CRISPR-Powered Biosensing
Nucleic acid testing is decisive for the diagnosis and treatment monitoring of various diseases. Over the last years, particularly the (re)emergence outbreak of infectious diseases (such as COVID-19 caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2) as well as the discovery of new nucleic acid-based biomarkers (like microRNA clusters for diagnosing different types of cancer or Alzheimer’s disease) further stimulated the development of novel tools for nucleic acid testing. Beyond its wide application in genome editing, Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR)-based assay technologies along with its CRISPR-associated (Cas) enzymes, known as genetic scissors, has revolutionized the field of biosensors. CRISPR technology provides a powerful method for the highly scalable, sensitive and selective quantification of nucleic acids in an easy, rapid and low-cost manner.