Sherlock Biosciences

in early May, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Sherlock Biosciences an emergency use authorization (EUA) for its COVID-19 diagnostic assay, beating out other companies and academic groups trying to use the powerful gene-editing technology to figure out who is infected with the novel coronavirus. Sherlock’s test is the first FDA-authorized use of CRISPR technology for anything.

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https://sherlock.bio/technology/

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SHERLOCK: A CRISPR Tool to Detect Disease
This animation depicts how Cas13 -- a CRISPR-associated protein -- may be adapted to detect human disease. This new diagnostic tool, called SHERLOCK, targets RNA (rather than DNA), and has the potential to transform research and global public health.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOoUIlLmxf4

What is SHERLOCK technology?

The Cas9 enzyme is also known as a programmable nuclease. This is due to the fact that one can use it to cut the targeted DNA site by providing a unique RNA. This method is harnessed further by scientist to develop SHERLOCK technology (stands for Specific High sensitive Enzymatic Reporter Unlocking). The only difference is that it uses Cas13a endonuclease enzyme rather than Cas9. The method involves the following:

RNA amplification (Or DNA by enzyme reverse transcriptase).
Amplified RNA is complexed with Cas13a enzyme, a guide RNA resembling target sequence, and a reporter nucleic acid sequence containing a fluorescent tag.
Activation of Cas13a non-specific RNAse activity in response to the presence of the target sequence is detected in the reaction mixture
As a result, the RNA reporter will be cleaved leading to activation of the fluorophore.
Since the technique is based on fluorescence-based detection of the target sequence from the pool of amplified nucleotides, it is known as “Specific High sensitive Enzymatic Reporter Unlocking” i.e. SHERLOCK.

Are there other similar technologies?

DETECTR Technology (DNA Endonuclease Targeted CRISPR Trans Reporter):
This system was first reported by scientists – Jennifer Doudna and her colleagues at the University of California. This technology is similar to SHERLOCK with a difference in the type of endonuclease used. Here the researchers used Cas12a instead of Cas13a or Cas9 which cleaves the dsDNA and leads to activation of the non-specific ssDNA breakdown. The researchers used this technique to identify carcinomas related Human Papilloma Virus (HPV).

HUDSON Technology (Heating Unextracted Diagnostic Samples to Obliterate Nuclease):
This method involves the release of nucleic acids directly into the solution by initiating the heat and chemical reduction based lyses of the viral envelope. The researchers have combined the HUDSON technology with SHERLOCK technology in order to detect two most fatal virus i.e. Zika and Dengue virus.

How SHERLOCK Technology can be helpful?

As we have looked upon the working mechanism of the technology, it is easy to guess its enormous potential in the field of biosciences. To mention the few:

It can be used for detection of both viral and bacterial pathogens
The evaluating viral load of HIV patients
Detection of any DNA mutation and subsequent assessment of disease tendencies
Rapid and precise result for TB (Tuberculosis)
Instantaneous identification of pathogen-resistant genes
Assessment of gene edits created by CRISPR using SHERLOCK technology
https://thescientificreporters.com/crispr-based-sherlock-technology-the-detective/