# Topics and Trends in Most Cited CRISPR and Genetic Engineering Papers, Class of 2026

*Canonical URL: https://pri.pepkio.com/top-papers/crispr-and-genetic-engineering/2026*

## What topics and trends defined most-cited CRISPR and Genetic Engineering research in the Class of 2026?

The 2024 CRISPR and Genetic Engineering cohort highlights a surge in Cas12a adoption, prime editing, and diagnostic trans-cleavage activity, alongside a 6-fold increase in targeted DNA insertion. Emerging themes like AI-guided protein design and programmable recombination expanded rapidly, while early base editing modalities saw relative declines.

## At a glance

| Fact | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Field | CRISPR and Genetic Engineering |
| Cohort label | Class of 2026 (2024 publications) |
| Papers analyzed | 9,342 |
| Papers ranked | 20 |
| Top topics in ranked papers | Cas12a, prime editing, off-target editing, trans-cleavage activity, targeted DNA insertion |
| Publication window | Jan 1, 2024 – Dec 31, 2024 |
| Eligibility | Research articles; reviews excluded |
| Citation window | 18 months post-publication |
| 18m citation range | 70–369 |
| Data source | OpenAlex · Retrieved Jun 2026 |
| License | CC BY 4.0 |

## Rankings

| Rank | Title | Authors | Corresponding authors | Affiliation | Journal | 18m citations | DOI |
| ---: | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---: | --- |
| 1 | Sequence modeling and design from molecular to genome scale with Evo | Eric Nguyen, Michael Poli, Matthew G Durrant, Brian Kang, Dhruva Katrekar, David B Li, Liam J Bartie, Armin W Thomas, Samuel H King, Garyk Brixi, Jeremy Sullivan, Madelena Y Ng, Ashley Lewis, Aaron Lou, Stefano Ermon, Stephen A Baccus, Tina Hernandez-Boussard, Christopher Ré, Patrick D Hsu, Brian L Hie | Eric Nguyen, Michael Poli, Matthew G. Durrant, Brian Kang, Dhruva Katrekar, David Li, Patrick D. Hsu, Brian Hie | Arc Institute, United States | Science | 369 | 10.1126/science.ado9336 |
| 2 | Rapid in silico directed evolution by a protein language model with EVOLVEpro | Kaiyi Jiang, Zhaoqing Yan, Matteo Di Bernardo, Samantha R Sgrizzi, Lukas Villiger, Alisan Kayabolen, B J Kim, Josephine K Carscadden, Masahiro Hiraizumi, Hiroshi Nishimasu, Jonathan S Gootenberg, Omar O Abudayyeh | Kaiyi Jiang, Zhaoqing Yan, Matteo Di Bernardo, Jonathan S. Gootenberg, Omar O. Abudayyeh | Brigham and Women's Hospital, United States | Science | 144 | 10.1126/science.adr6006 |
| 3 | Improving prime editing with an endogenous small RNA-binding protein | Jun Yan, Paul Oyler-Castrillo, Purnima Ravisankar, Carl C Ward, Sébastien Levesque, Yangwode Jing, Danny Simpson, Anqi Zhao, Hui Li, Weihao Yan, Laine Goudy, Ralf Schmidt, Sabrina C Solley, Luke A Gilbert, Michelle M Chan, Daniel E Bauer, Alexander Marson, Lance R Parsons, Britt Adamson | Britt Adamson | Princeton University, United States | Nature | 135 | 10.1038/s41586-024-07259-6 |
| 4 | Split crRNA with CRISPR-Cas12a enabling highly sensitive and multiplexed detection of RNA and DNA | Yichuan Chen, Xinping Wang, Junqi Zhang, Qingyuan Jiang, Bin Qiao, Baoxia He, Wenhao Yin, Jie Qiao, Yi Liu | Jie Qiao, Yi Liu | Wuhan Polytechnic University, China | Nature Communications | 134 | 10.1038/s41467-024-52691-x |
| 5 | FOXO1 enhances CAR T cell stemness, metabolic fitness and efficacy | Jack D Chan, Christina M Scheffler, Isabelle Munoz, Kevin Sek, Joel N Lee, Yu-Kuan Huang, Kah Min Yap, Nicole Y L Saw, Jasmine Li, Amanda X Y Chen, Cheok Weng Chan, Emily B Derrick, Kirsten L Todd, Junming Tong, Phoebe A Dunbar, Jiawen Li, Thang X Hoang, Maria N de Menezes, Emma V Petley, Joelle S Kim, Dat Nguyen, Patrick S K Leung, Joan So, Christian Deguit, Joe Zhu, Imran G House, Lev M Kats, Andrew M Scott, Benjamin J Solomon, Simon J Harrison, Jane Oliaro, Ian A Parish, Kylie M Quinn, Paul J Neeson, Clare Y Slaney, Junyun Lai, Paul A Beavis, Phillip K Darcy | Junyun Lai, Paul A. Beavis, Phillip K. Darcy | Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Australia | Nature | 133 | 10.1038/s41586-024-07242-1 |
| 6 | Targeted genome-modification tools and their advanced applications in crop breeding | Boshu Li, Chao Sun, Jiayang Li, Caixia Gao | Caixia Gao | Chinese Academy of Sciences, China | Nature Reviews Genetics | 121 | 10.1038/s41576-024-00720-2 |
| 7 | In vivo editing of lung stem cells for durable gene correction in mice | Yehui Sun, Sumanta Chatterjee, Xizhen Lian, Zachary Traylor, Sandhya R Sattiraju, Yufen Xiao, Sean A Dilliard, Yun-Chieh Sung, Minjeong Kim, Sang M Lee, Stephen Moore, Xu Wang, Di Zhang, Shiying Wu, Pratima Basak, Jialu Wang, Jing Liu, Rachel J Mann, David F LePage, Weihong Jiang, Shadaan Abid, Mirko Hennig, Anna Martinez, Brandon A Wustman, David J Lockhart, Raksha Jain, Ronald A Conlon, Mitchell L Drumm, Craig A Hodges, Daniel J Siegwart | Yehui Sun, Sumanta Chatterjee, Daniel J. Siegwart | The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, United States | Science | 113 | 10.1126/science.adk9428 |
| 8 | CRISPR-Cas9 Gene Editing with Nexiguran Ziclumeran for ATTR Cardiomyopathy | Marianna Fontana, Scott D Solomon, Jessica Kachadourian, Liron Walsh, Ricardo Rocha, David Lebwohl, Derek Smith, Jörg Täubel, Edward J Gane, Björn Pilebro, David Adams, Yousuf Razvi, Joy Olbertz, Alexandra Haagensen, Peijuan Zhu, Yuanxin Xu, Adia Leung, Alison Sonderfan, David E Gutstein, Julian D Gillmore | Marianna Fontana | University College London, United Kingdom | New England Journal of Medicine | 107 | 10.1056/nejmoa2412309 |
| 9 | Engineered virus-like particles for transient delivery of prime editor ribonucleoprotein complexes in vivo | Meirui An, Aditya Raguram, Samuel W Du, Samagya Banskota, Jessie R Davis, Gregory A Newby, Paul Z Chen, Krzysztof Palczewski, David R Liu | David R. Liu | Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, United States | Nature Biotechnology | 106 | 10.1038/s41587-023-02078-y |
| 10 | In vivo human T cell engineering with enveloped delivery vehicles | Jennifer R Hamilton, Evelyn Chen, Barbara S Perez, Cindy R Sandoval Espinoza, Min Hyung Kang, Marena Trinidad, Wayne Ngo, Jennifer A Doudna | Jennifer A. Doudna | University of California, Berkeley, United States | Nature Biotechnology | 106 | 10.1038/s41587-023-02085-z |
| 11 | Durable and efficient gene silencing in vivo by hit-and-run epigenome editing | Martino Alfredo Cappelluti, Valeria Mollica Poeta, Sara Valsoni, Piergiuseppe Quarato, Simone Merlin, Ivan Merelli, Angelo Lombardo | Angelo Lombardo | IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Italy | Nature | 105 | 10.1038/s41586-024-07087-8 |
| 12 | Lung and liver editing by lipid nanoparticle delivery of a stable CRISPR–Cas9 ribonucleoprotein | Kai Chen, Hesong Han, Sheng Zhao, Bryant Xu, Boyan Yin, Atip Lawanprasert, Marena Trinidad, Benjamin W Burgstone, Niren Murthy, Jennifer A Doudna | Niren Murthy, Jennifer A. Doudna | University of California Berkeley, United States | Nature Biotechnology | 105 | 10.1038/s41587-024-02437-3 |
| 13 | Efficient site-specific integration of large genes in mammalian cells via continuously evolved recombinases and prime editing | Smriti Pandey, Xin D Gao, Nicholas A Krasnow, Amber McElroy, Y Allen Tao, Jordyn E Duby, Benjamin J Steinbeck, Julia McCreary, Sarah E Pierce, Jakub Tolar, Torsten B Meissner, Elliot L Chaikof, Mark J Osborn, David R Liu | David R. Liu | Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, United States | Nature Biomedical Engineering | 101 | 10.1038/s41551-024-01227-1 |
| 14 | Bridge RNAs direct programmable recombination of target and donor DNA | Matthew G Durrant, Nicholas T Perry, James J Pai, Aditya R Jangid, Januka S Athukoralage, Masahiro Hiraizumi, John P McSpedon, April Pawluk, Hiroshi Nishimasu, Silvana Konermann, Patrick D Hsu | Patrick D. Hsu | Arc Institute, United States | Nature | 98 | 10.1038/s41586-024-07552-4 |
| 15 | CD70-Targeted Allogeneic CAR T-Cell Therapy for Advanced Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma | Sumanta K Pal, Ben Tran, John B A G Haanen, Michael E Hurwitz, Adrian Sacher, Nizar M Tannir, Lihua E Budde, Simon J Harrison, Sebastian Klobuch, Sagar S Patel, Luis Meza, Mary-Lee Dequeant, Anna Ma, Qiuling Ally He, Leah M Williams, Alissa Keegan, Ellen B Gurary, Henia Dar, Sushant Karnik, Changan Guo, Heidi Heath, Rachel R Yuen, Phuong K Morrow, Neeraj Agarwal, Samer A Srour | Sumanta K. Pal | City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center, United States | Cancer Discovery | 95 | 10.1158/2159-8290.cd-24-0102 |
| 16 | In situ targeted base editing of bacteria in the mouse gut | Andreas K Brödel, Loïc H Charpenay, Matthieu Galtier, Fabien J Fuche, Rémi Terrasse, Chloé Poquet, Jan Havránek, Simone Pignotti, Antonina Krawczyk, Marion Arraou, Gautier Prevot, Dalila Spadoni, Matthew T N Yarnall, Edith M Hessel, Jesus Fernandez-Rodriguez, Xavier Duportet, David Bikard | Jesús Fernández-Rodríguez, Xavier Duportet, David Bikard | Eligo Bioscience, France | Nature | 77 | 10.1038/s41586-024-07681-w |
| 17 | Bone-marrow-homing lipid nanoparticles for genome editing in diseased and malignant haematopoietic stem cells | Xizhen Lian, Sumanta Chatterjee, Yehui Sun, Sean A Dilliard, Stephen Moore, Yufen Xiao, Xiaoyan Bian, Kohki Yamada, Yun-Chieh Sung, Rachel M Levine, Kalin Mayberry, Samuel John, Xiaoye Liu, Caroline Smith, Lindsay T Johnson, Xu Wang, Cheng Cheng Zhang, David R Liu, Gregory A Newby, Mitchell J Weiss, Jonathan S Yen, Daniel J Siegwart | Daniel J. Siegwart | The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, United States | Nature Nanotechnology | 73 | 10.1038/s41565-024-01680-8 |
| 18 | Structure and repair of replication-coupled DNA breaks | Raphael Pavani, Veenu Tripathi, Kyle B Vrtis, Dali Zong, Raj Chari, Elsa Callen, Ajith V Pankajam, Gang Zhen, Gabriel Matos-Rodrigues, Jiajie Yang, Shuheng Wu, Giordano Reginato, Wei Wu, Petr Cejka, Johannes C Walter, André Nussenzweig | Raphael Pavani, Veenu Tripathi, André Nussenzweig | National Cancer Institute, United States | Science | 73 | 10.1126/science.ado3867 |
| 19 | Machine Learning-Assisted, Dual-Channel CRISPR/Cas12a Biosensor-In-Microdroplet for Amplification-Free Nucleic Acid Detection for Food Authenticity Testing | Zhiying Zhao, Roumeng Wang, Xinqi Yang, Jingyu Jia, Qiang Zhang, Shengying Ye, Shuli Man, Long Ma | Shengying Ye, Shuli Man, Long Ma | Tianjin University of Science & Technology, China | ACS Nano | 72 | 10.1021/acsnano.4c10823 |
| 20 | RNA-Activated CRISPR/Cas12a Nanorobots Operating in Living Cells | Aijiao Yuan, Rui Sha, Wenjing Xie, Guangbo Qu, Hongquan Zhang, Hailin Wang, X Chris Le, Guibin Jiang, Hanyong Peng | Hanyong Peng | Chinese Academy of Sciences, China | Journal of the American Chemical Society | 70 | 10.1021/jacs.4c02354 |

## Topic trends

### What Topics Define the Class of 2026?

The 2024 CRISPR and Genetic Engineering cohort is characterized by a strong shift toward next-generation precision editing toolkits and translational delivery mechanisms. Next-generation enzymes and precision platforms lead the field, with Cas12a and prime editing emerging as the most frequent specific themes (each appearing in 16% of top-ranked publications). Rather than simple double-strand break induction, research heavily emphasizes precise sequence rewriting and safety, reflected in prominent mentions of off-target editing evaluation (14%) and targeted DNA insertion (12%).

Simultaneously, diagnostic and delivery innovations feature prominently. Trans-cleavage activity (14%) and nucleic acid detection (8%) highlight the expanding diagnostic utility of CRISPR effectors. On the therapeutic front, lipid nanoparticle (LNP) delivery (10%) and ribonucleoprotein (RNP) formulations (8%) represent primary vehicles for in vivo genome editing (8%). Furthermore, cell therapy applications remain robust, driven by CAR T cell engineering (8%) and high-throughput CRISPR screening (8%). Overall, the Class of 2026 highlights a mature landscape where biochemical precision, non-viral delivery, and off-target mitigation drive high-impact research.

*Leading research themes*

### How Did Topics Shift from the Class of 2025 to the Class of 2026?

Comparing the Class of 2025 (2023 publications) to the Class of 2026 (2024 publications) reveals a clear pivot from early base editing modalities toward advanced spatial insertion, diagnostic trans-cleavage, and AI-guided design. Trans-cleavage activity witnessed the most dramatic growth, surging 7-fold from 2% to 14% of top publications as CRISPR-based diagnostic assays gained widespread adoption. Targeted DNA insertion also experienced a 6-fold rise (2% to 12%), reflecting increased momentum around large-payload gene integration without donor DNA or double-strand breaks. Cas12a variants expanded nearly 2.7-fold (6% to 16%), solidifying their role as preferred effectors for both diagnostics and editing.

Furthermore, 2024 marked the rapid rise of AI-driven protein engineering and programmable recombination—such as zero-shot mutation prediction and bridge RNA recombinases—which entered the top-cited tier from zero previous representation. In contrast, early-generation base editing platforms experienced relative declines: general base editing dropped from 14% to 6%, and adenine base editors decreased from 10% to 6%. This shift underscores a broader reorientation toward larger, safer, and machine-learning-designed genomic modifications.

*How topics shifted year over year*

## Cite this ranking

```
Pepkio Research Index (PRI). Topics and Trends in Most Cited CRISPR and Genetic Engineering Papers, Class of 2026. https://pri.pepkio.com/top-papers/crispr-and-genetic-engineering/2026. Accessed 2026-07-21.

Zheng Su, Tinsley Li, Thematic Shifts in Early-High-Impact Cancer Genomics and Diagnostics Research: A Bibliometric and Semantic Analysis. bioRxiv 2026.07.04.736459; doi: https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.07.04.736459
```