Hello once again!
This past week, I attended the “Mechanisms and specificity of Cas10 mediated interference” seminar given by Jack A. Dunkle, Ph. D.. Dunkle is an Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry from the University of Alabama and is on a team that has been doing experiments regarding this topic. I decided to attend this seminar because of having an interest in genetics throughout my high school biology and chemistry classes. However, what I did not expect was to be completely out of my league with this topic. I had a basic understanding of how genetics and chemistry worked together before going to the seminar, and after leaving I think I may be more confused than before. It was very intimidating to enter a seminar such as this one filled with grad students and actual professionals, and even a little embarrassing once I realized that I had no idea what was going on. It helped to be there with two of my close friends, who were both able to comprehend more than me, but still lost on several topics. Having them there made me feel like it wasn’t a complete loss and pushed me to try and understand more than I actually could. Sadly, due to the intimidation and embarrassment I felt, I couldn’t force myself to talk to anyone there, which might have actually been for the better. I think if I had gone up to anyone at the seminar I would have had no clue what to talk about other than the few basic concepts I remembered from my Honors Biology class 3 years ago. Some of the concepts I was able to pick up on were ones such as chromatography, and a basic understanding of what Cas10 actually is.
For anyone who doesn’t know, Cas10 is a subset of Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats technology, also known as CRISPR. CRISPR is a genome editing technology that is still in development via the bacteria it was discovered within. It has any potential uses further in it’s developmental stages, such as correcting genetic defects, treating and preventing the spread of diseases, and improving crops. CRISPR is usually known by it’s Cas9 system, but this seminar was over Cas10, which is similar to it’s counterpart but has a couple useful differences that are still being researched. It is hoped that Cas10 will be able to do everything Cas9 is capable of with the addition of identifying genetic sequences even if they include point mutations. From what I was able to understand, most of the seminar was about why Dunkle’s team believed Cas10 was able to do this, and that’s where I was lost.
I wouldn’t say that I believe this seminar was a waste of time, I just wish I could have listened to it at a later date with a better understanding of the concepts. I’m glad that I was able to go and think that, as an undergrad, it was enlightening as to the complexity of this field. Hopefully in the future I will be able to go back and read my notes on the discussion with a higher conceptual comprehension.