CRISPR (acronym for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) is a genetic hacking tool for bacteria. Therefore, we can say that these bacteria are the original biohackers. They use it as a tool to protect themselves from bacteriophage reinvasion, similar to the adaptive immunity of our immune system. However, while it may not have been strengthened, his experiment could have been successful in a sense: it has forced people to face the dangers and dilemmas of biohacking in the era of CRISPR.
Recently, a group of researchers from the Salk Institute was able to administer a virus to the legs of mice using a virus, which substantially increased muscle growth. Josiah Zayner, an advocate for using biotechnology to improve oneself, is the CEO and founder of The Odin, a company that sells homemade CRISPR kits online. A person who is injured using a homemade CRISPR kit, for example, can probably sue the seller of the kit, which could deter sellers of unsafe biohacking materials. Zayner, the biohacker who once injected himself with CRISPR DNA, has also had health problems for years, and some of his biohacking activities have consisted of explicit attempts to cure himself.
At least for now, the viability of such a CRISPR application is restricted by practical and technological limitations.
