CRISPR trials: the 2024 update

The recent approval of Casgevy represents the first official success of gene editing-based therapies. The treatment for sickle cell anemia and thalassemia came in record time, only 11 years after CRISPR was invented. “Two diseases down, 5,000 to go,” commented Fyodor Urnov, Director of Technology & Translation at the Innovative Genomics Institute. Among the many diseases awaiting a cure, what will be the next to benefit from CRISPR? At what rate can we expect new treatments to arrive? The periodic update published by IGI is a must-read to navigate through hope and hype, papers and press-releases. The picture is overwhelmingly positive, but there is also some cause for disappointment. Here is an excerpt from the introduction:

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CRISPR-enabled carbon capture. What’s up?

Credit CSRWire

The Innovative Genomics Institute runs a program aiming to “supercharge plants and soils to remove carbon from the atmosphere” with the help of CRISPR and funding from the Chan Zuckerberg Iniziative. I asked Andy Murdock, communications director at IGI, three questions to update the picture. Please see his answers below.

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Three August news not to be missed

by Philippa Steinberg

The Innovative Genomics Institute presents CRISPR Made Simple – the new online primer on gene editing made for kids or anyone starting from scratch.

The Broad Institute unveils SEND, a new delivery system inspired to retrotransposons (see Feng Zhang’s paper in Science)

Genotoxicity concerns: Nature Biotechnology explains how a cancer-associated phenomenon called chromothripsis could affect CRISPR therapies.