Engineering an Open Source CRISPR with Aadyot Bhatnagar

CRISPR is a powerful tool in biotechnology that allows scientists to precisely edit genes, much like editing lines of code in a computer program. Just as developers can remove or alter specific parts of a code to fix bugs or enhance functionality, CRISPR enables researchers to modify DNA to correct genetic disorders, improve crops, or develop new treatments. The development of CRISPR-based editing was recognized by the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2020 awarded to Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna.

Profluent Bio is an AI-first protein design company that recently developed OpenCRISPR-1, which is an AI-generated, CRISPR-like protein that does not occur in nature. Importantly, the company also released the protein and nucleic acid sequences for OpenCRISPR-1.

Aadyot Bhatnagar is an ML Scientist at Profluent Bio and previously worked at Salesforce. He joins the podcast with Sean Falconer to talk about OpenCRISPR-1 and how it was made.

Sean’s been an academic, startup founder, and Googler. He has published works covering a wide range of topics from information visualization to quantum computing. Currently, Sean is Head of Marketing and Developer Relations at Skyflow and host of the podcast Partially Redacted, a podcast about privacy and security engineering. You can connect with Sean on Twitter @seanfalconer.