Editing Humanity: The CRISPR Revolution and the New Era of Genome Editing

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

But for a friendly chat over a pint at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory bar, this book might never have happened. My former Nature colleague Alex Gann regaled me about his plans to write a book following receipt of a fellowship from an unexpected source. I took note and eighteen months later, submitted a proposal to the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to write a book about CRISPR. In 2017, I was delighted to receive a Guggenheim fellowship in science writing, which supplied the initial validation and impetus to pull this book together.

Profound thanks to my colleagues Mary Ann Liebert and Marianne Russell for their unwavering support in launching The CRISPR Journal in 2018. This wonderful opportunity propelled me into the CRISPR community and cover many key events and meetings, including the 2018 summit in Hong Kong, which proved a turning point in the story. Thanks also to my colleagues Bill Levine, Sophie Reisz, John Sterling, Chris Anderson, and the rest of the Liebert team.

I’ve leaned heavily on the superb reporting of a large group of science writers and journalists. They include Antonio Regalado, Sharon Begley, Jon Cohen, Ryan Cross, David Cyranoski, Lisa Jarvis, Julianna LeMieux, Marilynn Marchione, Amy Maxmen, Megan Molteni, Emily Mullin, Michael Specter, Rob Stein, Ed Yong, Sarah Zhang, and Carl Zimmer. And special thanks to Walter Isaacson for his gratifying encouragement.

Several actors in this drama deserve special thanks. Fyodor Urnov’s insights, bons mots, and Russian proverbs are sprinkled throughout this book. He’s forgotten more about genome editing than I’ll ever know, and in the family tradition, really should write a book. Rodolphe Barrangou, with whom I’ve worked closely for the past three years; he has been a superb ambassador for CRISPR, and supplied me with numerous insights and opinions, not all of which, sadly, could be included. Samira Kiani, Nicholas Shadid, and Cody Sheehy supplied fascinating insights about germline editing and research in China. Kiran Musunuru generously shared a copy of his book before publication. And Jacob Sherkow continues to be the consummate guide to the ongoing patent drama.

Thanks also to Dana Carroll, Emmanuelle Charpentier, George Church, Le Cong, Kevin Esvelt, Ryan Ferrell, Nicole Gaudelli, Michael Gilmore, Philippe Horvath, Martin Jínek, Alexis Komor, David Liu, Steve Lombardi, Luciano Marraffini, Francisco Mojica, Ann Ran, Virginijus Šikšnys, Erik Sontheimer, Ross Wilson, and Andrew Wood, for their expertise. I am in awe of their talent and tip my hat to all the heroes, sung and unsung, of the CRISPR revolution. (The full interviews with some of these individuals can be found in my Guidepost podcast series, available on all popular podcast platforms.)

Laurie Goodman and Bette Phimister critiqued drafts of the manuscript with unseemly satisfaction, and T.J. Cradick and Tim Hunt provided much valuable feedback. Thanks to Oona Snoyenobos-West, a fiercely talented microbiologist, for insisting that I write a book on CRISPR (and reminding me that microbes aren’t “primitive”!). Martin Koubek kindly supplied the Czech translations. And thanks to Ardy Arianpour, Judy Chen, Pauline Parry, and Amanda Wren for their invaluable encouragement. Any errors that remain (editing or otherwise) are mine alone.

I am perpetually grateful to my agent Jennifer Gates at Aevitas Creative, who steered me to Jessica Case and Pegasus. Jessica’s been a true partner in this project and as patient and collegial an editor as I could have wished for. Thanks also to the fabulous Maria Fernandez for typesetting and the rest of the Pegasus team, including Drew Wheeler (copyediting) and Daniel O’Connor (proofreading). Mon Oo Yee supplied her trademark artistic flourish for the cover. Thanks also to the kind folks who supplied photos, including Adam Bolt, Elsie Chen, Eriona Hysolli, Dana Korsen, Lee McGuire, and Hiroshi Nishimasu.

Finally, this book is dedicated to my friend Michael White, who died in Perth, Australia, in 2018. Without Mike, I wouldn’t have made my first record (with Colour Me Pop) or written my first book. Finally, my love and gratitude to my children and my wife Susan, without whose love and support (and bonus proof-reading) this book would never have happened.