
Il va évangéliser la Terre
Plus vite que son ombre.

Si vous pensez que c’est là déraison,
Cette histoire de cancer coupé
Par des protéines-ciseaux,
C’est que vous n’avez pas encore entendu parler
De la nouvelle religion,
Le corps du CRISPR.

CRISPR est le croisé du cancer
Qui rime avec futur.
Il va évangéliser la Terre
Plus vite que son ombre.
Gare !
CRISPR est le croisé du cancer
Qui rime avec futur.
Il va évangéliser la Terre
Plus vite que son ombre.
Les cellules
Cancéreuses
Sont à présent sous contrôle.
Quels gènes causent quels
Cancers ?

Selon que ce gène-ci
Cause ce cancer-ci
Ou que ce gène-là
Cause ce cancer-là,
Le docteur ne prescrira pas
La même chimiothérapie,
Radiothérapie et caetera.
Le corps du CRISPR
Ca dit c’est comme ci 
Ou c’est comme ça.
Le corps du CRISPR sera là
Pour indiquer le traitement le plus adéquat. 

CRISPR est le croisé du cancer
Qui rime avec futur.
Il va évangéliser la Terre
Plus vite que son ombre.
Gare !
CRISPR est le croisé du cancer
Qui rime avec futur.
Il va évangéliser la Terre
Plus vite que son ombre.

Si vous pensez que c’est là déraison,
Cette histoire de cancer coupé
Par des protéines-ciseaux,
C’est que vous n’avez pas encore entendu parler
De la nouvelle religion,
Le corps du CRISPR.

Dans la résistance aux antibiotiques,
Un problème de santé publique
Majeur,
Utiliser CRISPR
Pour empêcher
Tout micro-organisme de résister
Aux effets des antibiotiques.
A la bonne heure,
CRISPR,
Ce drôle de loustic,
Permet de supprimer
La résistance aux antibiotiques.

Les chirurgiens dans le futur
Transplanteront des gènes
Au lieu 
Des organes.
Grâce à CRISPR,
Un gène capricieux
Pourra être remplacé
Par son frère jumeau plus gracieux.
CRISPR. Couper. Coller.
Ce n’est pas de la magie,
Plutôt de la biologie.

CRISPR est le croisé du cancer
Qui rime avec futur.
Il va évangéliser la Terre
Plus vite que son ombre.
Gare !
CRISPR est le croisé du cancer
Qui rime avec futur.
Il va évangéliser la Terre
Plus vite que son ombre.

Si vous pensez que c’est là déraison,
Cette histoire de cancer coupé
Par des protéines-ciseaux,
C’est que vous n’avez pas encore entendu parler
De la nouvelle religion,
Le corps du CRISPR.

CRISPR. Couper. Coller.
Ce n’est pas de la magie,
Plutôt de la biologie.

CRISPR. Couper. Coller.
Ce n’est pas de la magie,
Plutôt de la biologie.



A Musical About The CRISPR Revolution In Medicine?

Jesus CRISPR Superstar The Musical


Subject: revolution in medicine, coming from diverse fields: digital, bioengineering, biology, genetics, sharing economy.

From the disillusionment of doctors to the CRISPR panacea. Will CRISPR cure the terminally ill health care system? When biologists and engineers and computer scientists are trying to disrupt medicine…

Mocking the present health care system -- and IP, patents, DRM or digital locks, the Blockbuster Drug Quest of Big Pharma (cf. Chicago the musical)
Patients and people wanting to change things (cf Matilda the musical)
Multinationals (IBM of genomics -> Illumina) and open-access (engineers and people building platforms to cure multiple diseases, using CRISPR disease modeling. Ex: Mission Massimo, the Linux of Genomics?) and Google (23andMe -> the Google of DTC genetics) and Apple (the iPhone as your primary care physician, prescribing sensors & apps and interpreting them with algorithms).

Conventional medicine as a system where the Earth (Doctors) is placed at the center of the universe. Then comes a Doctor (pseudo: Copernicus), speaking about digital medicine, formulating a model of the universe that is placing the sun (Patients) rather than the Earth (Doctors) at the center of the universe. Disruptive! (cf. Memphis the Musical)

Writing the algorithm to cure health care system -> my body, my data.
Would you rather donate your vital organs, or your data? In organ-based medicine, it is vital that people agree to donate their organs (live organ donation, "post-mortem" organ donation). In cell-based medicine, it is vital that people consent to share their data (saving lives, just like organ donation).

Ownership of data by patient is crucial for digital medicine. In organ-based medicine, the question of ownership of medical data by patient is not relevant (patient is not a trained organ specialist). In cell-based medicine (the cell and its core, the DNA, RNA), the question of ownership of medical and genetic data by patient is becoming highly relevant.

My data on my digital device, smart because of the merge between IBM Watson and the digital device.
Empowering people: weapon of massive instruction -> MOOCs (My Kinky MOOCs, cf Kinky Boots)


Brain
Is Cell biology
Is molecular biology
Is genetics
Is a powerhouse
for microbes.

Computer science
Is medicine.

Python R Statistics MATLAB
Are tomorrow’s
Microscope
Stethoscope.

Genomics
Is making medical diagnostics.
Gene editing tool
Merry CRISPRmas
Is the new scalpel.

Left hand
Is for the wet lab
Right hand
Is for the dry lab.

Computer programmer
Is the new Doctor.

Science
Is Medicine
Is Data is data is data.

Citizen science
Is a MOOC
Is Decentralized Medicine.
Dying Steve Jobs:
« Biology and I.T. have merged.
Time to learn about it. »








A Risky Business

Seeing ghosts? Some have tried to turn this curse into something useful...


But still, it's a risky business...
Wait. Why not try to turn this curse into... a business?...

No, I don't mean (dead) Bruce Willis helping a (cursed) little boy...


Why not try working with doctors and surgeons? If they are using outdated science, the "cursed" person working with them might see ghosts -- the dead victims of outdated science. Turning the curse/gift into some cool detector of outdated science... Organ transplant medicine could be a great place to start. Scientific polemics around "brain death", organ trafficking worldwide, shortage of organ "donation", surgeons under pressure...

Then the unexpected can happen, like some unfortunate cursed woman meeting with a gorgeous "brain-dead" ghost (not so brain-dead, actually. He was a brilliant mathematician)... Hey, that poor woman may be cursed and miserable and not so good at handling rejection, but at least she gets to choose her Bruce Willis, right?

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/01/06/my-marriage-didnt-end-when-i-became-a-widow

Now this is something entirely different... The death of a young brain surgeon, his widow trying to find some rest on his grave, as she is in too much pain to be able to sleep... Would you say this woman is seeing a ghost? I don't think so. Seeing a ghost means you've never met this person before (which is aggravating the situation. Yup,there's a reason it's called a curse).

Burton's "Corpse Bride"

Maybe some (dead) victims of outdated science and (dead) young and brilliant scientists will somehow meet and work together on some "mad science" project? I'm curious as to the outcome of this, especially in the context of high-speed internet ghosts and a new emerging religion... Jesus-CRISPR superstar...

I told you. It's a risky business. But isn't the goal of science to remind us that no fate is destined to inevitably befall us (entropy, disease, rejection, unemployment)?

Science is averting fatalities...


"No religion will ever be able to stop this"

A picture of me that means a lot to me.
Found it digging in the archives of this blog...

http://ethictransplantation.blogspot.fr/2011/05/quelle-religion-pourra-arreter-le.html
I am in Malaysia, this is May 2011 and I am trying to pray (buddhist style) for the victims of organ trafficking in China. I had to convince the lady in the temple to let me perform this religious ritual as I told her I was acting on behalf of families of dead Chinese prisoners. If you are hungry for the gruesome details, read "Bloody Harvest" by my friend David Kilgour and his colleague, Canadian lawyer David Matas (you'll be sorry you asked). There was really a lot of smoke in there (I can't see it on the picture, but I do recall it) and plenty of monkeys right next to the entrance of this cave (the temple is actually a cave) located in the mountain. "The monkeys are my bodyguards," so I told half jokingly the lady, since my Chinese astrological sign is earth monkey. I was lucky the lady could speak Mandarin Chinese (she didn't speak English), since Cantonese Chinese speakers are very frequent in Malaysia, but Mandarin... not so much. She looked as I performed my "ritual". This is probably the only time in my life I really tried to pray, ironically this was in a religious language I was not at all familiar with: buddhism. When I was done she poured me some tea, like she was Sheldon Cooper in Big Bang Theory, offering Bernadette (Soubirous, that lady of Lourdes Caves in France) a hot beverage. She commented in a sad voice (kind of talking to herself): "No religion will ever be able to stop this".

I really hope that cool CRISPR-Cas 9 genome editing tool will work, sooner than later. Spoke with my friend David Kilgour today. Those atrocities are still going on...

The Two Faces of CRISPR Race

Eric Topol MD on twitter, Nov. 10, 2015




The New Yorker Festival



Source: http://video.newyorker.com (Science and Tech)

From Gene Editing To Organ Transplant

CRISPR Technology used in organ transplant will save lives!



http://www.nature.com/news/gene-editing-record-smashed-in-pigs-1.18525