Katherine Chen ‘23

I’m studying the applications of the gene-editing technique called CRISPR which has the potential to cure genetic diseases and is also used to study the underlying causes of disease to understand them better.

Why did you pursue this project?
When I was in seventh grade, I became very interested in genetics after learning about it in school. I had an amazing teacher and there was never a dull moment in class. After this class, I wanted to learn more about genetics, so I attended a summer program called the DNA Science Program by the Hotchkiss School. There, I learned how to use basic laboratory techniques for genome-related experiments. This was also where I heard about CRISPR, a method for gene editing. It has the potential to edit genetic mutations to cure genetic diseases. I thought it was really cool, and decided to apply for IRP because I wanted to study it further.
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