The prospect of a memoir from Jennifer Doudna, a key player in the CRISPR story, quickens the pulse. And A Crack in Creation does indeed deliver a welcome perspective on the revolutionary genome-editing technique that puts the power of evolution into human hands….
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So far, the Broad Institute has controlled the CRISPR narrative. Rich in funds and talent, the Broad melds sleek, high-tech sexiness with a sense of East Coast, old-money privilege…[In 2016], institute director Eric Lander published a now-infamous piece entitled ‘The heroes of CRISPR’ ( Cell 164, 18–28; 2016)…Lander’s clear implication was that they were laying the groundwork; Zhang’s group got CRISPR over the finish line. To many of us, such tactics made Team Broad look like the villains of CRISPR.
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Doudna’s book was a chance to deliver a righteous knockout blow. Instead, we get a counter-narrative just as constructed as Lander’s article…Rather than dispel the cartoon-character feel of this epic battle, Doudna elaborates on it. She presents us with a persona so flawless that it seems more concealing than revealing.
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The larger purpose of A Crack in Creation, clearly, is to show that Doudna is the true hero of CRISPR. And ultimately, despite the book’s flaws, I’m convinced.
The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion, and analysis. Read full, original post: Genome editing: That’s the way the CRISPR crumbles
