Doctors for the first time edit genome in a living human patient

(c) AP Photo/Eric Risberg

For the first time ever, doctors have edited the genome of a living human patient. A 44-year-old man received the treatment for Hunter's syndrome at a hospital in Oakland, California on November 13.

DNA & RNA editing - the future of disease management

Scientists at Harvard University and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard have developed a new class of DNA base editor that can alter genomic structure to help repair the type of mutations that account for half of human disease-associated point mutations. These mutations are associated with disorders ranging from genetic blindness to sickle-cell anemia to metabolic disorders to cystic fibrosis.