Next-generation CRISPR technologies keep on building

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry for CRISPR-based gene editing, announced this week, arrives at a time that’s likely to be just chapter one in the field’s history, with the first CRISPR tools yet to be validated in the clinic. But fast on their heels is a wave of next-generation technologies that aim to improve efficiency and selectivity, expand functionality, and sidestep intellectual property disputes.

The technology created by Nobel awardees Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier has proven its worth in research applications. Clinical data are slower to come. Data from the first few patients treated with CRISPR-edited cell therapies came in last year and it’s not clear when definitive safety and efficacy data are due...