Cutting-edge advances

CRISPR is widely billed as a revolutionary technology for its ability to edit genes, but the tool is actually much better at simply disrupting rather than correcting mutant genes. Two studies published in Nature describe new methods for making gene corrections using CRISPR more accurately and effectively, but the techniques are likely to have more immediate bearing on the use of CRISPR as a research tool than for creating new therapeutics.

While using CRISPR to disrupt genes is relatively straightforward, correcting genes involves inserting a single nucleotide base or stretch of DNA and relies on the cell's natural DNA repair machinery...