Since CRISPR technology comes into our view, it brings great hope of treating intractable genetic diseases to the society. However, in order to move CRISPR toward clinical treatments further, scientists have been working on the potential off-target damage of CRISPR genome editing in various cell types, which cause unpredictable consequences.
Some methods were created for detecting the off-target effect, but most of them have limitations, either producing false positive results, or killing the cells. However Beeke Wienert Ph.D and Stacia Wyman from Gladstone Institution made a breakthrough of creating a new technology called DISCOVER-Seq. It based on tracking the fastest DNA repairing factor MRE11 for locating the cutting sites of CRISPR, which is relatively harmless for cells. And it is also much more accurate and easier for detecting off-target effect.
