A British teenager's leukemia went into remission after she received an experimental cancer therapy that used a new gene-editing technology called base editing."It's our most sophisticated cell engineering so far and paves the way for other new treatments and ultimately better futures for sick children," Dr. Waseem Qasim, a cell- and gene-therapy professor and consultant immunologist at Great Ormond Street Hospital, said in a statement.In November 2013, a 26-year-old chemist named Alexis Komor exchanged emails with Liu to figure out a research project, as Insider has reported.The technology gives researchers an unprecedented level of specificity, being able to make changes to the base elements of genetic code, or the nucleotides nicknamed A, C, G, and T. Researchers often compare base editing to using a pencil and eraser, while the traditional CRISPR system is more like using scissors and glue."Seeing more patients like Alyssa experience remission from this treatment would mean so much both to the researchers who developed base editing, and to the communities of patients who might benefit," Liu told Insider in an email."