CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing revolutionized biological and biomedical research virtually overnight. The versatile tool has been used to improve crop yields and cure previously uncurable conditions like sickle cell anemia. In May 2025, the Nobel Prize-winning technology brought about another major biomedical breakthrough, as Kiran Musunuru and Rebecca Ahrens-Nicklas introduced the first personalized CRISPR gene editing therapy.
Lifesaving advances like these don’t occur in a vacuum. They’re the product of years of research and collaboration. This idea has remained the driving principle behind Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory’s (CSHL’s) Genome Engineering: CRISPR Frontiers meeting since Jennifer Doudna, who co-developed CRISPR with Emmanuelle Charpentier, launched the conference in 2015. Over the past decade, what started as a small, relatively niche discussion has become one of CSHL’s most anticipated and well-attended annual gatherings. This year, CSHL celebrates the event’s 10th anniversary.
The 2025 meeting, beginning today, features dozens of invited speakers, including Ahrens-Nicklas (Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia) among many of the field’s other luminaries. It was organized by Musunuru (University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine) along with Britt Adamson (Princeton University), Maria Jasin (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center), and Sam Sternberg (Columbia University).
Written by: Nick Wurm, Communications Specialist | wurm@cshl.edu | 516-367-5940