Just two years ago, Jennifer Doudna of the University of California, Berkeley, commandeered a process that bacteria use to fend off viruses, creating a molecular scalpel to snip out defective genes. The finding launched a genetic engineering gold rush, and since then, researchers have raced to use the new method, called CRISPR, to treat - and perhaps even cure - genetic diseases. In March, Daniel Anderson's team at MIT moved out in front in that race by using CRISPR to repair a faulty gene in adult animals. The researchers corrected a mutation in liver cells in mice by snipping out the gene and sewing in a healthy copy of it. This cured the mice of the hereditary disease tyrosinemia, which causes the amino acid tyrosine to accumulate and can lead to liver failure.
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