Over the last few years, while humans have waged war against one of our tiniest foes in the universe, the virus, our animal counterparts have been fighting their own battle in the form of bird flu. The outbreak, which is turning out to be anything but limited to birds, is being called one of the worst in history and labelled as putting us in “uncharted territory” according to experts. So far, it has spread across multiple continents and now includes hundreds of species.

Due to the severity, it is being classified as an animal pandemic… furthermore, we’re seeing new patterns emerge that are causing higher mortality rates than usual, in more animals than usual. We bring it up because plenty of people are, understandably, getting more and more concerned. So… we thought we’d bring a ray of hope, because it is there if we know where to look. This time, researchers have found it in a recently discovered gene called BTN3A3 that could help us prevent the spread of the virus in humans.

People who have this gene naturally are less likely to get the virus. If we can learn to work with it using gene editing, we can make new treatments for not just bird flu, but other viral diseases as well. This is good news, and our tech in that department is advancing quite nicely. For instance, a new system called Fanzor is giving CRISPR a run for its money. The new system looks like it could be a lot easier to get into cells than CRISPR, with more precision.

You may already know a bit about gene editing, especially because of the popularity of CRISPR… but we still see plenty of scaremongering around it. So, let’s go over what it is before we continue. Remember Bob Ross? Good… now imagine you are a Bob Ross painting and Bob accidentally paints a bush in your river. No problem, Bob can just paint that bush into a boulder. Gene editing is a lot like that, we’re just going in and correcting a goof.

It can also help to think of it like changing a computer file, changing an ingredient in your famous turkey stuffing recipe, or ripping out your old kitchen floor and having it remodeled. This is true because our DNA is laid out like a cookbook. So, with gene editing, we’re just reconfiguring the recipe a bit. It makes us ponder if some apprehension around the technology is due to its awesome potentials… and that’s fair.

Speaking of which, gene editing might help us with baldness. This is fantastic, because hair loss is an especially common problem, which crosses many demographic boundaries including gender. A team of researchers with Northwestern University says they’ve cracked the code by using gene editing to stimulate hair growth using what’s called microRNA to “hack” hair follicle stem cells in mice. According to them, hair gets stiff over time (just like our joints), and this causes growth issues.

But… while all of this is very exciting, gene editing still has a long way to go, including the fact that we normally need to know very specific genetic information for this kind of treatment to work. Think of it like getting a part of your car repaired. The shop will need to know the make and model to order the parts they need to service the car. But what if we could smash a bunch of genetic problems with a single gene editing hammer? A small company named iECURE, which recently raised $65 million in Series A-1 funding, is working on just that.

This Philadelphia-based company is working on something called mutation-agnostic in vivo gene insertion. The important part to remember is the “agnostic” part. That’s because, as the name implies, it would be able to treat genetic diseases regardless of the specific mutation that caused it. It’s agnostic, it doesn’t care. Funded by names like LYFE Capital and Versant Ventures, iECURE hopes to use their tech to treat a slew of unmet needs around liver disorders.

Think that’s pushing it? We can do better… Prime Medicine, a well-known biotech company, is working to bring a workflow to gene editing. That’s next-level stuff, and they’ve decided to go ahead and call it Prime Editing. It may be likened to moving from a gene editing typewriter to using a gene editing computer… from what we hear, the technologies they are working on could one day correct upwards of 90% of known disease-causing genetic mutations.

That’s a tall promise, but an exciting one. If this turns out to be true, new therapies for things like anemia and cystic fibrosis could be coming before we know it. We’re impressed because, like hair loss, this covers a lot of ground. That means, one day, your DNA could be searched over quickly by tech like this, mutations identified, and then fixed without any of your other cells being damaged. We can imagine a world like that… and it sounds nice. Come back next week from more from the IPO space.