Rating: Very Good
Strong Points: Website is well-organized and intuitive to use.
Weak Points: Currently only has human and rodent reference gnomes.
Designing appropriate guide RNAs for your CRISPR experiments can be tricky. Fortunately, there are tools like CRISPick that make the process easier than ever. CRISPick, from the Broad Institute, is a useful online tool that helps you select the optimal guide RNA for your gene of interest. The website first asks you to input your gene or genome of interest and accepts a variety of formats, including raw sequences, FASTA files, gene IDs, or specific genomic coordinates. The site then returns an output file that lists guide RNAs designed from your input sequence. There is also a summary file that gives more information about the guide RNAs and includes statistics about the likely on- and off-target effects for each provided RNA. The website includes information and guidance for new users in both a beginner’s guide and an FAQ. CRISPick is a straightforward and intuitive tool for designing optimal guide RNAs for CRISPR experiments.