In experiments with HeLa cells, the miR-Cas9 switch developed by CirA controlled genome editing according to intracellular miRNA activity. As a result, genome editing was limited to HeLa cells only in a cell population consisting of HeLa and iPS cells. As this procedure is based on synthetic RNA, the risk of damaging DNA is reduced, and safety is improved.
CiRA news release, May 19, 2015
CiRA develops cell-type-specific genome editing with a microRNA-responsive CRISPR-Cas9 switch