iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Fyodor Urnov

Science Communication Lab @scicommlab.bsky.social · 17/12/2025

Our award-winning, NYTimes Critics’ Pick film, HUMAN NATURE, is now free for K-12 classrooms! It explores the science, ethics, and human impact of #CRISPR. Deemed “essential viewing” by Nobel laureate Jennifer Doudna. ▶️ bit.ly/humannatureedu #ScienceEducation #STEMEd #K12Education

064

Fyodor Urnov @urnov.bsky.social · 13/12/2025

After 30 min on "nano banana" in Gemini-3 I would like to know: does BioRender have a future for plain vanilla scientific schematics? I got LLM instructions for how to write the prompt for the image below and 1.1 sec later ...

090

Fyodor Urnov @urnov.bsky.social · 13/12/2025

PSA: this prompt in Gemini-3 takes a zoom transcript with 12 participants and 90 min of technical discussion and in 0.5 sec converts it into 28 pages of flawlessly formatted, clearly legible, zero-reduction-of-dataset-dimensionality text. There are MANY reasons to be concerned about AI - but wow ...

050

Reposted by Fyodor Urnov

Innovative Genomics Institute @innovativegenomics.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

Out now in the The Atlantic — IGI's Jennifer Doudna and Fyodor Urnov on this year's remarkable progress in using #CRISPR to treat rare diseases. Read here: ow.ly/5vJ750XFQon

164

Reposted by Fyodor Urnov

KQED Forum @kqedforum.bsky.social · 03/12/2025

🎙️ON AIR: Startups want to make genetically engineered babies. We talk to @innovativegenomics.bsky.social's @urnov.bsky.social, @wsj.com's @klong.bsky.social and Center for Genetics and Society's Katie Hasson about what's at stake. ❓Would you support genetically engineering embryos? 📻 Listen:

buff.ly

Bay Area Startups Want to Make Genetically Engineered Babies. What Could Go Wrong? | KQED

We’ll talk to experts about how innovations in genetic engineering are being directed what is at stake.

043

Fyodor Urnov @urnov.bsky.social · 25/11/2025

With the important exception of folks from Denmark - to whom this unfortunately does not apply, undskyld - this is 8 min of pure ristretto-grade joy. (oh and if you like football / soccer, the goals are phenomenal) www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8qF...

youtube.com

🎙️ ICONIC Radio Commentary | Scotland v Denmark | Scotland National Team

YouTube video by Scotland National Team

021

Fyodor Urnov @urnov.bsky.social · 21/11/2025

Every single person working today in every branch of cell and gene therapy - viral, nonviral, editing, transgenesis - owes a deep debt of gratitude to Dr. High.

293

Fyodor Urnov @urnov.bsky.social · 21/11/2025

Holy mother of my personal lord Gregor Mendel. We now have WHAT?!?

041

Fyodor Urnov @urnov.bsky.social · 15/11/2025

Re ChatGPT in college ed. I first GSIed in 1991 at Brown and joined Berkeley faculty in 2000 - 50 semesters of teaching upper-div. The "conversations" I've had w the LLM about areas I teach in blow me away. Fellow faculty - specifically for upper-div bio we may be obsolete soon. Don't at me. Try it.

130

Fyodor Urnov @urnov.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

I need to understand how Marco managed to get a camera in front of my car. (those very few of you who do not understand what this is about - enjoy every second of that unique state)

010

Fyodor Urnov @urnov.bsky.social · 01/11/2025

It's Saturday. With that. I am forced to watch a 35 min UC video about cybersecurity and it's a stunning phenocopy of what, IMHO, is the single best TV comedy work from the UK (other than the Python TV series and FT). Give it a shot. Its joys unfold slowly. www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBaV...

youtube.com

Look Around You: Season 1 Pilot - Calcium

YouTube video by DocShadow660

021

Fyodor Urnov @urnov.bsky.social · 09/09/2025

How incredibly gracious and sweet they named the vehicle "Doc Ricketts." "Canary Row" is one of my favorite books of all time and this story warmed my heart. Plus the fish is totes adorbs. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/08/s...

nytimes.com

A New, ‘Adorable’ Deep-Sea Fish Swims Into View

010

Fyodor Urnov @urnov.bsky.social · 07/09/2025

Of David's countless accomplishments is the important work that Matt Porteus did in his lab on early-stage genome editing with engineered nucleases (pubmed 12730593). He and Matt both speak about this in the documentary "Human Nature." A true titan. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/07/s...

nytimes.com

David Baltimore, Nobel-Winning Molecular Biologist, Dies at 87

1173

Fyodor Urnov @urnov.bsky.social · 07/09/2025

If only, if ONLY there was some method to change these newly discovered TF binding "motifs" at endogenous gene regulatory regions to see if ANY of this new phenomenology has ANYTHING to do with actual gene regulation... 1. PHE PHE SER. 2. SER MET HIS. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

nature.com

Multiple overlapping binding sites determine transcription factor occupancy - Nature

A new method enables comprehensive screening and identification of low-affinity DNA binding sites for transcription factors, and reveals that nucleotides flanking high-affinity binding sites create ov...

230

Fyodor Urnov @urnov.bsky.social · 02/09/2025

"Epigenetics: the way genes learn from experience" (Mikula BC, Genetics 140-379; 1985). Here it is, folks - an atlas of human genes learning from experience. Holy Waddington. www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-7...

researchsquare.com

DNA Methylation Ageing Atlas Across 17 Human Tissues

Aging involves widespread epigenetic remodeling across tissues, yet the nature and consistency of these changes remain unclear. We conducted a meta-analysis of more than 15,000 human methylomes spanni...

091

Reposted by Fyodor Urnov

Nature Biotechnology @natbiotech.nature.com · 26/08/2025

In Brief: A new center in San Francisco will offer tailor-made CRISPR therapies to cure children with rare diseases www.nature.com/articles/s41...

nature.com

Children with rare genetic diseases get CRISPR Cures center - Nature Biotechnology

Nature Biotechnology - Children with rare genetic diseases get CRISPR Cures center

12014

Fyodor Urnov @urnov.bsky.social · 22/08/2025

Fellow editors - nota bene 10x!

030

Fyodor Urnov @urnov.bsky.social · 22/08/2025

PSA: if you're not a mouse person you may enjoy knowing that mouse Sca1 (the hematopoiesis marker) is not encoded by Sca1 (spinocerebellar ataxia 1) but rather Ly6a. I mean, OF COURSE it is. What else could it be? I'm an hg38 person and below is a self-portrait while I was figuring this out.

271

Reposted by Fyodor Urnov

Ryan Cross @scienceboss.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

A new CRISPR Cures center, fuded by $20M from @chanzuckerberg.bsky.social and led by @urnov.bsky.social, will create 8 custom therapies for patients in the next 3 years. “Our goal is to aggressively walk the walk of CRISPR platformization,” Urnov told me. @endpts.com endpoints.news/crispr-cures...

endpoints.news

'CRISPR Cures' center launches with $20M to make customized gene editing therapies

Scientists seeking to make personalized gene editing therapies a reality for more people have launched a new initiative to develop cures for the rarest of diseases left behind by drug companies.

0124

Fyodor Urnov @urnov.bsky.social · 17/06/2025

"Quaternary kissing loops"👌

020

Reposted by Fyodor Urnov

Innovative Genomics Institute @innovativegenomics.bsky.social · 12/06/2025

Thanks to the BBC's The Inquiry program for great conversations with IGI's @jenniferdoudna.bsky.social @doudna-lab.bsky.social and @urnov.bsky.social about Baby KJ, #CRISPR on-demand, and the future of personalized medicine! Listen here: www.bbc.com/audio/play/w... Photo credit: TODAY

083

Fyodor Urnov @urnov.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

Paul Wade was my patient and gracious mentor in Alan Wolffe’s lab (‘97-99). He did gorgeous work back then and continues to do so.

020

Reposted by Fyodor Urnov

Innovative Genomics Institute @innovativegenomics.bsky.social · 05/06/2025

IGI's @urnov.bsky.social today at the #FDA Roundtable on Cell & Gene Therapy. Grateful for an opportunity to share more about using #CRISPR on demand to treat rare diseases! Watch here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qDh... 🧬

youtube.com

FDA Roundtable on Cell and Gene Therapy

YouTube video by U.S. Food and Drug Administration

152

Fyodor Urnov @urnov.bsky.social · 04/06/2025

Here: Baby KJ at home with his mom Nicole. This really happened, folks. Hundreds of people from 8 organizations (led by Rebecca Ahrens-nicklas and Kiran Musunuru) came together to make a bespoke gene editor for this kiddo. He was once in the 7th percentile of body weight. Look at him now! ❤️

26216

Fyodor Urnov @urnov.bsky.social · 02/06/2025

I watch my original field - chromatin and gene control - from a distance. The literature showing that so-called higher-order chromatin organization appears to have no substantial effect on gene expression grows and grows. Which is not stalling the scholars of that organization. :-) :-) :-)

8221

Fyodor Urnov @urnov.bsky.social · 01/06/2025

It's Sunday. With that. Soccer postulate #1: score more goals than your opponent. Postulate #2: if you are a goalie and Messi is on the opposing team, do not pass the ball to Messi. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au3H...

youtube.com

MESSI BREAKS INTER MIAMI GOAL RECORD 🚨 Inter Miami vs. Columbus Crew | MLS Highlights | ESPN FC

YouTube video by ESPN FC

000

Fyodor Urnov @urnov.bsky.social · 01/06/2025

A clear, succinct, datapoint-by-datapoint summary of recent work on design, synthesis, nonclinical testing, regulatory review, and patient dosing on the world's first "CRISPR on-demand" clinical trial for Baby KJ of Philadelphia. 🙏 @oligogirl.bsky.social !

041

Reposted by Fyodor Urnov

Kaustuva Das @kaustuvadas.bsky.social · 24/05/2025

Nobel laureate and #CRISPR pioneer @jenniferdoudna.bsky.social @innovativegenomics.bsky.social says her best insights often arrive when she is "weeding tomato plants" or "while asleep." A welcome reminder that innovation thrives in calm, reflective spaces. 🍅🌿✂️ www.ft.com/content/c42c...

ft.com

How to be a great thinker

Seven habits of highly intelligent people

0125

Fyodor Urnov @urnov.bsky.social · 23/05/2025

This conclusion had been reached in 1991 - 34 years ago - when yours truly started on his PhD in metazoan DNA replication. For Gregor’s sakes, PR folks - get your origin stories right.

180

Fyodor Urnov @urnov.bsky.social · 22/05/2025

I know it's just a game and I know about the world going places in a handbasket rn. But that Halliburton shot is the craziest thing I personally have seen in 4 decades' of being a basketball fan. www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8Mh...

youtube.com

MUST-SEE GAME 1 ENDING Knicks vs Pacers 🍿 | May 21, 2025

YouTube video by NBA

010

Fyodor Urnov @urnov.bsky.social · 22/05/2025

Wendy, profs like us Baby we were born to read (This book)

010

Reposted by Fyodor Urnov

SCGE @scge.bsky.social · 20/05/2025

(1/2)How does the scientific community ensure that advances in CRISPR and biotechnology serve humanity—not just innovation for innovation’s sake? The Global Observatory for Genome Editing International Summit asks these big questions and seeks new pathways forward. www.summit.global-observatory.org

summit.global-observatory.org

Home - Global Observatory International Summit

International Summit Global Observatory for Genome Editing - Norton’s Woods Conference Center at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

121

Fyodor Urnov @urnov.bsky.social · 18/05/2025

Eric continues to be his incomparable self in lucid, accurate, accessible descriptions of major biomedical advances. (in this case I'm biased since I was on the team)

090

Reposted by Fyodor Urnov

Ben Kleinstiver @bkleinstiver.bsky.social · 16/05/2025

An incredible collaborative effort led by @kiranmusunuru.bsky.social @ahrensnicklas.bsky.social @urnov.bsky.social & others. Congratulations to @rachelsilverstein9.bsky.social who designed the Cas9 enzyme that went into this drug. Wishing K.J. & his family all the best 🙏

1134

Reposted by Fyodor Urnov

Innovative Genomics Institute @innovativegenomics.bsky.social · 15/05/2025

In a medical breakthrough, a team including IGI’s @urnov.bsky.social & @giannikopoulosp.bsky.social created an on-demand #CRISPR therapy for an infant with a deadly gene mutation — developed, approved, and delivered to the patient in just 6 months. Read more: ow.ly/G0Bg50VTonC #RareDisease 🧬

The patient, KJ, reaching out after infusion of the CRISPR therapy, with a big smile! Photo credit Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

04919

Fyodor Urnov @urnov.bsky.social · 12/05/2025

This Thursday at the #ASGCT in New Orleans: Sadik Kassim (Danaher), Kiran Musunuru (Penn) and yours truly will chart a fundamentally new map to #CRISPR cures. See you at 830a (Room 291) and at 10a (Hall F). Image: Mary Cassatt "The Map" (1890)

281

Fyodor Urnov @urnov.bsky.social · 10/05/2025

I am moved by news of the upcoming film about Rosalind Franklin. I have a Jewish great-grandmother, Marie Frenkel, who died in her late 30s of ovarian cancer. I can see her haplotypes in my DNA (see below) and often think of her and Franklin (who suffered the same fate). deadline.com/2025/05/nata...

deadline.com

Natalie Portman To Play Pioneering DNA Scientist Rosalind Franklin In ‘Photograph 51’ For Director Tom Hooper & FilmNation — Cannes Market Hot Project

Oscar winner Natalie Portman is set to star in Photograph 51 for The King's Speech director Tom Hooper.

2234

Fyodor Urnov @urnov.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

A tractable, actionable path to CRISPR cures on demand is much closer than one might think. Ryan Cross of @endpts.com reports in detail on this in a piece that covers work at the IGI and also Penn Medicine by Kiran Musunuru and colleagues. We'll find a way or make one. endpts.com/crispr-isnt-...

endpts.com

'Find a way, or make one': How two scientists hope to revitalize CRISPR's rare disease crisis

Fyodor Urnov and Kiran Musunuru advocate for streamlined CRISPR treatments for rare genetic diseases, partnering with Danaher and CHOP to develop custom therapies for HLH and metabolic disorders.

061

Fyodor Urnov @urnov.bsky.social · 04/05/2025

.@nucleosomepolice.bsky.social did you leak the NCP structure to Lucas before publication?!

010

Fyodor Urnov @urnov.bsky.social · 30/04/2025

PSA: if you fly into Phoenix in April and plan to hold a conference call scheduled in Pacific time - and make the assumption that Mountain time is 1 hr ahead ... you will miss your call and take a long time to remove egg from face. Arizona does not observe daylight saving time. #sapientisat #DUH

140

Fyodor Urnov @urnov.bsky.social · 27/04/2025

Thank you @erictopol.bsky.social and @stemcells.bsky.social for being consistent voices of data- and knowledge-based reason (which was entirely absent from the colossal vat of dire gibberish in company pronouncements and TV coverage of their "achievement").

0152

Fyodor Urnov @urnov.bsky.social · 26/04/2025

Cue “When the Fats Come Marching In” (I will let myself out)

021

Fyodor Urnov @urnov.bsky.social · 26/04/2025

Along with every geneticist I am a total Mendel groupie and this new figure (www.nature.com/articles/s41...) that shows the chromosome location and underlying basis of his allelic pairs moves me to near-tears. Oh, to fly back in time and show this to him ...

18422

Fyodor Urnov @urnov.bsky.social · 26/04/2025

It will take a while for upper-div Genetics textbooks to adapt, but adapt they must: the underlying basis for every single one of the trait differences Mendel studied is now known. Cue Janáček's Moravian dances in celebration! (see post below) www.nature.com/articles/s41...

nature.com

Genomic and genetic insights into Mendel’s pea genes - Nature

Characterization of the genetic architecture underlying the 7 pairs of contrasting traits studied by Mendel and the over 70 additional agronomic traits in pea (Pisum sativum) reveals their m...

1227

Fyodor Urnov @urnov.bsky.social · 18/04/2025

Cease all doom-scrolling and engage in joy-reading. Gene regulation people! Enough reporter assays (ew)! Enough lenti (yuck)! Do what Jesse did and the data-based truth of editing endogenous loci in human cells shall set you free! (couple this with the recent Findlay-Whiffin beauty for full joy).

0161