In the last few years, you may have heard the term “CRISPR” – pronounced ‘crisper’ – pop up a few times. But what exactly is CRISPR, and why is it so important? Well, in order to answer that, let’s first pay a quick visit to 2012. That was the year that Jennifer Doudna – a professor of molecular biology at the University of California, Berkeley – and her team characterized the activity of what’s now known as CRISPR-cas9. The Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) technology and CRISPR Associated System (cas) was first discovered in bacteria as a defense against foreign viruses and DNA. Eventually, its use progressed into eukaryotic cells for purposes of modification, as the technology was adapted by the Broad Institute for genetic engineering. So how is this accomplished? Basically, CRISPR-cas9 consists of two main parts: the cas9 enzyme, which is capable of cutting DNA at specific locations within the genome – think of pair of molecular scissors – and
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ReplyDeleteHello!
ReplyDeleteI am Matthew Cheng, and I will be representing the delegation of New Zealand with my partner, Brian Kim. We are from University High School in Irvine, California, and we can't wait to participate in debate!
Outside of MUN and school, I love to play basketball, watch NBA, eat new types of food, and listen to jazz. I can't wait for BMUN, and I hope to grow as much as I can as a delegate and learn more about our topics. Looking forward to meeting you all!
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ReplyDeleteHello from the delegation of Malaysia! We, Keerthana Nallamotu and Maddy Wang, greatly look forward to meeting you at the upcoming conference and addressing critical issues that plague almost every portion of the planet.
ReplyDeleteKeerthana- Apart from MUN, I greatly enjoy participating in Speech and Debate, another activity that allows me to voice my opinions about the issues in the world we live in. Along with this, I play badminton and the piano. Out of all BMUN’s committees, the topics of UNESCO particularly interested me because they drew on basic issues such as education and food without which communities and society cannot run. Keeping this in mind, I’m excited to work with others towards wholesome solutions that address every aspect of the problems at hand.
Maddy- MUN is one of my many passions and has become a huge part of my life that has also changed who I am and how I perceive the world. Aside from MUN, I also ride horses, participate in speech and debate and community service clubs, play piano, and run a non-profit organization called This Side Up Foundation. I love helping out the community and bettering our world. I look forward to committee!
Throughout our years of MUN, we have come to understand that with only a little bit of motivation, even those as young as ourselves can have an astounding impact on this world. By bringing this knowledge with us to BMUN, we hope to assist in creating enriching and purposeful debate that portrays the power of our generation.
Donald Trump, current president of the United States, once said, "My whole life is about winning. I don't lose often. I almost never lose." With these inspiring words from our beloved leader, The Delegation of the United States hopes to spread this attitude throughout committee as we tackle these incredibly pressing issues.
ReplyDeleteShivam: Hey guys, I hope you're having a great day. I'm looking forward to having fun in committee and inspiring change! Extremely excited to meet new people and bond over mutual hatred of the new snapchat update!
Emily: Hey guys!! Super excited for this weekend! One of my many loves is MUN, of course; however, I also enjoy long walks on the beach and setting up fake dating profiles for my partner, Shivam!
Thank you and looking forward to committee!