The First Crispr Medicine Is Now Approved in the US
Casgevy uses the Nobel Prize–winning technology Crispr to modify patients’ cells so that they produce healthy hemoglobin instead. The Crispr system has two parts: a protein that cuts genetic…
Browsing Tag
Gene Editing
Scientists Are Gene-Editing Flies to Fight Crop Damage
In 2008, a fruit fly known as the spotted-wing drosophila made its way from Southeast Asia to the continental US, likely hitching a ride on fruit shipments. First detected in California…
The First Crispr-Edited Salad Is Here
A gene-editing startup wants to help you eat healthier salads. This month, North Carolina–based Pairwise Plants is rolling out a new type of mustard greens engineered to be less bitter than…
A Gene Therapy Cure for Sickle Cell Is on the Horizon
Evie Junior’s life has been defined by pain. He was born with sickle cell disease, which causes red blood cells to be sticky and C-shaped, not smooth and round. These cells are supposed to…
Gene Editing for Cardiac Protection
CRISPR-Cas9, the gene editing approach was found to confer protection from ischemia/reperfusion injury, according to a study in mice. However, most gene editing strategies focus on…
Here’s What’s Next for Pig Organ Transplants
Starting in the 1960s, doctors attempted transplants of kidneys, hearts, and livers from baboons and chimpanzees—humans’ closest genetic relatives—into people. But the organs failed within…
A More Elegant Form of Gene Editing Progresses to Human Testing
In April 2016, Waseem Qasim, a professor of cell and gene therapy, was captivated by a new scientific paper that described a revolutionary way to manipulate DNA: base editing. The paper,…
The Crispr Baby Scientist Is Back. Here’s What He’s Doing Next
Some scientists and ethicists think He deserves a chance to prove that he’s capable of producing scientifically valid and ethically sound work. “His case is publicly known enough that the…
Turns Out Fighting Mosquitoes With Mosquitoes Actually Works
The Aedes aegypti mosquito is not just a nuisance—it’s a known carrier of dengue, yellow fever, chikungunya, and Zika viruses. Distinguished by the black and white stripes on its legs, the…
A Bold Effort to Cure HIV—Using Crispr
Dornbusch thinks this strategy will spare patients from serious side effects or “off-target” edits—unintentional cuts elsewhere in the genome that could cause problems such as cancer.The…