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The Importance of Science Communication

• How to Effectively Communicate Science

• Common Mistakes in Science Communication

• An Example: CRISPR Gene Editing Articles

On February 15th, 2013, an article was published in Science magazine about a new way of editing genes very precisely. We will compare and contrast the original article, with the press release following it, as well as articles aimed at the general public.

The original article (DOI 10.1126/science.1231143) contains many difficult words, such that only someone studying biology would understand the specifics. The main idea of the article can be understood from the abstract.

Functional elucidation of causal genetic variants and elements requires precise genome editing technologies. The type II prokaryotic CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats)/Cas adaptive immune system has been shown to facilitate RNA-guided site-specific DNA cleavage. We engineered two different type II CRISPR/Cas systems and demonstrate that Cas9 nucleases can be directed by short RNAs to induce precise cleavage at endogenous genomic loci in human and mouse cells. Cas9 can also be converted into a nicking enzyme to facilitate homology-directed repair with minimal mutagenic activity. Lastly, multiple guide sequences can be encoded into a single CRISPR array to enable simultaneous editing of several sites within the mammalian genome, demonstrating easy programmability and wide applicability of the RNA-guided nuclease technology.

While a science student might know the meaning of causal, genome, or prokaryotic, they would have a harder time with functional elucidation, endogenous, or homology. Again, the main idea that the CRISPR system allows for precise editing of genes is clear.

The press release is more suitable for a general audience. Using simpler words, even colloquialisms such as home in, the press release explains more clearly the purpose of the CRISPR/Cas 9 system.

...the engineered CRISPR-Cas9 system can be programmed to target specific stretches of genetic code and to make cuts at precise locations. Over the past few years, those capabilities have been harnessed and used as genome editing tools, enabling researchers to permanently modify genes in mammalian cells. In the future, these tools may make it possible to correct mutations at precise locations in the three billion-letter sequence of the human genome to treat genetic causes of disease in patients.

Being meant for a general audience, the press release is a summary the key points of the article. Very little of the specifics of the CRISPR system are brought up, as the general public would be unable to understand anyways. Most importantly, the foggy main idea from above is clarified: "Researchers can now harness the engineered system to home in on specific nucleic acid sequences and cut the DNA at those precise targets."

Very rarely did the more "general audience" articles cite from just the original source. This nature article provides a good overview of recent developments in CRISPR, and explains the science in an accessible way. It cites 15 scholarly articles, and includes graphics to clearly illustrate the gene editing process. It is worth noting that, because the nature article covers so much, it is quite long. The writer offsets this by grouping the advancements into sections, to make the article easier to process.

More specialized websites such as Addgene referenced several articles about CRISPR as well. Like nature, the entry about CRISPR's history has diagrams illustrating the process. The short "reference" is a lot more technical in nature. Rather than mention the researchers, the webpage explains just the science and its strengths and limitations.

The McGovern Institute at MIT's article is similar in that it references more than just one scholarly article. Instead of illustrations, a video explains the process. The video is targeted to a very broad audience, even giving the definition of "a gene" in the introduction. The animations illustrate each step of the CRISPR/Cas9 process very clearly.