~Music

When Gene Editing and Creativity Jam Together

Biscuit

17 Nov 2025 — 5 min read

Photo by BoliviaInteligente (Unsplash), Edited/Rendered by gpt-image-1

The same restless energy that drives a bassist to practice scales until their fingers bleed might be what pushes a scientist to sequence DNA until dawn breaks. Both are chasing something invisible—a perfect groove, a genetic breakthrough—and both refuse to stop until they find it.

The connection runs deeper than you might expect. The recent revolution in gene editing, particularly with CRISPR technology, shares an unexpected kinship with the creative process that musicians know intimately. Both require obsessive dedication, both transform raw materials into something unprecedented, and both are fundamentally about making life better for other humans. The parallel becomes even clearer when you consider how both fields approach their craft: total commitment, endless experimentation, and an almost spiritual belief that what they're doing matters.

The Laboratory as Recording Studio

CRISPR-Cas9, the gene-editing tool that's revolutionizing medicine, works like a molecular word processor for DNA. Scientists can now cut, paste, and edit genetic sequences with precision that seemed impossible just a decade ago. In recent trials, the experimental therapy CTX310 achieved mean reductions of 49% in LDL cholesterol and 55% in triglycerides at the highest dose, showing how precisely researchers can now target specific genetic conditions.

But here's what's fascinating: the way scientists describe their work sounds remarkably similar to how musicians talk about composition. Both involve taking existing patterns—whether genetic sequences or musical phrases—and rearranging them to create something that didn't exist before. Both require an intuitive understanding of complex systems. And both demand a willingness to fail repeatedly before achieving a breakthrough.

The eureka moment in science feels a lot like the moment when a song finally comes together. That instant when disparate elements suddenly align into something coherent and powerful.

The Passion Principle

Billy Sheehan represents something crucial about any creative endeavor: technical skill means nothing without genuine passion. You can learn all the techniques, master all the tools, but without that burning desire to create something meaningful, you're just going through the motions.

This philosophy illuminates something crucial about scientific breakthroughs. The researchers spending sixteen-hour days in laboratories aren't just following protocols—they're driven by the same creative fire that keeps musicians in rehearsal rooms until their neighbors complain. They're both trying to solve problems that keep them awake at night, whether it's how to make a bass line sing or how to repair a faulty gene.

The parallel extends to how both fields handle failure. Musicians know that for every song that works, dozens end up in the trash. Scientists face similar odds—most experiments fail, most hypotheses prove wrong. But in both cases, the failures aren't really failures. They're data points, learning experiences, steps toward something better. Those unexpected results often open entirely new avenues of research, just like a musician's "mistake" on stage can lead to their most interesting discoveries.

The Collaboration Symphony

Modern gene editing, like contemporary music, is rarely a solo act. CRISPR research involves massive collaborations between institutions, combining expertise from biology, chemistry, computer science, and medicine. Similarly, creating an album brings together musicians, producers, engineers, and dozens of other specialists, each contributing their unique skills to the final product.

This collaborative spirit reveals another connection: both fields are fundamentally generous. Scientists publish their findings so others can build on them. Musicians share techniques, jam together, and constantly learn from each other. The open-source ethos that drives scientific progress is the same spirit that keeps music evolving. When knowledge gets shared freely, whether it's advanced bass techniques or gene-editing protocols, the entire field advances faster.

The Human Element

What makes both gene editing and music profoundly human isn't just the technical achievement—it's the intention behind it. Gene editors aren't just manipulating DNA for the sake of it; they're trying to eliminate suffering, to give children with genetic diseases a chance at normal lives. Musicians aren't just making noise; they're creating emotional experiences that help people process their own lives.

The best scientists, like the best musicians, never lose sight of this human element. They remember that behind every genetic sequence is a person hoping for treatment, just as behind every song is someone who needs to hear it. This shared humanity drives both fields forward with an urgency that pure intellectual curiosity alone couldn't sustain.

The Practice of Wonder

Perhaps the deepest connection between gene editing and creativity is the sense of wonder that practitioners in both fields maintain despite—or because of—their expertise. The more scientists learn about genetics, the more amazed they become at life's complexity. The more musicians understand about harmony and rhythm, the more they appreciate music's infinite possibilities.

This wonder isn't naive; it's informed by deep knowledge. It's the wonder of someone who understands exactly how difficult their work is and chooses to do it anyway. When a bassist describes the joy of still discovering new techniques after decades of playing, they're expressing the same sentiment that keeps geneticists excited about their thousandth experiment.

The Future Frequency

As gene editing technology advances and becomes more accessible, we're seeing the emergence of a new kind of creative practice—one that blurs the lines between art and science even further. Bioartists are already using genetic modification as a medium, creating living sculptures and paintings with modified bacteria. Musicians are experimenting with DNA-based composition, translating genetic sequences into musical notes.

These hybrid practices suggest that the connection between gene editing and creativity isn't just metaphorical—it's becoming literal. The same tools that might cure genetic diseases are being used to create new forms of artistic expression. The boundary between laboratory and studio is dissolving.

The Encore

The next time you hear about a breakthrough in gene editing, think about it as you would a new album from your favorite artist. Both represent countless hours of practice, experimentation, and refinement. Both are attempts to add something beautiful and useful to the world. And both remind us that human creativity—whether expressed through music or molecules—is fundamentally an act of optimism.

The scientists working on CRISPR therapies and the musicians perfecting their craft are engaged in the same essential human project: taking what exists and making it better. They're both proof that with enough passion, practice, and willingness to fail, we can literally rewrite the code of life—whether that code is made of DNA or musical notes.

That's the real breakthrough here. Not just that we can edit genes or create transcendent music, but that both activities spring from the same source: our irrepressible human need to improve, to create, to leave things better than we found them. In that sense, every laboratory is a venue, every experiment is a performance, and every breakthrough—scientific or artistic—is an encore we give to humanity.