# @dailycal on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DZbLodtjOon
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/66857580-dailycal-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/725e778c5f.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-06-11T00:00:41.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** The Daily Californian (@dailycal) — https://gondola.cc/dailycal

## Caption

A team of researchers at UC Berkeley and UCSF has successfully engineered a new CRISPR-based technique that can selectively destroy cancer cells. 

The engineered enzyme, known as Cas12a2, was derived from bacterial communities, which developed this evolutionary adaptation to survive virus infections. In its natural bacterial state, the enzyme functions as a “suicide pill,” destroying the infected cell’s entire genetic material upon detecting a viral infection to protect the wider bacterial population. 

The research team successfully used this mechanism to recognize cancer-specific RNA sequences. Once the specific target mutation is sensed, the enzyme activates its secondary function, which cuts all the DNA randomly in the cell and shreds the chromatin into pieces, triggering cell death. 

Read more through the link in bio.

✍️: Farida Dowidar
📸: Courtesy of Jingkun Zeng
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#ucberkeley #dailycal #berkeley #ucsf #crispr

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- **Comments:** 8

## Tags

crispr, ucsf, dailycal, berkeley, ucberkeley

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