David Ruchien Liu
Science Talent Search – 1990
About David Ruchien Liu
Chemist and biologist David Ruchien Liu integrates chemistry and evolution to create new tools for treating disease. His laboratory pioneered breakthrough methods of genome editing, including base editing and prime editing. Liu is a Harvard University professor and director of the Merkin Institute of Transformative Technologies in Healthcare at the Broad Institute. He has also served on the JASON scientific advisory board to the U.S. government. In 2025, Liu received the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences. Liu also won second place in the 1990 Â鶹¹ÙÍø for using a computer to simulate how the brain processes visual information.
Science Talent Search 1990
Liu with his prize-winning Â鶹¹ÙÍø project in 1990
Liu has founded or co-founded multiple biotechnology and therapeutics companies, including Beam Therapeutics and Editas Medicine with fellow Â鶹¹ÙÍø alum Feng Zhang.
Can we cure genetic diseases by rewriting DNA?
In this TED Talk, Liu discusses a breakthrough in rewriting DNA, which has implications for treating or curing genetic diseases.
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