What is CRISPR?
CRISPR
CRISPR is a gene-editing technology that uses the CRISPR-Cas9 system to modify DNA, with applications including base editing and therapeutic development.
How it developed
- Jun 2025 - Katrine Bosley noted that CRISPR’s ease of use is unusual, as many researchers reported their first experiments worked, contrasting with typical scientific finickiness.
- Jun 2025 - Bosley also mentioned a manufacturing input that failed to meet a quality measure, indicating production hurdles.
- Jun 2026 - Steven Strogatz highlighted that existing CRISPR versions and a delivery tool originally developed for the COVID vaccine could be used without new research, showing rapid deployment capability.
- Jun 2026 - Jeff Coller predicted that within 20 years, a toolbox of delivery mechanisms for CRISPR-based editors would become standard of care for genetic medicine.
- Jul 2026 - Patrick Hsu questioned whether AI-designed zinc fingers could replace CRISPR, suggesting potential competition from alternative gene-editing approaches.
In the evidence
Every line below is attributed to a named speaker.
A personalized CRISPR therapy for a rare metabolic disease was developed and delivered to a human patient in eight months, using only existing technology.
“No new research had to be done. We could use existing versions of CRISPR and a delivery tool that had been developed originally for the COVID vaccine, actually.”Steven Strogatz · 11 Jun 2026
Steven Strogatz on the speed of the first personalized CRISPR therapy, noting no new research was needed.
“No new research had to be done. We could use existing versions of CRISPR and a delivery tool that had been developed originally for the COVID vaccine, actually.”Steven Strogatz · 11 Jun 2026
Lipid nanoparticles developed for COVID-19 vaccines now serve as an off-the-shelf delivery vehicle for CRISPR therapies, collapsing the timeline for personalized gene editing from years to months.
“No new research had to be done. We could use existing versions of CRISPR and a delivery tool that had been developed originally for the COVID vaccine, actually.”Steven Strogatz · 11 Jun 2026
Editas shifted its lead program IND filing timeline from end of 2024 to mid-2025, attributed to a manufacturing input failing a quality measure, not a CRISPR-specific problem.
“It just related to one of the manufacturing inputs didn't achieve a quality measure.”Katrine Bosley · 12 Jun 2025
CRISPR base editors, combined with a growing toolbox of cell-type-specific delivery mechanisms, are projected to become standard of care in genetic medicine within 20 years.
“In 20 years maybe less we'll have you know a tool a tool book a toolbox of all these delivery mechanisms to get crisperbased seditors to different cell types into different tissues and it will be the standard of care for genetic medicine.”Jeff Coller · 15 Jun 2026
Patrick Hsu suggests that sufficiently capable AI protein design could make CRISPR guide RNAs obsolete. If AI can design zinc fingers that bind any DNA target, programmable RNA-guided editing may no longer be necessary.
“If your AI could just design, you know, a zinc finger that just goes to any target, do you really need crisper anymore?”Patrick Hsu · 21 Jul 2026
Katrine Bosley on CRISPR reliability vs. typical experimental biology.
“Many people have said to me, "My first experiment worked with crisper." And that's unusual. Science is often a lot more finicky than that.”Katrine Bosley · 12 Jun 2025