SEOUL, KOREA – A Korean research team, comprised of Jin-soo Kim (professor at Seoul National University) and Seok-joog Kim (researcher at Toolgen), has developed new genetic scissors optimized for each of the human genes. The genetic scissors refer to engineered nucleases that cleave DNA in a targeted manner for genome editing in human cells. Since the team’s genetic scissors enable observation of cellular changes through the genome editing of disease-causing mutations, they are expected to help scientists have a much better understanding of disease-causing genes.
The team’s findings were posted on the online version of Nature Biotechnology (a peer reviewed scientific journal published monthly by the Nature Publishing Group).
The Human Genome Project (HGP) has thus far mapped the approximately 20,000 genes of the human genome, but the functions of them have yet to be identified precisely.
The team has successfully developed genetic scissors (engineered nucleases) that work only towards a targeted gene without impairing the rest of the human genome.
Sean Chung (hbpark@etnews.com)
**Article provided by etnews [Korea IT News]
[Reference] : http://english.etnews.com/electronics/2715655_1303.html
