Home ยป Beyond CRISPR: Next-Generation DNA Editing

Beyond CRISPR: Next-Generation DNA Editing

beyond CRISPR

Eureka moment: 2021 the team at Beam Therapeutics published work in The CRISPR Journal, showing success in using inlaid base editors (IBE) to edit a disease-causing variant in sickle cell.

Why it matters: Many human diseases are not easily accessible to current methods of editing DNA through CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats), the bacterial defense system. Using IBE may create a new tool in the editing of hard-to-reach bits of DNA.

How itโ€™s being used now: Beam Therapeutics is testing IBEs in a number of rare diseases, including sickle cell and acute myeloid leukemia. Beam was founded by David R. Liu PhD, honored as one of Natureโ€™s top 10 global researchers in 2017.

Whatโ€™s next: Other companies are following Beamโ€™s lead to fix tiny mutations. 

To dig deeper: https://beamtx.com/