Methodological developments have greatly instructed progress in biomedicine. The discovery of the CRISPR/Cas9 technology by Charpentier and Doudna in 2012, which was awarded with the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2020, is a strong example here, because, by enabling genomic editing, it has become possible to introduce gene sequences into genomes with extremely high precision in extremely fast and simple ways (Jinek et al., 2012). The CRISPR/Cas9 technology was a side product of research on Streptococcus pyogenes, in which Charpentier discovered a previously unknown molecule, tracrRNA, which is part of the bacterium's defense mechanism that disarms viruses by cleaving their DNA (Deltcheva et al., 2011). After modifying the bacteria's scissors in a test tube and simplifying their molecular components so they were easier to use, Charpentier and Doudna reprogrammed the scissors so that they can cut any DNA molecule at a predetermined site (Jinek et al., 2012). The application to eukaryotic cells enables hitherto unprecedented possibilities in gene editing, which fundamentally enriches cellular physiology and pathology. Hence, CRISPR/Cas9 has become a cornerstone in biotechnology in the last 8 years. Today, the CRISPR/Cas9 technology is used all over the world in biosciences, and it opens fascinating perspectives in Cellular Neuropathology too.

Thank you, and Regards,
John Robert
Journal of Medical and Surgical Pathology
ISSN: 2472-4971 | NLM ID: 101245791