Science Magazine


4 2 0     2 AUGUST 2019 • VOL 365 ISSUE 6452 sciencemag.org  S C I E N C E

NEWS 

FOR MANY PEOPLE, CRISPR plus China equals the bio-

physicist He Jiankui, who infamously used the genome 

editor last year to alter the DNA of two human em-

bryos that would become twin girls. Before his an-

nouncement, He was little-known within the country’s 

CRISPR community, which has grown rapidly and is 

now challenging—and by some 

measures surpassing—the United 

States in its use of the powerful 

tool (see graphics, p. 421).

A better representative of 

CRISPR in China is plant biologist 

Li Jiayang of the Institute of Genet-

ics and Developmental Biology in 

Beijing. Li left the country in 1985 

for his graduate education, as have 

many of China’s best and brightest 

young scientists over the past few 

decades, and then returned home 

in 1995 to focus on manipulating 

plant DNA. Li, who recently ended 

a stint as head of the Chinese 

Academy of Agricultural Sciences, 

says he struggled for years to make 

pinpoint genome edits. CRISPR gave him a simple, fast 

way to do just that, turbocharging his efforts to modify 

rice. “Now, suddenly, the dreams come true,” says Li, 

whose lab is humming at 9 p.m. on a Wednesday with 

two dozen members of his team running experiments.

The lights are burning late at CRISPR labs around 

the world. In 2012, the year researchers transformed a 

bacterial immune system into the fast and versatile tool 

for genome engineering, scientific publications men-

tioning CRISPR totaled 127. Since then there have been 

more than 14,000. Although the United States has had 

the most CRISPR publications—and continues to have 

the most cited papers—China is now a close second and 

is pouring money into CRISPR’s uses. 

With support from the Pulitzer Center, Science vis-

ited scientists in five Chinese cities who are harnessing 

CRISPR in a wide range of disciplines. China’s biggest 

push is in agriculture (see p. 422) but researchers 

there are also applying the editor on a large scale in 

animals (see p. 426), with pig organs for human trans-

plants the most provocative goal. And China is aggres-

sively exploring genome editing in medicine, having 

launched far more clinical trials using CRISPR, mainly 

for cancer, than any country 

(Science, 6 October 2017, p. 20).

Although He’s work lies far out-

side the mainstream, his actions 

haunt China (see p. 436). So does 

another, largely untold aspect of his 

rise and fall: the role that others, 

in China and abroad, played in the 

runup to his experiment. He shared 

his plans widely, and although sev-

eral confidants tried to dissuade 

him, some were more encouraging 

(see p. 430).

Geneticist Wei Wensheng of 

Peking University in Beijing says 

the Chinese scientific culture has 

to look hard at how it creates re-

searchers like He by overempha-

sizing firsts. “What I don’t understand is why do you 

want to be named the first of something horrible or bad. 

What’s the point?” Wei asks.

Yang Hui of the Institute of Neuroscience in Shanghai, 

one of the most successful young CRISPR researchers in 

the country, hopes China can move past He and up its 

game. Yes, Chinese researchers publish many CRISPR 

studies, he says, but “very few” do respected work that 

breaks new ground. “Our generation should publish 

more innovative papers,” Yang says.

But Yang stresses that he has seen the quality in-

crease “very fast” over the past 2 years or so. As China 

plants its flag at this scientific frontier, overseas so-

journs like Li’s and his own may soon be the exception. 

“Now, many good students will choose to stay here be-

cause of the good opportunities,” Yang says. “And we 

have many good students working hard.”

By Jon Cohen; Graphics by Nirja Desai

FEATURES

C H I N A ’ S  C R I S P R 

REVOLUTION

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A technician in Gao Caixia’s lab selects 

immature wheat embryos for CRISPR editing.

Published by AAAS

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2 AUGUST 2019 • VOL 365 ISSUE 6452    4 2 1S C I E N C E   sciencemag.org

China

United States
China EuropeUnited States

Australia

Austria

Bangladesh

Taiwan

Canada

Denmark

New Zealand

France

Germany

Israel

Belgium

Japan

Lithuania

Netherlands

Egypt

Poland

South Korea

Russia

Saudi Arabia

Singapore

Spain

Sweden

Switzerland

Italy

Thailand

United Kingdom

Agricultural
applications

Industrial
applications

Other

Medical
applications

Technical

improvement

872 858 186

Publicly available CRISPR patent applications 

as of December 2018

2967

(Total papers)

2059

(Total papers)

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

United States

China

Japan

Germany

Other
countries

China

22 10

Europe IndiaIsraelJapan

South Korea

Philippines

Saudi Arabia

Turkey

United States

United States
74,919

Canada

China
14,742

Germany

Japan

Netherlands

United
Kingdom

Invention inventory
In a recent analysis of more than 2000 patent applications for distinct inventions that involved CRISPR, the United States barely edged out China. 

Applications from China have climbed rapidly in recent years, and the country dominates in the agricultural and industrial realms.

China catches up in papers
U.S.-based research teams have published the most CRISPR-
related papers, but China is catching up, according
to PubMed data analyzed for Science by 
computational biologist Geoffrey Siwo 
of the University of Notre Dame in 
South Bend, Indiana.

Number of papers for 2018

 898 United States

 824 China 

 228 Japan

 197 Germany

 112 United Kingdom

 100 Canada 

 90 Netherlands

 84 France

 82  Australia  

... but lags in citations
U.S. authors dominated citations to CRISPR studies from 2012 to 
2018.  In 2017, 15 of the 20 most cited papers had U.S. lead authors. 
Only China’s plant scientist Gao Caixia (see p. 422) cracked that list.

Planting a flag
Among 52 CRISPR publications on improving traits in agricultural crops, 
published between 2014 and 2017, China accounted for 42% of them.

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China's CRISPR revolution
Jon Cohen

DOI: 10.1126/science.365.6452.420
 (6452), 420-421.365Science 

ARTICLE TOOLS http://science.sciencemag.org/content/365/6452/420

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