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The gene-editing tool CRISPA was a major breakthrough in genetic medicine but it involved a two-step process.  First there was the excision of genetic material using the molecular scissors and then there was the insertion of new material with additional proteins at each end to act as markers.  The insertion was the problem because it could go wrong.  The new material might end up in the wrong spot and the additional proteins could cause trouble.

A research team at Sydney University , led by Dr Sandro Ataido (pictured above), has now devised a new method of editing genes where the deletion and insertion is done as one process, giving it greater flexibility and accuracy and probably expanding the range of genetic material that can be edited. So far it has been successfully tested on bacteria.