Biosafety of novel gene editing systems

The recent development of customizable and highly efficient gene editing systems, such as for example CRISPR/Cas9, is revolutionizing research, medicine and agriculture/biotechnology. Such novel technologies sometimes raise concerns regarding safe application, in relation to human health and environment. Given the immense potential benefit of gene editing technologies to human health and environmental is highly likely that these will be applied in the future. As such, there is a clear need to inventory potential risks, and assess these against societal and environmental benefit, and potential ways in which risk can be mitigated, though technical or regulatory means. Our proposed research aims to perform a comprehensive assessment of the potential risks associated with two specific gene editing applications.