The history of CRISPR: from discovery to the present

Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) has revolutionized the way in which researchers edit the genome both in vivo and in vitro. CRISPR has gained worldwide attention among scientists and the public, especially after He Jiankui used CRISPR to edit the CCR5 gene in two embryos that developed into twin girls born in 2019. Oftentimes, researchers and the general public might know that CRISPR is a powerful tool for gene editing without knowing the details of its discovery and the landmark cases that led to its prominence today. This chapter will begin with an exploration of Francisco Mojica’s initial CRISPR/Cas9 discovery and end with a discussion of the current projects using this versatile gene editing tool and their implications for the future.