The promise of genome engineering in Africa.

In 2012, whilst studying the basic mechanisms of how bacteria defend themselves against viruses (some blue-sky basic science), Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna identified a method for genome editing. Less than a decade later in 2020, they were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the development of this method - which the scientific community now refers to as CRISPR genome editing. This began a gene editing revolution that is still ramping up, and that Africa and South Africa are actively taking part in. But a lot more can and should be done on the continent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]