Blind Patients Hope Landmark Gene-Editing Experiment Will Restore Their Vision
The unprecedented study involves using the gene-editing technique CRISPR to edit a gene while it's still inside a patient's body. In exclusive interviews, NPR talks with two of the first participants.
Carlene Knight would love to do things that most people take for granted, such as read books, drive a car, ride a bike, gaze at animals in the zoo and watch movies. She also longs to see expressions on people's faces.
"To be able to see my granddaughter especially — my granddaughter's face," says Knight, 54, who lives outside Portland, Ore. "It would be huge."
Michael Kalberer yearns to be able to read a computer screen so he could get back to work as a social worker. He also hopes to one day watch his nieces and nephews play soccer instead of just listening to them, and move around in the world without help. But that's not all.
