CRISPR Scientists

The discovery of the CRISPR genome engineering tool has allowed scientists and engineers to edit genes faster, less expensively, and more efficiently than other existing genome editing methods to improve health outcomes, increase plant health and productivity, and develop better biofuels.

In the medical field, scientists are conducting clinical trials to determine if CRISPR can be used to treat diseases and conditions such as sickle-cell anemia, cystic fibrosis, Alzheimer’s disease, hereditary blindness, and cancer. Others have developed ways in which CRISPR can be utilized as a diagnostic tool to detect infectious and non-infectious diseases using a person’s blood, saliva, or urine. Some scientists are using CRISPR to develop new antibiotics and antivirals.

In agriculture and food production, scientists have used CRISPR to genetically modify foods to increase their shelf life, improve their nutritional value and taste, and even make them resistant to pests. For example, a researcher at Penn State University used CRISPR to remove a tiny piece of DNA from one particular gene in a white button mushroom. This action reduced the mushroom’s production of an enzyme that causes the mushroom to brown and spoil and increased the shelf-life of the mushrooms. Scientists at the Innovative Genomics Institute and the University of Berkeley are working with the candymaker Mars, Inc. to use CRISPR to create disease-resistant cacao plants, which will ensure that there will be more plants to use in chocolate production.

In 2024, more companies were starting to use CRISPR to strengthen corn crops to better withstand increasingly strong storms. CRISPR is also used to prevent avian influenza. In the field of bioenergy, scientists are experimenting with using CRISPR technology on algae and bacteria to develop new types of biofuels. In 2017, ExxonMobil and Synthetic Genomics announced that their use of CRISPR on algae could lead to the generation of 10,000 barrels of algae biofuel per day by 2025. To date, this project has been scaled back.