Researchers in the lab of Jennifer Doudna at the Innovative Genomics Institute (IGI) have identified an evolutionary precursor to the CRISPR system, solving a complex genetic puzzle through a blend of artificial intelligence and human analysis.
Excerpt from IGI news story: "In two connected papers published today in the journal Science (Paper 1 | Paper 2), researchers from the lab of Jennifer Doudna at the Innovative Genomics Institute (IGI) at UC Berkeley describe the surprising discovery of an ancient progenitor of CRISPR systems that had been overlooked because it uses a never-before-seen coding system to find and bind to DNA." Read the full IGI article here.
Image from left to right: Terry Zhang, Peter Yoon, and Kenneth Loi were involved in the studies, along with Trevor Docter (viewable via video on Yoon's phone). Photo: Glenn Ramit / Innovative Genomics Institute