Reading and Writing DNA

CRISPR-Cas9 changed everything. Before 2012, editing DNA was slow, expensive, and imprecise. CRISPR made it as practical as using find-and-replace in a text document.

The implications are staggering. Gene therapy can now fix the root cause of a disease instead of just managing its symptoms. Instead of treating illness for life, a single edit aims to correct the faulty gene that causes it — turning some lifelong conditions into one-time fixes.