The method called prime editing can make fine-scale edits to DNA (artist’s illustration).Credit: Patrick Landmann/Science Photo Library A powerful gene-editing technique has been used to edit DNA directly in a person’s body — the first known instance of such a treatment. The milestone treatment is part of a clinical trial of prime editing, a technique
AI agents trawling through genomic data spotted sequences of DNA (artist’s illustration) reminiscent of those in bacterial CRISPR immune systems. Credit: Kateryna Kon/SPL/Getty Sure, AI can parse petabytes of data. But how well can it pipette? Regardless of the answer, artificial intelligence titan Anthropic has launched a biology ‘wet lab’ where human scientists and AI
Bower, O. J. et al. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10792-1 (2026). Article Google Scholar Jerabek, S. et al. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-11118-x (2026). Article Google Scholar Porto, E. M., Komor, A. C., Slaymaker, I. M. & Yeo, G. W. Nature Rev. Drug Discov. 19, 839–859 (2020). Article PubMed Google Scholar Rees, H. A. & Liu, D. R. Nature Rev. Genet.
A bacterial enzyme that indiscriminately cuts DNA (artist’s illustration) has been harnessed to kill cancer cells. Credit: KTSDesign/Scientific Photo Library Scientists have exploited a peculiar CRISPR enzyme to fight cancer by shredding the DNA of cancer cells, causing them to self-destruct. The enzyme can be programmed to recognize a specific messenger RNA, such as that
An enzyme cuts DNA (artist’s impression). Synthetic enzymes that cleave proteins were rapidly designed with the help of artificial intelligence.Credit: Artur Plawgo/Scientific Photo Library Scientists have leveraged artificial intelligence models to create synthetic CRISPR proteins that edit the genome more efficiently than their natural counterparts. These synthetic CRISPR systems could one day drive discoveries in
