CrispR: A Tool for Allele-specific CRISPR/Cas9 Assay Design

Hannah De Jong, Stanford University

Photo of Hannah De Jong

The CRISPR/Cas9 system provides a means for scientists to make small, directed changes in DNA. This genome-editing technology has the potential to repair the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that cause many heritable human diseases, with the ultimate goal of reversing disease. Several obstacles stand in the way, however, including specific sequence constraints on which locations in the genome can be edited. At present, no software exists that can identify all of the targetable editing sites given the entire array of currently available CRISPR/Cas9 systems. Here we present crispR, an R package that meets this need. CrispR takes as input CRISPR/Cas9 sequence constraints and a list of SNPs. It outputs all of the sites at which the genome can be targeted by CRISPR/Cas9 to repair each SNP. This R package will enable the development of assays to test CRISPR/Cas9 as a therapeutic in model systems that may ultimately lead to a cure for certain human genetic diseases.

Abstract Author(s): Hannah De Jong, Daryl Waggott, Euan Ashley