 There are the sick, there are the hungry, the planet is growing, the planet is warming. We need to do things about that, and we can. We have the power to change things using gene editing. CRISPR in principle is the solution. What CRISPR does is provide scientists with a tool to change DNA sequences in plants, animals, humans. CRISPR has the possibility to end disease like sickle cell anemia, HIV, malaria. Build crops to meet the needs of a growing planet. The potential is just incredible. It's very important for people to understand the technology CRISPR. We have to communicate to the public in a language that's honest, that does not talk down, and that helps. Frankly, I don't think science is the language. Most people look at science and art as two different dimensions, but to me it's really interrelated. In science we pursue the truth, we want to answer questions. But in art, I never answer questions, but I get to ask interesting questions. This is my artwork, CRISPR. I call it CRISPR because it's a combination of CRISPR and paper. They are made out of primarily CRISPR-edited rice. And I look at it as a combination of the modern technology with this ancient paper-making art. Using CRISPR technology, we have the power to change things. What do we want to change? I think that is what we are going to all think about. For science, for the policy makers, for the society, how are we going to take advantage of this very powerful technological invention? The mission of the Innovative Genomics Institute is to take the marvel that is CRISPR and the extraordinary power of precise genetic engineering to make a difference in the real world. How does CRISPR work? Imagine you are trying to edit text. What's step one? You have to identify which section of text you want to edit. CRISPR can be programmed to find a specific stretch of DNA inside the living cell. It runs inside the cell, goes into the nucleus and finds precisely the gene that we asked it to find. And then it's very much like word processing. You hit backspace, backspace, and you type in new text. What is the molecular equivalent of backspace, backspace? Believe it or not, you actually cut the DNA. Cracking the DNA open gives scientists the opportunity to change DNA precisely where the break occurs. So for example, we can get rid of a gene that causes a plant to be susceptible to a disease. Or we can add a mutation that will give a plant a beneficial trait. We are very mindful of the fact that we're not building solutions in a vacuum. We're building solutions that people worldwide will want to accept and use. And yet history teaches us that if we just show up and tell the world, look at our CRISPR-based solutions that are animals, that are humans. Come all, take a ticket, get in line. That's not what's going to happen. It is welcome, other innovation is not. Whenever there is a new piece of technology that's been developed, for example CRISPR, most people have the first reaction. Fear. It's scary what is going to happen with gene editing, with this new powerful CRISPR technology. But at the same time, how are we going to take advantage of this very powerful piece of new technological invention? Without a fear. The IGI was excited to bring art into what we do. People don't want equations, people don't want formulas. Ultimately, art is the only language that is universal. At Stochastic Labs, we support people working at the intersection of art, technology and science. So we created this program called CRISPR Uncommons, Creative Considerations and Genomic Innovation. The idea was to bring the artists into the community with the scientists to get them to be part of the ethical conversations and to be really up on the research that was going on in this area. We have a big problem with the future world population. We're just growing and growing and growing. And we still haven't figured out completely how to solve the nutrition and the food supply problem. You know, do you remember the name of the gene that is CRISPR-esited out? Yeah, it was first the so-called CAO gene. We do genomic modifications on a lot of different species. But I personally work with RISE. And two projects are very dear to my heart. It's the improvement of grain yield. And it's also disease resistance. If we actually can boost the immune system of the plants, we can get rid of all the pesticides we use right now. We can protect the farmers and the consumers. When the fibers get stronger and harder, it's good for the papermation. The collaboration with Chong-In was actually very unexpected for me. These plants she used later in her art, I used them essentially to try out CRISPR and confirm the technology is working well here in this lab. I began with choosing the right pieces of the leaves and then started to process the pulp. Primarily involving cooking them and then also with some chemicals to break down the unwanted components. It's a funny smell. The longer you cook it, the more smell it will come out. I could do different things with it. For example, changing the colors or making different density. So then eventually it turns out to be visually very different on the final artwork. Once the pulp is prepared, now I start the actual papermaking process which is primarily using my hands to shape the paper. And all the three-dimensional structure and the color is formed with the movement. So it is recording basically just my hand movement making the paper froze at the time. Art is a living being that is expressing the ideas that is talking with you. Inviting you to think about things around you including thinking about science, thinking about technology, even thinking about the art you are looking at. The reason to use paper is to put this scary, fearful new piece of technology in this very comfortable, familiar material. That could make us feel okay. It is okay to live with it. This is okay to leverage the advantage of this piece of technology as long as it is within a comfortable zone. Ten thousand years ago in Neolithic China, folks domesticated a wild plant which we now call rice. In process of selective breeding to give themselves a grain that feeds them, the Neolithic Chinese introduced a wealth of genetic changes into the DNA of that crop. And here we are with many varieties of tasty rice, not one of them genetically looking like the original parent. The 20th century has been the first one where humans have started to take directed control over their own genetic destiny and the genetic destiny of the world around them. CRISPR is different because of our ability to not engineer mother nature, but instead to collaborate with her. This is our machine that we use to deliver DNA to tissue. We call it the gene gun that goes in. Then we put our DNA in and finally our rice cells. We create a vacuum in the chamber and we allow the pressure to build up and then at a point it breaks and it shoots the DNA into the tissue. So these cells now have new DNA inside of them. Over the next few days to a week, the DNA will start to make its way to the nucleus and we'll start to make the edits that we wanted of them. I got it. Thank you. So this is the tissue culture room. Here we grow our plant materials. So Jackie just introduced the DNA and CRISPR reagents into the plant cells for us. Thank you. And now we need to put them into the dark because after the stressful treatment they need to have some rest and also we need the CRISPR reagent to be active and actually make the cut. So hopefully in the end we will have the ideal rice plant and for example this means we increase the yield, the grain number a lot through adding more branches to the flower and this really has a high impact because you get more grain for one flower. Then we will also reduce the number of stems in the plant to make the plant more compact and this has a super high effect because you can grow much more plants in a smaller field. So you get also a much higher yield. Honestly if you ask me I think it's a revolutionary technology. Already at the IGI we're doing 15 different plant species that we try to improve. We work together with agricultural institutes around the world in Africa and Colombia and in Mexico. They're going to help us to choose the best plants so we really think we're going to have a high impact in different environments that are maybe troubled by climate change or even in environments where the soil is poor. Paper is such a thing that's so fragile and we all know that paper wouldn't last forever. And just because of that we put in extra care to protect this piece of paper if it has certain content on it. Maybe it's a letter from the loved one, maybe it's a piece of artwork and you know that it's not going to last forever. That makes you want to protect it even more. It makes you value a difference. What is going to change if our lives could last forever, for example? And if CRISPR could cure all the diseases in our human body, if CRISPR could allow the rice to keep growing and keep exactly the same genes, same quality in generations after generations. Would that change our views, would that change our perception and feelings towards our lives, our society and our future? I think there's a popular perception around science and technology that it's something that is being developed behind closed doors and that we don't really have an opportunity as just regular people to influence the future of. And I think that we're actually all incredibly wrong when we think that way. I love your work. Oh thank you, thank you so much. You can also see the rice, the cream coming out of the paper. The presents are pretty much all dead. But you have this cream coming out which resembles the life. To me, when I think about how life plays into that, I think about the ways that CRISPR is being marshaled to pull that life from it, extend life and bring it out against this background of people's disease or chronic illness or something like that. On kind of the shadow end, it's like, well what unintended consequences can arise from that? My dream and hope is that folks who see this and I hope that many people do will start to ask themselves an open-ended question. How do you feel about the fact that the rice that was used to make this gorgeousness is CRISPRed? Does it bother you? Does it scare you? Why? What is bothersome? What is scary? Will this happen? Will this inspire people to think about how they think about the natural? I have no idea. It inspired me.