Fyodor Urnov
@urnov.bsky.social
Clinic-minded genome + epigenome editor. Professor of Molecular Therapeutics, UC Berkeley. Director for Technology and Translation, Innovative Genomics Institute, ibid.
Beatles fan.
Art work credit: Fyodor Vasiliev "A Meadow in the Rain" (1872).
Beatles fan.
Art work credit: Fyodor Vasiliev "A Meadow in the Rain" (1872).
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)
(those very few of you who do not understand what this is about - enjoy every second of that unique state)
Current situation in my household (we have a 6 year old girl)
November 3, 2025 at 1:08 AM
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)
(those very few of you who do not understand what this is about - enjoy every second of that unique state)
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...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBaV...
Look Around You: Season 1 Pilot - Calcium
YouTube video by DocShadow660
www.youtube.com
November 1, 2025 at 11:25 PM
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...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBaV...
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...
"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...
A New, ‘Adorable’ Deep-Sea Fish Swims Into View
www.nytimes.com
September 9, 2025 at 10:23 PM
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...
"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...
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...
He and Matt both speak about this in the documentary "Human Nature."
A true titan.
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/07/s...
David Baltimore, Nobel-Winning Molecular Biologist, Dies at 87
www.nytimes.com
September 7, 2025 at 9:35 PM
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...
He and Matt both speak about this in the documentary "Human Nature."
A true titan.
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/07/s...
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...
1. PHE PHE SER.
2. SER MET HIS.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
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...
www.nature.com
September 7, 2025 at 4:59 PM
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...
1. PHE PHE SER.
2. SER MET HIS.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
"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...
Here it is, folks - an atlas of human genes learning from experience.
Holy Waddington.
www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-7...
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...
www.researchsquare.com
September 1, 2025 at 11:23 PM
"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...
Here it is, folks - an atlas of human genes learning from experience.
Holy Waddington.
www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-7...
Reposted by Fyodor Urnov
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...
Children with rare genetic diseases get CRISPR Cures center - Nature Biotechnology
Nature Biotechnology - Children with rare genetic diseases get CRISPR Cures center
www.nature.com
August 26, 2025 at 4:04 PM
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...
Fellow editors - nota bene 10x!
Sometimes, knocking out a gene isn't a good way to figure out the function of that gene ...
In our new @jcellsci.bsky.social paper, we report potent transcriptional adaptation by cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) in response to CRISPR/Cas9-mediated deletion of the important polarity protein CDC42 🧵⬇️
In our new @jcellsci.bsky.social paper, we report potent transcriptional adaptation by cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) in response to CRISPR/Cas9-mediated deletion of the important polarity protein CDC42 🧵⬇️
August 22, 2025 at 2:39 PM
Fellow editors - nota bene 10x!
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.
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.
August 22, 2025 at 12:13 PM
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.
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.
F1.1 (Taz Urnov) acquired and edited this gem for Soho Press.
www.npr.org/2025/08/13/n...
www.npr.org/2025/08/13/n...
A dogged reporter takes on a mysterious cabal in 'The Diary of Lies'
Philip Miller's sinister thriller is set in a Great Britain that's lost its bearings. But even when she's terrified, fictional journalist Shona Sandison will always risk everything to get the story.
www.npr.org
August 13, 2025 at 6:24 PM
F1.1 (Taz Urnov) acquired and edited this gem for Soho Press.
www.npr.org/2025/08/13/n...
www.npr.org/2025/08/13/n...
Reposted by Fyodor Urnov
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...
“Our goal is to aggressively walk the walk of CRISPR platformization,” Urnov told me. @endpts.com endpoints.news/crispr-cures...
'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.
endpoints.news
July 9, 2025 at 1:33 PM
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...
“Our goal is to aggressively walk the walk of CRISPR platformization,” Urnov told me. @endpts.com endpoints.news/crispr-cures...
"Quaternary kissing loops"👌
With our @RTI-UMassChan.bsky.social colleagues Xiaobin Ling and Wenwen Fang, we report cryo-EM structures of enigmatic bacterial RNA nanocages made of ROOL RNAs. Octamers are held by "A-minor staples" and other interactions. Congrats Xiaobin, Dima et al!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
June 17, 2025 at 11:48 AM
"Quaternary kissing loops"👌
Reposted by Fyodor Urnov
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
Listen here: www.bbc.com/audio/play/w...
Photo credit: TODAY
June 12, 2025 at 9:20 PM
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
Listen here: www.bbc.com/audio/play/w...
Photo credit: TODAY
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.
Congrats on the new paper to Krystal who "doesn't do social media" but does do a ton of ATAC and Cut&Run to show how GATA3 pioneers enhancers with BRG1 and sometimes AP-1! #NIEHS #NAR doi.org/10.1093/nar/...
Pioneering new enhancers by GATA3: role of facilitating transcription factors and chromatin remodeling
Abstract. Pioneer transcription factors (PTFs) bind to inaccessible chromatin and recruit collaborating transcription factors to promote chromatin accessib
doi.org
June 10, 2025 at 4:04 PM
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.
Reposted by Fyodor Urnov
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...
🧬
Watch here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qDh...
🧬
FDA Roundtable on Cell and Gene Therapy
YouTube video by U.S. Food and Drug Administration
www.youtube.com
June 5, 2025 at 4:58 PM
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...
🧬
Watch here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qDh...
🧬
I have written a concerto for it.
phys.org/news/2025-06...
phys.org/news/2025-06...
Physicists create 'the world's smallest violin' using nanotechnology
Physicists at Loughborough University have used cutting-edge nanotechnology to create what they believe may be "the world's smallest violin," which is small enough to fit within the width of a human h...
phys.org
June 4, 2025 at 6:31 PM
I have written a concerto for it.
phys.org/news/2025-06...
phys.org/news/2025-06...
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! ❤️
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! ❤️
June 4, 2025 at 10:43 AM
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! ❤️
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! ❤️
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. :-) :-) :-)
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. :-) :-) :-)
June 2, 2025 at 9:55 PM
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. :-) :-) :-)
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. :-) :-) :-)
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...
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...
MESSI BREAKS INTER MIAMI GOAL RECORD 🚨 Inter Miami vs. Columbus Crew | MLS Highlights | ESPN FC
YouTube video by ESPN FC
www.youtube.com
June 1, 2025 at 1:10 PM
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...
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...
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 !
#apaperaday is back from holiday. Yuzu is still with the birbsitter so a holiday picture it is. Today's pick is from @nejm.org by Musunuru et al on an N=1 case (patient with severe metabolic disease) treated by base editing (CRISPR therapy). DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2504747 Very good way to restart!
June 1, 2025 at 11:50 AM
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 !
A clear-eyed report by @jasonmast.bsky.social on the path from N=1 (baby KJ) to N=many. www.statnews.com/2025/05/26/w...
What Baby KJ means for the CRISPR gene editing industry
The custom-built gene editing treatment for 6-month-old KJ Muldoon could not have come at a more welcome or jarring time for CRISPR-powered biomedicine.
www.statnews.com
May 27, 2025 at 11:15 AM
A clear-eyed report by @jasonmast.bsky.social on the path from N=1 (baby KJ) to N=many. www.statnews.com/2025/05/26/w...
Reposted by Fyodor Urnov
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...
www.ft.com/content/c42c...
How to be a great thinker
Seven habits of highly intelligent people
www.ft.com
May 24, 2025 at 3:14 AM
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...
www.ft.com/content/c42c...
Quod erat demonstrandum.
www.newscientist.com/article/2481...
www.newscientist.com/article/2481...
Colossal scientist now admits they haven’t really made dire wolves
Despite a huge media fanfare in which Colossal Biosciences claimed to have resurrected the extinct dire wolf, the company's chief scientist now concedes that the animals are merely modified grey wolve...
www.newscientist.com
May 24, 2025 at 9:52 AM
Quod erat demonstrandum.
www.newscientist.com/article/2481...
www.newscientist.com/article/2481...
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.
For Gregor’s sakes, PR folks - get your origin stories right.
May 23, 2025 at 12:43 PM
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.
For Gregor’s sakes, PR folks - get your origin stories right.
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...
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...
MUST-SEE GAME 1 ENDING Knicks vs Pacers 🍿 | May 21, 2025
YouTube video by NBA
www.youtube.com
May 22, 2025 at 7:53 PM
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...
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...