CRISPR genetic editing takes another big step forward, targeting RNA

Helmsley-Salk Fellow and senior author Patrick Hsu, first author Silvana Konermann, and colleagues have created a new genetic-editing tool that targets not DNA, but RNA, and uses it to correct a protein imbalance in cells from a person with dementia. The new Salk tool, called CasRx, opens up the vast potential of RNA and proteins to genetic editing, giving researchers a powerful way to develop new gene therapies as well as investigate fundamental biological functions. They described CasRx in Cell on March 15, 2018.