Past exam of the systems biology course of the University of Cambridge / 2024 / Paper 4 / Section I / 1.13 / Solution

The panel supports feasibility in these samples, but not the full strength or generality of the claim. The method produces modification estimates for three patient samples, and the displayed selected genes generally have higher estimates than the knockout controls. That is evidence that an analysis can be performed and yields biological-looking contrasts.

The comparison simultaneously changes cell background, disease status and potentially sequencing conditions. The displayed genes were selected for high estimated modification, creating selection bias; the same estimates do not independently validate their accuracy. The panel also does not itself show input-RNA amounts, uncertainty, or performance across controlled input levels. It therefore cannot alone establish reliable low-input performance across genetically diverse clinical samples or disease-specific modification differences.