The Korea Health Industry Development Institute said that Professor Kim Hyung-bum’s team at Severance University has developed a predictive model for genome editing activity that utilizes artificial intelligence (AI).

Genome editing is a technology that cuts a specific region of a gene and edits it into the desired form. The technology varies significantly in how well researchers find the best DNA sites to resect. In the past, it took a lot of time and money to locate a highly efficient site.

To solve this issue, the Severance Hospital research team collected and analyzed a large amount of genome editing data using AI to overcome the limitations of existing prediction programs.

As a result of the analysis, the team could predict genome editing sites by a simple method without making or verifying the genetic scissors. Also, it is possible to use the model in a variety of techniques, such as base and epigenome editing.

“The new model accurately predicts the efficiency of genetic scissors and enables a high level of analysis,” Professor Kim said. “We expect we will widely use it in various fields in the healthcare industry, such as gene therapy and new drug development.”

The results of the research were published in Science Advances.

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