Chicken science may have just crossed a road in moving towards genetically engineering chickens to be resistant to the bird flu. A study published in eLife < link > shows the results of editing part of the DNA in chicken cells. The change prevented the bird flu virus from using the cells to reproduce themselves.
Source: Forbes, June 2019. Link. While an important step towards a possible way of reducing the current burden of bird flu and preventing the next influenza pandemic, Bruce Lee warns to not count your superchickens before they’ve hatched. Gene editing is a very new approach and caution is critical.
INSIGHTS: The TEDEd video on CRISPR technology < link > is informative and worth the time to watch, learn and review.