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by jimrandomh 3802 days ago
The papers I've looked at sequence and measure the on-target mutation rate, and don't have any steps in them that would select for mutants (because that would ruin the measurement). Where do you propose the selection for mutants would be happening?

Unless I'm misunderstanding something about how the experiments are done, your theory would require many groups to be independently committing scientific fraud, which is very implausible.
1 comments
nonbel 3802 days ago
No fraud is necessary, just sloppy interpretation of data.

Staying with Schuman et al (2015) linked in this thread, they start with 2.5 x 10^5 cells and end up with 5 x 10^4 to 2 x 10^5 three to four days later. Why are there fewer cells even without accounting for any division? Because the treatment is toxic. This is reported in many papers.

I don't know what the proliferation rate is like for the cells in the conditions of that study, but apparently up to 7 divisions in 4 days is considered plausible for T-cells: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17367338

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jimrandomh 3802 days ago
If you're right and CRISPR doesn't actually work, then none of the papers published so far are replicable and you'll be vindicated in mere months. If that doesn't happen, then there's a flaw in the style of reasoning and research that led you to conclude the existing papers were flawed. I recommend jotting down a few notes about how you came to this conclusion, and making a calendar reminder to check how it turned out next year.
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nonbel 3802 days ago
>"If you're right and CRISPR doesn't actually work, then none of the papers published so far are replicable and you'll be vindicated in mere months."

Not at all. I'm not sure you understand what I am saying.

It appears to me the data can be interpreted in multiple ways. Two different "theories" can explain the same results. This is a much more insidious problem than mere non-replication (I haven't seen any direct replications regarding CRISPR either though). People can continue on the wrong path for a long time by interpreting good, reliable data incorrectly.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experimentum_crucis

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