Cells – as Recorders of Events

The molecular revolution continues, with continuing implications for improving our understanding of how external events effect our cells.  As part of that journey, a group of researchers recently used CRISPR to embed a video into DNA and then retrieve it from the DNA, as described in a July 12, 2017 article at Stat News.  Why? One goal of this work is to learn how to get cells to record what happens to them. A key quote: “With this work, Shipman said they eventually want to create “molecular recorders,” which are living cells that could sense things in the environment, like toxins or heavy metals, and record and store that information within their DNA.”