An article published in Forbes in the morning yesterday is undoubtedly a big bomb for biotechnology. Our genius IT CEO Bill Gates and his friends decided to put their hands to “The Genesis Engine”, the new favorite of DNA editing in the lab, CRISPR. They poured $120 Million, as the title of this article said, into this project for a company named Editas Medicine, which lead the CRISPR to the world. I think it’s really interesting for the author of this article used the word “pour”. It sounds like something that you can never take it back.
For people don’t know CRISPR technology you can search in wiki or look at my other articles. This technology is now widely used in the lab for cutting-and-pasting DNA. And many researchers found it’s hopeful for many diseases. And it can be also used in agriculture and life science. The prospect is unpredictable. Of course Bill Gates and other investors can see the great potential of this technology in medical research. $120 million is a big amount but it’s obviously they think this technology deserve it. But the thing I care most is what this $120 million would bring to a company like us and the whole technology industry.
Although CD Genomics do not set foot in medical industry, and we provide service like sequencing and genotyping, but it is still a big challenge and opportunity for us. Think it over, with the development of CRISPR technology, our service should grow up to meet the need of the lab research. And if we do good, this will be a big opportunity for us. And if not, it’s also hard for us to survival. This is also suitable for other technology company.
Well, I still believe in the future of CRISPR as usual. This may take few years for the gradually maturity. But as Flynn said: “We’re very comfortable we can weather any storm that is likely to come.”
Source:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewherper/2015/08/10/bill-gates-and-13-other-investors-pour-120-million-into-revolutionary-gene-editing-startup/