Engineering CRISPR Cures: An Interview with Fyodor Urnov
By Jonathan D. Grinstein,
Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News
| 10. 27. 2023
Fyodor Urnov, PhD, is a pioneer in the field of genome editing and one of the scientists most invested in expanding the availability and utility of CRISPR-based therapies to the broadest possible population. He envisions a world in which genome editing can treat the nearly 400 million people who are suffering from one of the 7000 diseases brought on by gene mutations.
After his PhD in 1996 from Brown University, Urnov worked as a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Alan Wolffe at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). In 2000, Urnov joined Wolffe in moving to Sangamo Therapeutics in California. During his 16 years at Sangamo, Urnov and his colleagues performed the first demonstration using zinc-finger nucleases to modify DNA in human cells in 2005, coining the term “genome editing” in the process.1
After that, Urnov led collaborative teams that created large-scale genome editing applications in crop genetics, model animal reverse genetics, and human somatic cell genetics. While at Sangamo, Urnov also led a cross-functional team from basic discovery to the initial design of the first-in-human clinical trials...
Related Articles
By Rob Stein, NPR | 09.30.2025
Scientists have created human eggs containing genes from adult skin cells, a step that someday could help women who are infertile or gay couples have babies with their own genes but would also raise difficult ethical, social and legal issues...
By Jessica Mouzo, El País | 10.03.2025
DNA is the molecule of life: this double-helix structure, present in every cell in the body and organized into fragments called genes, stores the instructions for making organisms function. It is a highly precise biological machine, but sometimes it breaks...
GeneWatch UK has prepared a briefing on the genetic modification of nature for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Congress in October 2025
The upcoming Congress claims to be “where the world comes together to set priorities and drive conservation and sustainable development action.” A major concern for those on the outside is that the Congress may advance plans to develop and encourage the use of synthetic biology in nature conservation. This could at first glance sound like...
By Aaron Ginn, The Washington Post | 09.12.2025
Earlier this year, I had dinner in D.C. with Jensen Huang, the president and chief executive of Nvidia. At one point, he said something that struck me: “Why is everyone here so negative?”
He wasn’t referring to the economy...