Whose Revolution in Genetics Created CRISPR?

CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) is a natural bacterial immune system that Doudna and Charpentier repurposed as a gene-editing tool. Their landmark 2012 paper showed that the Cas9 protein, guided by a custom-designed RNA molecule, could be programmed to cut DNA at virtually any specific location in any genome. The technology is simpler, faster, and cheaper than previous gene-editing methods (zinc fingers, TALENs), democratising genetic engineering. CRISPR has been used to develop disease-resistant crops, engineer mosquitoes that cannot spread malaria, treat genetic diseases in clinical trials (sickle cell disease, beta-thalassemia), and create animal models for studying cancer and other conditions. In December 2023, the first CRISPR-based therapy (Casgevy) was approved for treating sickle cell disease. Ethical debates rage about CRISPR potential for human germline editing (heritable changes), intensified by He Jiankui controversial creation of CRISPR-edited babies in China in 2018.