How CRISPR can edit entire microbial populations in our gut

Published October 4, 2024 at 9:05 AM EDT

Part 4 of the TED Radio Hour episode Augmenting Humans.

Jennifer Doudna's gene-editing technology CRISPR can now manipulate populations of microbes. This new field, called precision microbiome editing, could potentially address asthma and Alzheimer's.

About Jennifer Doudna

Jennifer Doudna is a professor and researcher at the University of California, Berkeley.

Together with her collaborator Emmanuelle Charpentier, Doudna has developed a technology called CRISPR-Cas9 that enables genome editing in any living cell. This breakthrough earned the two the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. In 2017, Doudna co-authored A Crack In Creation: Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution. She continues to lead public discussion on the ethical implications of genome editing.

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