Feng Zhang

New Capabilities

Called the work 'genuinely intriguing' and said it merits further investigation

Anthropic's Claude spent about 21 hours searching more than 200,000 reverse transcriptases, enzymes that copy RNA into DNA. It flagged one sitting beside a repeating DNA array that resembles CRISPR's layout. Lab tests showed the array produces short RNAs, but the partner enzyme, named ART, has no known function.

Updated Oct 27

New Capabilities

As of July 2026: Co-inventor on the DT-109 patent

Severe fatty liver disease has almost no drugs that reverse it. On July 11, 2026, a University of Michigan team reported that an experimental compound called DT-109 did exactly that in mice and monkeys, by fixing the gut instead of the liver.

Updated Jul 11

New Capabilities

As of May 2026: Investigator at the Broad Institute, MIT, and Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Every major tool in genetic engineering — from the enzymes that cut DNA in the 1970s to CRISPR gene editing — started as a defense weapon bacteria use against viruses. Two teams revealed bacteria carry three times more weapons than anyone realized, identifying millions of antiviral proteins from tens of thousands of genomes using machine-learning models that flag a new defense system in five minutes.

Updated May 31