Thousands of human diseases are 
caused by changes,
or mutations,
to the body's DNA.
What if we could treat
all these diseases by diving 
into our living cells 
to correct the mistakes?
The Somatic Cell Genome Editing 
program aims to make that 
happen.
Recently, researchers have made 
great progress in
correcting DNA mutations using 
a technique
called genome editing,
and the first tests of genome 
editing for human diseases are 
starting.
However, there are still some
challenges to achieve safe 
and effective genome editing
in patient cells.
For example,
the DNA in millions of cells
needs to be corrected to treat 
many diseases.
And, getting the editing tool
into different types of cells,
such as those of different 
organs,
will require tailored delivery 
techniques and packages.
The delivery techniques must 
be specific
to enter the right cells
and avoid the wrong ones,
such as the cells of other
organs or reproductive cells 
like eggs and sperm.
Additionally, different types of
editing tools may be needed
to correct different types of 
mutations.
The Somatic Cell Genome Editing 
program,
or SCGE,
was launched by the NIH Common 
Fund
to develop quality tools
to perform safe and effective
genome editing in human patients.
The SCGE program will make more
genome editing tools available
to researchers
develop better packages
to deliver the tools to the 
right cells,
design new tests for the safety
and efficacy of genome editing,
and make all of the information 
available to the
scientific community
to drive future discoveries
and cures for patients.
