CRISPR has revolutionized science. AI is now taking the gene editor to the next level. Thanks to its ability to accurately edit the genome, CRISPR tools are now widely used in biotechnology and across medicine to tackle inherited diseases. In late 2023, a therapy using the Nobel Prize-winning tool gained approval from the FDA to treat sickle cell disease. CRISPR has also enabled CAR T cell therapy to battle cancers and been used to lower dangerously high cholesterol levels in clinical trials. Outside medicine, CRISPR tools are changing the agricultural landscape, with projects ongoing to engin ..read more

CRISPR ended 2023 with a bang. In November, the gene editing tool scored its first clinical approval for treating sickle cell anemia and beta-thalassemia in the United Kingdom. These painful blood disorders are caused by a single genetic typo which distorts blood cells’ shape and limits their ability to deliver oxygen. A few weeks later, the Food and Drug Administration in the US greenlighted the therapy for sickle cell and is set to rule on beta-thalassemia by March of next year. A European Medicines Agency regulatory committee soon followed with an endorsement for the therapy, suggesting it ..read more

Sickle cell disease is debilitating. Due to faulty genetic code, red blood cells morph from round and plump into jagged monstrosities that scrape and puncture blood vessels. Over time symptoms build up, eventually damaging major organs like the liver, heart, and kidneys. The disease was incurable—until gene editing came along. In 2020, a breakthrough technology that used CRISPR improved disease symptoms in six patients for at least half a year. It was a tough journey: scientists removed faulty blood stem cells and disabled a genetic switch to help make them healthy again. Patients then receive ..read more

Though at least one vaccine for malaria is in use, it remains one of the deadliest diseases in the world. Almost half of the world’s population lives in areas where malaria transmission occurs, and an estimated 619,000 people died of the disease in 2021. Worse yet, the vast majority of cases leading to death are in young children. Researchers from the University of California in San Diego may have found a way to reduce this burden of disease. They used the gene editing tool CRISPR to alter a gene that controls sexual development in mosquitoes. Male mosquitoes don’t bite humans; it’s the female ..read more

A new cancer therapy is a match made in heaven. On one side is CRISPR, the gene-editing technology that’s taken genetic engineering by storm. The other is a therapy called CAR-T, which transforms normal immune cells into super soldiers that hunt down specific cancers. Scientists have long sought to combine these two big advances into a “danger zone” for cancers—a cellular fighter jet that hunts down precise cancer cells and takes their, cough, breath away. (Top Gun, anyone?) The idea is relatively simple: CAR-T uses genetic engineering to endow immune cells with advanced tracking powers target ..read more

Ninety percent of American adults don’t eat enough fruits and vegetables, opting for fast food and processed foods instead. Cost, flavor, and convenience are all factors in this imbalance, but as health statistics show, we should be working harder to reverse our dietary trends. A startup called PairWise is out to help change the way we eat by making fruits and vegetables more appealing. The company is zeroing in on traits that may deter people from consuming produce and tweaking those traits using CRISPR gene editing. Their hope is that the resulting products will not only pique consumers’ int ..read more

With its inquisitive eyes, furry snout, and lush pelt, the mouse—nicknamed Xiao Zhu, or Little Bamboo—nimbly perched on a bamboo stalk, striking a pretty pose for the camera. But this mouse doesn’t exist in nature. Made in a lab in Beijing, Xiao Zhu pushes the boundary of what’s possible for genetic engineering and synthetic biology. Rather than harboring the usual 20 pairs of chromosomes, the mouse and its sibling cohorts only have 19 pairs. Two chunks of different chromosomes were artificially fused together in a daring experiment that asked: rather than tweaking individual DNA letters or mu ..read more

Childhood home videos can be heartwarming, hilarious, or downright embarrassing. But the tapes contain an invaluable resource: snippets of a child’s journey as they learn to navigate the world. Sure, photos can also capture a first birthday or a first fall off a bike too—but rather than a movie, they’re single snapshots in time. Scientists have long sought to embed DNA “camcorders” into cells to capture their history. Like kids, cells grow, diversify, and mature as they interact with the environment. These changes are embedded in a cell’s gene activity, and by reconstructing them over time, s ..read more

Jurassic World: Dominion is hyperbolic Hollywood entertainment at its best, with an action-packed storyline that refuses to let reality get in the way of a good story. Yet just like its predecessors, it offers an underlying cautionary tale of technological hubris that’s very real. As I discuss in my book Films from the Future, Steven Spielberg’s 1993 Jurassic Park, based on Michael Crichton’s 1990 novel, didn’t shy away from grappling with the dangers of unfettered entrepreneurship and irresponsible innovation. Scientists at the time were getting closer to being able to manipulate DNA in ..read more

Genes are like Egyptian hieroglyphs. Thanks to advances in whole-genome sequencing, it’s increasingly easy to read each DNA letter. But the strings of A, T, C, and G bring up a second puzzle: what, if anything, do they mean? It’s a problem that has haunted biologists since the completion of the Human Genome Project. By tapping into our genetic base code, the project assumed, we’d be able to master control of inherited diseases, edit them at will, and easily predict the consequences of any gene that laid the foundation for our bodies, functions, and lives. The vision didn’t exactly work out. D ..read more