Scientists Reverse Their Controversial Findings of CRISPR's Off-Target Effects

Last year, researchers claimed the gene-editing method had accuracy issues, but a new whole-genome sequencing analysis by the same team finds otherwise.

Written byDiana Kwon

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Update (March 30): Nature Methods has retracted the 2017 paper claiming CRISPR could introduce a multitude of unwanted off-target effects. The retraction notice states that since the paper was published, “it has been brought to the journal's and the authors' attention that without parental controls or more analysis of genetic background, it is not certain that the variants reported are due to CRISPR treatment.” It also notes that four of the coauthors don’t agree with the decision to retract.

Last May, stocks of CRISPR-based biotech firms fell sharply after a Nature Methods paper claimed that CRISPR-Cas9 genome-editing introduced a host of unwanted off-target effects in mice. This week, the authors of that paper published a follow-up analysis, published on bioRxiv, reversing their original findings.

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Meet the Author

Diana Kwon
Diana is a freelance science journalist who covers the life sciences, health, and academic life. She’s a regular contributor to The Scientist and her work has appeared in several other publications, including Scientific American, Knowable, and Quanta. Diana was a former intern at The Scientist and she holds a master’s degree in neuroscience from McGill University. She’s currently based in Berlin, Germany.
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