Professor KIM Jin-Soo

CRISPR, a genome editing method, was chosen as Science’s 2015 Breakthrough of the Year. In 2015 scientists succeeded in creating a ‘gene drive’ which could eliminate pests or the diseases they carry, and also in the first deliberate editing of the DNA of human embryos using CRISPR. Genome editing was previously done by zinc proteins and TALENs, however, whereas those methods are complicated and costly, CRISPR has proven to be easy and inexpensive. CRISPR's ability to edit DNA has helped scientists create a menagerie of genetically new organisms. Professor KIM Jin-Soo (Department of Chemistry) was among the first group of scientists to report genome editing through CRISPR-Cas9. Other breakthrough finalists included the New Horizon to Pluto, the discovery of the lymphatic system in the central nervous system, the Ebola vaccine and homo naledi (a new human species).

Published in HanKook Economic Daily

Summary by LEE Hee Un, SNU English Editor, gurume0221@snu.ac.kr
Proofread by Melora Brett Briana Johnson, morningcalm2@gmail.com