20 AusTRAlIAN QuARTeRlY OCT–DEC 2017An infectious disease scientist –
Allison TerbushAllison Terbush is a 5th year PhD
student at Coscoy lab at university of
California, Berkeley.
The Coscoy lab investigates the
interactions between herpesviruses
and the immune response of their
host and allows them to gain insights
into the molecular mechanisms of viral
pathogenesis, immunology as well as
cell biology and cancer.
Allison was taken aback by one paper
in particular.“one of the most significant papers of
the year so far is certainly In Vivo Excision
of HIV-1 Provirus by saCas9 and Multiplex
Single-Guide RNAs in Animal Models.”^3
In this research, a team of scientists
used gene-editing to eliminate HIV
DNA from the genomes of three
different animal models to ensure that
replication of the virus was completely
shut down.
The technique was demonstrated in
animals with both acute and latent HIV,
and was successful in human immune
cells transplanted into mice. It was
described as a "significant step" towards
human clinical trials.
CRISPR-Cas9 is a gene editing
technology and, since its invention in
2012, it has been put to good use by
scientists combating HIV infection. The
paper builds on previous work from
the research team and improves the
efficiency of cleaving HIV proviruses
to mitigate the risk of viral escape by
targeting several sites at once.
What did Allison think of how well
media teams covered the science?
“In my opinion, the coverage was
more sensational from bigger, broader
news outlets. Many of the storiesmisreported that mice had been
"cured," or that the virus had been
"completely obliterated" from the
animals.”
“While it might make for more clicks,
exaggerating results for the non-
technical audience like this is reckless
and lazy. Scientific news outlets did a
much better job handling this story,” she
added.
And what does Alison hope for the
coming year?
“For next year, I'd like to see more
follow-ups to this research from other
groups and in primate models. I'm also
keeping an eye out for new research on
the Zika-microcephaly connection and
multidrug resistant TB.”
unfortunately, it’s far from plain
sailing from here; research published
last year found that HIV could outma-
noeuvre certain CRISPR/Cas9 tech-
niques - so lots more verification and
replication is needed before we know if
the strategy can hold up long-term.
“The technology still has a long,
long, long way to go but this study is
an important proof of principle for this
type of treatment,” said Allison.BETWEEn ThE CrACks
Science and SciComm with
A team of scientists used gene-editing to eliminate
HIv DnA from the genomes of three different
animal models to ensure that replication of the virus
was completely shut down.