David R. Liu is the Richard Merkin Professor, and core faculty member at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, the Thomas Dudley Cabot Professor of the Natural Sciences at Harvard University, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. Liu’s research integrates chemistry and evolution to illuminate biology and enable novel therapeutics.
His research interests include the engineering, evolution, and in vivo delivery of genome editing agents to study and treat genetic diseases; the evolution of proteins with therapeutic potential using phage-assisted continuous evolution (PACE); and the discovery of bioactive synthetic molecules using DNA-templated synthesis and DNA-encoded libraries. Base editing, prime editing, PACE, and DNA-templated synthesis are four examples of technologies pioneered in his laboratory. These technologies are used by thousands of labs around the world to study and treat genetic diseases.
At least 23 clinical trials using base editing or prime editing are underway, with at least eight trials reporting results to date, yielding medical milestones including the first treatment of a patient with base editing (Alyssa Tapley), the first treatment of a patient with prime editing (Tracy Atteberry), the first correction of a pathogenic mutation in a human (BEAM-302), and the first treatment with a customized gene editing medicine (baby K. J. Muldoon).
Liu has published >285 research publications and is co-inventor of >115 issued U.S. patents. He is an elected member of the U.S. National Academy of Science, National Academy of Medicine, and American Association for the Advancement of Science.
He has been recognized with distinctions including the 2025 Breakthrough Prize in the Life Sciences, the 2025 FNIH Montrone-Seigel Prize, the 2022 King Faisal Prize for Medicine, and the 2026 American Chemical Society Award for Creative Invention. He is the founder or co-founder of biotechnology companies including Prime Medicine, Beam Therapeutics, Editas Medicine, Pairwise Plants, nChroma Bio, and Exo Therapeutics.
David R. Liu’s Conflicts of Interest Disclosure
DRL is a co-founder and consultant for Beam Therapeutics, Pairwise Plants, Exo Therapeutics, nChroma Bio. He owns founders’ equity in these companies, receives consultancies from them, and serves on their scientific advisory boards. He is the co-founder of Prime Medicine and owns equity in this company. He also serves as a scientific advisory board member and equity owner of Tevard Biosciences, Insitro, and Genscript Biotech. DRL may receive honoraria and travel reimbursements for some speaking engagements. He is a co-inventor on patents related to his research, as listed on his CV. Some of these patents have been licensed to companies including those listed above. Potential conflicts of interest between his academic activities and his activities with other entities including the companies above are actively disclosed and managed in accordance with the conflict of interest policies of the Broad Institute, Harvard University, and HHMI.