Center Faculty Director Gary Marchant co-authored a commentary on the promise of CRISPR gene editing technology and the need for international collaboration to enable further research. Human Embryo Editing: Opportunities and Importance of Transnational Cooperation (free download available) was published in the latest issue of Cell Stem Cell.
The first reported use of CRISPR on human stem cells in March 2015 has captured the imagination and concern of many. Marchant and a group of prominent international experts in science, medicine, and law point out the substantial scientific and medical benefits that CRISPR gene editing offers for understanding human embryo development and prevention of genetic diseases.
[H]uman genome editing is progressing rapidly. Advances are forthcoming that will address the concerns associated with […] genome editing in medicine, [and] we must also recognize the enormous opportunity that this technology can bring to the basic understanding of biology.
Marchant and the other co-authors call for international collaboration through a consortium to enable such research to go forward efficiently.