What are the most promising (potential) applications of the CRISPR technology?

CRISPR/Cas9´s technology has several applications that go from treating human diseases to producing meat. 

In this article, I´ll show 8 potential applications of CRISPR/Cas9 technology.

1. HIV therapy - CRISPR/Cas9 can help treat HIV, where it can target the virus´s genome to reduce the infection and clear the provirus. It can also induce transcriptional activation of latent virus in latent viral reservoirs for elimination, one of the main challenges in HIV therapy. One of the greatest scandals involved the Chinese scientist He Jiankui and their CRISPR-babies. In 2018, he claimed he and his team had edited human embryos' genome to make them less susceptible to HIV. 
2. Fighting obesity - Recently, scientists used CRISPR technology to edit the rat fat cells' genome and create thinner and healthier animals. To achieve this, they used the CRISPR-SAM system in human preadipocytes to activate UCP1 gene expression. Using CRISPR to turn bad fat into good fat and becoming thinner certainly seems appealing to me. 
   
3. Cancer treatment - CRISPR holds great promises in cancer immunotherapy. It can improve therapeutic immune cells' production, such as the construction of chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR-T) cells. Recently, scientists used CRISPR/Cas9 to cut out fusion genes and induce cell death in murine models of sarcoma and leukemia. 
4. More sustainable meat - Scientists at the University of California used CRISPR technology to produce a bull calf to produce more male offspring when he grows up. It seems that male cattle are 15% more efficient at converting food into weight gain. They also tend to be processed at a higher weight when compared to females. Thus, we would need fewer cattle to produce the same amount of meat: more males, more beef.
5. Allergy-free foods - CRISPR can be used to re-write regions in the human genome that are recognized by the immune system, causing an allergic response. As an example, researchers are removing the gluten protein for wheat, making it suitable for celiacs.
6. Greener fuels - The technology can be used to improve the production of biofuels by algae. Usually, algae do not produce enough fat to make biofuel production economically viable. This can be changed by editing its genome to produce more fat. 
7. Eradicating pests - Mosquitoes are a true pest. They are annoying and spread several diseases. Thus, controlling their reproduction is highly necessary. CRISPR technology can help us with this mission. Researchers at Imperial College London, UK, used CRISPR technology against the mosquito responsible for malaria spread. The researchers introduced a gene that stops females from laying eggs. They had successfully eliminated the entire population 7 generations after the gene was introduced.  
8. Reverting extinction - Researchers at Harvard University are working on bringing back the woolly mammoth that went extinct thousands of years ago. Maybe we´ll see extinct animals running wild in the future..who knows?

References

Wang C, Lundh M, Fu A, Kriszt R, Huang TL, Lynes MD, et al. CRISPR-engineered human brown-like adipocytes prevent diet-induced obesity ameliorate metabolic syndrome in mice. 2020;8664(August). 

Martinez-Lage, M., Torres-Ruiz, R., Puig-Serra, P. et al. In vivo CRISPR/Cas9 targeting of fusion oncogenes for selective elimination of cancer cells. Nat Commun 11, 5060 (2020). 

University of California - Davis. "Meet Cosmo, a bull calf designed to produce more male offspring: Scientists use CRISPR technology to insert the sex-determining gene." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 23 July 2020.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcimb.2019.00069/full

https://www.labiotech.eu/crispr/crispr-applications-gene-editing/

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00001-y

https://jmg.bmj.com/content/56/1/4