CRISPR

GMOs in food are subject to some tight regulations. Now, researchers at North Carolina State University have created a new version of CRISPR that lets scientists edit crops without introducing new DNA, meaning they technically aren’t GMOs.

Washington University scientists working on techniques to turn stem cells into pancreatic beta cells are now reporting another exciting breakthrough, combining them with the CRISPR gene-editing tool to reverse the disease in mice.

The CRISPR gene-editing tool has been used inside the human body for the first time. In a new clinical trial, scientists at Oregon Health and Science University are testing the technique as a treatment for a genetic mutation that causes blindness.

The results are in from a human clinical trial using the CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing system to treat cancer. The study involved editing the immune cells of three cancer patients, and the treated cells persisted and didn’t trigger dangerous side effects.

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is one of the most common and most devastating muscular diseases. Now researchers have managed to use the CRISPR gene-editing tool to correct the condition in pigs, bringing the treatment ever closer to human trials.

The scientist responsible for creating the world’s first gene-edited babies has been sentenced to three years in prison alongside shorter sentences for two of his colleagues. Chinese state news also revealed a third gene-edited baby has been born.

INTEGRATE is a newly-developed version of CRISPR that edits genes more gently. It uses “jumping genes” that insert large sequences of DNA without breaking the strands, and now scientists have imaged the mechanism at work for the first time.

The world has seen some major scientific achievements in the last 10 years, as discoveries and developments decades in the making were finally realized. New Atlas rounds up five of the most ground-breaking, history-making milestones of the 2010s.

A new study from an international team of geneticists is suggesting we are further away than many realize from being able to effectively genetically select for complex polygenic traits such as IQ or height and create designer babies.

Promising data from one of the first human trials testing a CRISPR gene therapy has just been revealed. Although it is too early to evaluate long-term effects, the initial reports demonstrate success for two patients with genetic blood diseases.

CRISPR is a powerful gene-editing tool – but it has its own problems too. Now, Harvard and MIT scientists have created a new approach called prime editing, which could correct almost 90 percent of disease-causing genes.

Humanity is poised to take a huge leap forward, as a convergence of next-gen technologies combine to give us unprecedented power over our own biology. Here's a roadmap to the key technologies and how it's going to play out in the coming decades.