The research interest of the Cromer Lab lies at the intersection of CRISPR-based genome editing and cell engineering. The mission of the lab is to close the gap between synthetic biology and the clinic, with special focus on hematopoietic stem cells and red blood cells.

If the genome is thought of as computer code, then disease occurs when the code is somehow broken. While genome editing technology can be used to correct disease-causing typos, there is likely untapped potential to cure disease by engineering novel properties into cells. Therefore, all of the work in the Cromer Lab in some way attempts to answer the question - if you could introduce new code to any cell in the body, what would you write and where?