Science is always changing, and some people make discoveries that change everything. One of those people is Dr. Feng Zhang. He is a Chinese-American scientist who played a big role in developing CRISPR, a tool that can edit DNA. His work is super important because it is helping scientists find ways to cure diseases, improve agriculture, and even understand how life works.
Dr. Feng Zhang was born in China in 1981 and moved to the United States when he was young. He loved science and technology from an early age. After high school, he went to Harvard University, where he studied chemistry and physics. Later, he earned a Ph.D. from Stanford University and became a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. That’s where he made some of his biggest discoveries—especially in gene editing.
CRISPR is a tool that lets scientists change the DNA of living things. DNA is like a code that tells cells what to do. If someone has a disease caused by a mistake in their DNA, CRISPR can fix it. It’s kind of like using scissors to cut and replace words in a sentence.
CRISPR has the potential to cure diseases like sickle cell anemia and some genetic disorders. Scientists are also studying how it could help treat cancer. It’s not just for medicine—farmers are using CRISPR to grow crops that can survive in bad weather or resist pests.
Dr. Zhang was one of the first scientists to show that CRISPR could work in human cells. His research helped make CRISPR easier to use, which allowed other scientists to develop new treatments. He also worked on other gene-editing tools, such as TALENs, which were used before CRISPR.
Because of his groundbreaking work, Dr. Zhang has received many awards, including the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences and the Lemelson-MIT Prize. He has also been recognized as one of the most important scientists in the world. Even though there is still competition over who discovered CRISPR first, his contributions have helped make gene editing a reality.
CRISPR is still new, and scientists are trying to figure out how to use it safely. Some people worry about the ethical side of changing DNA, especially if people start using it to change things like eye color or height. Dr. Zhang believes that CRISPR should be used responsibly to help people, not just to make designer babies.
Dr. Feng Zhang’s work with CRISPR has changed science forever. His discovery is already helping people, and in the future, it could lead to even bigger breakthroughs. He is proof that science can change the world, and he inspires young people to explore and make their own discoveries.