As the year comes to an end, we would like to thank everyone who listened to the FYI — For Your Innovation podcast. 2021 was another up and down year, as the world continues to battle the COVID-19 pandemic. In this final episode of 2021, we compiled some of our most interesting podcast episodes for you. Please enjoy this summary and tune back in when we return in 2022 with a new and improved version of FYI.

• Introducing today’s guests Dr. Omar Obadiah and Dr. Jonathan Gootenberg.
• How Omar and Jonathan connected in college and started collaborating.
• Omar and Jonathan’s interest in tool development and their work with CRISPR.
• The fulfillment that comes with developing methods and tools that can uplift everyone in biology.
• How sequencing proteins has progressed since Omar and Jonathan first started.
• The idea of creating new diagnostic tools using CRISPR.
• How CRISPR can be used to identify a virus in the body.
• Why we need to continue to explore CRISPR as a diagnostic tool.
• How fluorescence is used in CRISPR and its reaction when something is detected.
• The next phase of development we can expect from CRISPR as it relates to devices and consumers.
• The substantial amount of money that employers would save if employees didn’t come to work when they had symptoms of illness.
• The role of RNA in gene editing.
• Omar and Jonathan’s respective Eureka moments in their research.
• How RNA’s transience affects its use in gene editing.
• Some of the safety concerns with different gene-editing techniques and how they are addressed.
• CRISPR’s level of precision and why that is so beneficial.
• The safety profile of CRISPR versus small molecules.
• How delivery will be different for RNA versus DNA editing.
• The best tools for identifying the correct information and if there are any off-target edits.
• Jonathan and Omar’s predictions for gene editing ten years from now.
• Jonathan and Omar’s advice for students.
• How Jonathan and Omar had to persevere against preconceptions in their institutions regarding teamwork and setting out on their own.
• Why science benefits from collaboration.