An Intelligent System for Gene Editing

Technologies that once wrote poetry, programmed computer software, or created images of beings and video clips of cartoon characters that looked like something out of Hollywood movies, are now being used to develop designs for biological mechanisms capable of altering your DNA. This points to a future where scientists can combat diseases with greater precision and speed than they can today.

As explained in a research paper published on Monday, a startup based in Berkeley, California, named "Profluent", is employing the same methods that drive "ChatGPT", the online chat program that catalyzed an artificial intelligence boom following its release in 2022.

The company is expected to present this research paper next month at the annual meeting of the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy.

Generating "Genetic Scissors"

Just as "ChatGPT" learns to generate language by analyzing articles, books, and chat logs in the "Wikipedia" encyclopedia, "Profluent's" technology creates new editors (or "scissors") for genes after analyzing vast amounts of biological data, including the microscopic mechanisms currently used by scientists to edit human DNA.

These gene-editing programs rely on Nobel Prize-winning methods that include biological mechanisms called "CRISPR". CRISPR-based technology is already changing the way scientists study and combat diseases, providing a way to change genes that cause hereditary conditions, such as sickle cell anemia and blindness.