Weekend Roundup: Gene Editing
The promise and peril of CRISPR and the ability to alter our genes at will
The covid-19 pandemic reached a turning point in 2021 with the widespread deployment of vaccines that reduced the severity of the virus, especially in highly vulnerable people. However, their arrival was predictably accompanied by numerous conspiracy theories, ranging from the claim that vaccines contained microchips to the notion that the mRNA vaccine technology can alter your DNA (fact check: no it doesn’t). That back and forth battle over nonsensical claims obscures that different bioengineering techniques DO allow us to edit genes.
Five years ago, the Chinese scientist He Jiankui announced—to great controversy, to put it mildly—that he had performed the first gene editing in live human embryos. He claimed to have been trying to protect the children from contracting HIV from their father by modifying the receptor the virus uses to enter cells (CCR5) with a technique called CRISPR. He’s attempt was widely viewed as reckless, proceeding too quickly, breaking international mores about …
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to All Science Great & Small to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.