Genome Editing on Board

2018 closed with hubbub surrounding the purported birth of babies whose genomes had been edited using CRISPR. What will 2019 hold for CRISPR’s use in humans?

Written byBob Grant

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Well, 2018 sure did go out with a bang, at least on the life-science front. In late November, He Jiankui, a researcher on leave from the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, China, claimed to have edited the genomes of one-day-old embryos in vitro, using CRISPR to disable their CCR5 genes. While genomic manipulation of this sort was not unprecedented, the embryos He edited were not sacrificed as in previous studies. He implanted the modified embryos, and the mother of Lulu and Nana gave birth to the twin girls. If this claim turns out to be true (as of this writing, He’s claims have not been independently confirmed), this could mark a major turning point in humanity’s relationship to biotechnology.

Upon He’s announcement of the twins’ birth, a chorus of voices in the life-science community—including Jennifer Doudna and Feng Zhang, who are widely credited ...

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Meet the Author

Bob Grant
From 2017 to 2022, Bob Grant was Editor in Chief of The Scientist, where he started in 2007 as a Staff Writer. Before joining the team, he worked as a reporter at Audubon and earned a master’s degree in science journalism from New York University. In his previous life, he pursued a career in science, getting a bachelor’s degree in wildlife biology from Montana State University and a master’s degree in marine biology from the College of Charleston in South Carolina. Bob edited Reading Frames and other sections of the magazine.
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