Cut It Out! Gene Editing, Medicine, and the Future of Biology

Talks on Tuesdays: Real lectures in your favourite venues. 45-mins + Q&A with Dr Ashleigh Geiger Talks on Tuesdays is a live event series bringing big ideas, real experts, and curious minds together - at your favourite local venues. Think thought-provoking lectures, audience questions, and post-talk mingling over drinks and dinner. This isn’t a uni lecture. It’s a social, intelligent night out.Come alone or with friends, leave with something to talk about. Event Schedule: 6.30pm Arrival & Doors Open 7pm Lecture Starts 7.45pm Q&A 8pm Talk Concludes 8.30pm Event Closes. *Please arrive close to 6.30pm A La Carte menu and full bar available throughout the night - pay as you go. Your Topic: Cut It Out! Gene Editing, Medicine, and the Future of Biology What if we could fix a disease-causing gene, engineer immune cells to kill cancer, or grow crops that can better withstand drought and disease? Gene editing has moved rapidly from a laboratory tool to one of the most powerful technologies shaping modern medicine and biology. Tools like CRISPR have changed what is possible: not just reading DNA, but rewriting it. But turning that idea into a safe, effective treatment - or a real-world application - is far more complicated than simply “cutting and pasting” genes. In this talk, Dr Ashleigh Geiger will explain how gene editing works, why CRISPR changed the field so dramatically, and what it takes to turn a molecular tool into a therapy. Drawing on examples from medicine, biotechnology, agriculture, and food production, the talk will explore both the promise and the practical challenges of editing DNA. The session will also consider the bigger questions raised by gene editing: when should we change the genome, who benefits from these technologies, and where should the limits be? The talk will explore what gene editing can do now, what it might do next, and why its impact reaches far beyond the laboratory. Your Speaker: Dr Ashleigh Geiger Dr Ashleigh Geiger is a postdoctoral researcher at SAiGENCI and the Adelaide Centre for Epigenetics at the Adelaide University. Her current research uses stem cells, organoids, and CRISPR-based genome editing to study how early developmental processes are disrupted in breast cancer. Her PhD focused on developing gene-editing strategies for genetic forms of blindness. She is also passionate about making complex science accessible and engaging, and has shared her work through public science events including FameLab Australia, Three Minute Thesis, and the Pint of Science festival.