Genome editing summits are generally friendly, nerdy affairs, but for a moment at a Lisbon hotel last June, the conversation at the FASEB genome engineering conference grew tense.
Tessera Therapeutics chief scientist Michael Holmes had just finished presenting a much-anticipated peek at a technology the company had previously said could “revolutionize genetic medicine” and “cure nearly any genetic disease.” It was a rare moment: Tessera had raised around $600 million and passed a $1 billion valuation, but had never published in academic medical journals.