A CRISPR'Cas9 gene-editing therapy has halved people's cholesterol levels in a small clinical trial ' raising hopes that, with further study, gene editing could one day be harnessed to provide a one-stop treatment for a common cause of heart disease. For the study, researchers used CRISPR to disable a gene called ANGPTL3 that helps to regulate levels of fatty molecules, including low-density lipoprotein (LDL) or 'bad' cholesterol and triglycerides, in the blood. Both types of molecule are linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, and levels of both fell by roughly 50% in people who were treated with the highest dose of the therapy1. So far, only 15 people have received the treatment. But, if all goes well in future studies, investigators hope that gene editing might one day liberate many thousands of people from daily regimens of cholesterol-lowering medication. 'What a revolution to be able to do that,' says Luke Laffin, a specialist in preventative cardiology at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio and a lead investigator on the trial. 'Conceptually, it's a great idea: we can move from chronic therapy to something that's one-and-done.'...

Cathy Tie left university to found her first biotechnology company at the age of 18. In the 11 years since, she has launched several more. Her first company helped genetic-testing firms to interpret their results; her second provides digital health-care services. Her latest venture, which announced some of its first key hires on 30 October, veers out of the mainstream. Tie, who has called herself Biotech Barbie, sometimes refers to her latest company as the Manhattan Project ' the name used for the US effort to develop an atomic bomb in the 1940s ' and now focuses her entrepreneurial ambitions on a controversial goal: altering the genome of human embryos to prevent genetic disorders. Plenty of scientists, however, are worried. Manhattan Genomics, the official name of her latest company, based in New York City was launched this summer. Tie co-founded the firm with Eriona Hysolli, former head of biological sciences at Colossal Biosciences, a Dallas, Texas firm focused on de-extincting species. Another company called Preventive in South San Francisco, California, announced on 30 October that it also intends to explore gene editing in human embryos....

At the WIRED Health summit in Boston on September 9, we hosted some of the leading experts in Crispr, whole-genome sequencing, vaccines, and more for a series of eye-opening conversations and keynotes. If you weren't able to join us in person, no worries; you can watch them all right here. From 2025 Breakthrough Prize winner David Liu to Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel, WIRED Health speakers gave deep insights into what's next for gene-editing, cancer treatment, and a host of other cutting-edge topics. We were also joined by neurosurgeon and CNN chief medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta, who discussed chronic pain and his new book, It Doesn't Have to Hurt: Your Smart Guide to a Pain-Free Life. Treatment for genetic diseases like sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia are hard to design, but ongoing Crispr clinical trials offer new hope for patients. WIRED managing editor Hemal Jhaveri spoke with 2025 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences winner David Liu to discuss how new genetic-editing tools can fix the pathogenic gene mutations that cause thousands of diseases....

Crispr gene-editing technology has demonstrated its revolutionary potential in recent years: It has been used to treat rare diseases, to adapt crops to withstand the extremes of climate change, or even to change the color of a spider's web. But the greatest hope is that this technology will help find a cure for a global disease, such as diabetes. A new study points in that direction. For the first time, researchers succeeded in implanting Crispr-edited pancreatic cells in a man with type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune disease where the immune system attacks insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. Without insulin, the body is then unable to regulate blood sugar. If steps aren't taken to manage glucose levels by other means (typically, by injecting insulin), this can lead to damage to the nerves and organs'particularly the heart, kidneys, and eyes. Roughly 9.5 million people worldwide have type 1 diabetes. In this experiment, edited cells produced insulin for months after being implanted, without the need for the recipient to take any immunosuppressive drugs to stop their body attacking the cells. The Crispr technology allowed the researchers to endow the genetically modified cells with camouflage to evade detection....