Fyodor Urnov

Fyodor Dmitriyevich Urnov (; born 1968) is a Russian-born biomedical researcher and who has played a leading role in the field of genome editing. He is a Professor of Genetics, Genomics, and Development at the University of California, Berkeley and Director of the Center for Translational Genomics at the university's Innovative Genomics Institute. In 2005 Urnov and his colleagues coined the term "genome editing" and demonstrated the first use of ZFNs to edit DNA in human cells. Urnov is considered a pioneering figure in the field of genome editing

Early life and education Fyodor Urnov was born in Soviet Russia to a linguist mother and a literary critic father. He was raised in Moscow. Urnov's father frequently purchased him books; on his 12th birthday, Urnov received a copy of James D. Watson's book The Double Helix. The book helped to spark Urnov's early interest in life sciences.

Urnov attended Moscow State University, where he received his undergraduate degree in biology in 1990. Following the fall of the Iron Curtain, Urnov applied to graduate schools in the United States. He attended Brown University for doctoral studies where he worked as a researcher in the laboratory of Susan Gerbi.

In 2025 Urnov helped to lead a team that created a customized CRISPR treatment six months after birth for an infant born with a deadly genetic disease, CPS1 deficiency.

He is a cofounder of Tune Therapeutics, an epigenome editing company that is beginning a clinical trial in Hong Kong to treat chronic hepatitis B. Tune raised a $40M Series A and $175M Series B to fund its efforts in therapeutic development.

Honors and awards

2024 Horace Mann Medal, Brown University