Submitted by T. Smyth on Thu, 02/07/2026 - 14:31
Research led by Loke CTR Director, Professor Kathy Niakan has shown that a genome editing technique can be used to alter a single gene in human embryonic cells, enabling the study of very early human development in unparalleled detail.
The technique, called base editing, is a more precise version of the genome editing technique CRISPR/Cas9. It can change a single nucleotide base pair - the basic building block of DNA - within a human genome of approximately 3 billion base pairs.
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The study is published in the journal Nature.
It was conducted by scientists at the University of Cambridge Loke Centre for Trophoblast Research in collaboration with colleagues at Monash University, Newcastle University, Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Francis Crick Institute, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology as well as clinical collaborators at Bourn Hall Clinic, Newcastle Fertility Centre (part of Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust), Assisted Reproduction and Gynaecology Centre, Create Fertility, and Centre for Reproductive and Genetic Health.
This research was primarily funded by Wellcome with additional support from the UK Medical Research Council and Cancer Research UK.