The CRIPSR/Cas gene-editing system-an immature but useful toolkit for experimental and clinical medicine.

A Chinese scientist, Jiankui He, and his creation of the world's first genetically altered baby made headlines recently. As a newly developed gene-editing technique, the CRISPR/Cas system should not be applied to human beings for reproductive purposes until it has been extensively tested. However, numerous experimental research studies in human somatic, germline cells, and even in embryos, have been conducted, which have shown CRISPR/Cas to be a useful tool for human genome editing and a potential therapeutic method for future clinical use.