This book is the Turkish translation of A Crack in Creation, originally published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Imagine a technology unlike anything before. With this technology, you can change the genetic code of any living creature, from fungi to humans, in any way you want. You no longer need to wait for evolutionary mechanisms to kick in. Within hours, you can cure deadly genetic diseases, turn pigs into organ factories for human use, and give plants and animals every trait you can imagine. And of course, do that to humans too. Moreover, you can do this with with incredible precision, ease, and efficiency.

A Crack in Creation relays the story of this breakthrough in the history of biology straight from Jennifer A. Doudna, the inventor of the CRISPR-Cas9 Gene Editing method. The long, winding and troublesome road that brought Doudna, one of the pioneers in the field of biochemistry, to this biotechnology is also a dazzling story that shows that access to new knowledge in science is only possible through collective work and solidarity.

Jennifer A. Doudna argues that CRISPR not only cures diseases but can also solved problems such as climate change, environmental destruction, and food security. But she states that scientists, companies, governments, and peoples should be engaged in this together.  A Crack in Creation was written to explain CRISPR to the public, just for this reason. According to Doudna, it is our responsibility to get involved in the debate about CRISPR, which has the power to change human history irrevocably. But Doudna says, “The job starts with open-mindedness.” So, will we be open-minded enough to properly evaluate CRISPR, which will challenge the existing moral, legal, and political boundaries while pushing the boundaries of biology? We shall live and see…

• Jennifer A. Doudna is a professor of biochemistry at the University of California, Berkeley. She is the co-recipient of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
• Samuel H. Sternberg is an assistant professor at Columbia University in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics.