CRISPR 2.0?

Zaneyah Hughes

22 Nov 2025

Genetics

Dr. Barbato

Did Penn Researchers Develop CRISPR 2.0?

    Dating back to December 2024, Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering have developed what the call the minimal versatile genetic perturbation technology (also know as mvGPT). Penn’s mvGPT is remarkable because it can edit DNA, activate genes, and repress genes all in one compact molecular technology. This is achieved by combining a compact prime editor, a fusion activator, and a drive-and-process multiplex array. Penn Researchers demonstrated mvGPT’s use by simultaneously getting rid of a mutation linked to Wilson’s disease, increasing the expression of a gene that will help fight Type 1 diabetes, and suppressing the gene responsible for making the transthyretin protein. 

    I think that mvGPT has many future implications. In just its demonstration, mvGPT ultimately treated Wilson’s disease, type 1 diabetes, and transthyretin amyloidosis all at the same time. I also think its very cool how they were able to utilize CRISPR technology to edit multiple genes and their expression at once. Since mvGPT can perform multiple gene edits at once, this genetic technology can be personalized to treat someone with multiple conditions. This minimal versatile genetic perturbation technology is such a large step towards the future of gene editing and genetic treatments.

sources: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11685949/

extra article: https://blog.seas.upenn.edu/a-new-era-in-genetic-engineering/