Science
CRISPR & Gene Editing Quiz
Cas9, base editing, prime editing — 50 questions on the molecular tool that won a Nobel
Cas9, base editing, prime editing — 50 questions on the molecular tool that won a Nobel
The first FDA-approved CRISPR therapy — Casgevy for sickle cell disease — costs $2.2 million per patient and was approved just 11 years after the technique was published. That extraordinary pace reflects how quickly the field has moved: from a bacterial immune curiosity observed in 1987 to a programmable gene-editing platform reshaping medicine, agriculture, and biotechnology. CRISPR-Cas9 went from laboratory tool to Nobel Prize to approved drug in little over a decade — one of the fastest scientific-to-clinical translations in history. This quiz covers everything from the molecular machinery of guide RNAs and PAM sites to the ethics of germline editing and the landmark He Jiankui scandal.
Each round presents 10 randomized questions from a pool of 50, with four multiple-choice options and instant feedback after every answer. Your final score comes with a performance tier and shareable results.
You'll cover the CRISPR acronym and its origins in bacteria, the Doudna-Charpentier 2012 Science paper, Cas9 mechanism and PAM sites, NHEJ vs HDR repair pathways, base editing and prime editing, the Broad Institute vs UC Berkeley patent dispute, the first FDA-approved CRISPR drug Casgevy, the He Jiankui scandal, Cas12 and Cas13 variants, agricultural applications, and what lies beyond the Standard Model of gene editing.
Jennifer Doudna (UC Berkeley) and Emmanuelle Charpentier (Max Planck Institute) published the landmark 2012 Science paper demonstrating CRISPR-Cas9 as a programmable gene-editing tool. They shared the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Feng Zhang at the Broad Institute independently demonstrated editing in mammalian cells and was at the centre of a long patent dispute.
Casgevy (exa-cel), developed by Vertex Pharmaceuticals and CRISPR Therapeutics, became the first FDA-approved CRISPR-based therapy in December 2023. It treats sickle cell disease and beta-thalassemia by editing the BCL11A gene in a patient's own bone marrow stem cells to reactivate fetal haemoglobin. Its list price is $2.2 million per patient.
In 2018, Chinese scientist He Jiankui announced he had used CRISPR to edit the CCR5 gene in human embryos, resulting in twin girls (Lulu and Nana) born with edited genomes. The experiment was universally condemned by the scientific community as premature and deeply unethical. He was sentenced to three years in prison by a Chinese court in 2019.
Last updated: May 2026