Modern science has furthered CRISPR from nature to CRISPR as a lab-engineered gene editing tool.6 CRISPR characterization work was initiated by two molecular biologists, Dr. Jennifer Doudna and Dr. Emmanuelle Charpentier, who met at a conference, and their research collaboration since the conference has harvested magnificent fruition—by winning the coveted Nobel Prize (in Chemistry) in 2020.7,8 More importantly, their groundbreaking discoveries have paved the road for CRISPR to evolve as a cutting-edge gene editing technology. Carrying on with the groundbreaking work, scientists at Harvard and the Broad Institute have engineered new aspects of CRISPR, further fine-tuning the gene editing technology, summarized later in this section.
6. What are genome editing and CRISPR-Cas9? (Updated 2022, Mar 22). MedlinePlus Genetics. https://medlineplus.gov/genetics/understanding/genomicresearch/genomeediting/7. Li, T., Yang, Y., Qi, H., Cui, W., Zhang, L., Fu, X., He, X., Liu, M., Li, P. F., & Yu, T. (2023). CRISPR/Cas9 therapeutics: progress and prospects. Signal transduction and targeted therapy, 8(1), 36. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41392-023-01309-78. Westermann, L., Neubauer, B., & Köttgen, M. (2021). Nobel Prize 2020 in Chemistry honors CRISPR: a tool for rewriting the code of life. Pflugers Archiv: European journal of physiology, 473(1), 1–2. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00424-020-02497-9
