Sickle Cell Disease - A Novel Cure

Sickle cell disease occurs in around 1 out of every 365 black or African American births. Jimmy Olaher's family moved to the US when he was a child so he could get better care. The cutting edge treatment that made it possible relies on something that bacteria evolved billions of years ago called CRISPR. It consists of just two molecules, an enzyme that acts as a pair of DNA scissors and a special piece of genetic material that tells the enzyme where in the DNA to cut. In humans, that same mechanism can be used to cut out defective genes and even repair them.