Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • OUTLOOK

How CRISPR is transforming drug discovery

Gene editing is quietly revolutionizing the search for new drugs.
  1. Andrew Scott

    1. Andrew Scott is a science writer in Perth, UK.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

Illustration of gloved hands and agar plates with imagery from molecular-biology and microbiology techniques.

Credit: Michele Marconi

CRISPR–Cas gene editing, once considered arcane, is fast entering mainstream use in research. Most people with an interest in science have probably heard about the technique, which uses a combination of a synthetic guide RNA molecule and an enzyme (typically Cas9) from the bacterial immune system to edit DNA with unprecedented ease and precision. It is a flexible tool with a variety of applications. Most of the media interest in the CRISPR–Cas system has focused on its potential for treating diseases with a genetic basis. Yet CRISPR–Cas also has a big part to play in drug discovery, which could prove to be as important as its therapeutic use — if not more so.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 555, S10-S11 (2018)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-02477-1

This article is part of Nature Outlook: The future of medicine, an editorially independent supplement produced with the financial support of third parties. About this content.

References

  1. Fellmann, C., Gowen, B. G., Lin, P. C., Doudna, J. A. & Corn, J. E. Nature Rev. Drug Discov. 16, 89–100 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Murovec, J., Pirc, Ž. & Yang, B. Plant Biotechnol. J. 15, 917–926 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Oakes, B. L. et al. Nature Biotechnol. 34, 646–651 (2016).

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links