New Haven, Conn. — Advances in the gene-editing technology known as CRISPR-Cas9 over the past 15 years have yielded important new insights into the roles that specific genes play in many diseases. But to date this technology — which allows scientists to use a “guide” RNA to modify DNA sequences and evaluate the effects — is able to target, delete, replace, or modify only single gene sequences with a single guide RNA and has limited ability to assess multiple genetic changes simultaneously.

Now, however, Yale scientists have developed a series of sophisticated mouse models using CRISPR (“clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats”) technology that allows them to simultaneously assess genetic interactions on a host of immunological responses to multiple diseases, including cancer.

The findings were published March 20 in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering.