Neal Baer on Diving into CRISPR for ‘Perspectives in Biology & Medicine’ and What Would Have Happened in DESIGNATED SURVIVOR Season 4

Credit: WELCOME TO CHECHNYA

After bringing CRISPR—clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats, a tool which allows DNA to be edited—into the pop culture conversation with DESIGNATED SURVIVOR season 3, Neal Baer (who is also a doctor) dove deeper into the issue as the guest editor for a special issue of Perspectives in Biology & Medicine, a scholarly journal published by The Johns Hopkins University Press.

Baer is also lending his producing power to the Sundance documentary WELCOME TO CHECHNYA (which will air on HBO later this year), as the film tackles the continued attacks against the LGBTQ+ population in Russia and the activists who are working to combat the threats.

“Human rights issues are at the forefront of our lives now, and I’ve been really fortunate to be involved in these projects,” Baer says.

Here, he dives into why the CRISPR technology is so dangerous and how storytelling might be able to combat it, why he wanted to be a part of WELCOME TO CHECHNYA’s producing team, and what would have happened in DESIGNATED SURVIVOR’s fourth season. Read more