How Gene Editing Therapies Could Go Beyond Rare Diseases

Earlier this year, a group of scientists in the Netherlands used the gene editing tool CRISPR to eliminate HIV from immune cells in the lab, an eye-catching approach that is forming the basis of potentially curative therapies for the disease. HIV impacts an estimated 39 million people around the world and while it is no longer a death sentence thanks to antiretroviral drugs, there is still no recognized cure. Research groups around the world believe that gene editing - which …