British pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca has announced a research programme to develop a new generation of medicines to treat the genetic causes of many debilitating diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease and many cancers.

英国制药巨头阿斯利康制药日前宣布一项研究计划，开发新一代药物，治疗许多因遗传因素引起的使人衰弱的疾病，例如糖尿病、心脏病和不少癌症。

AstraZeneca said it plans to make use of so-called CRISPR genome-editing technology for key therapeutic areas including oncology. The technology enables researchers to “edit” the genes of certain cells relatively quickly and accurately.

阿斯利康称，其计划是在包括肿瘤学的重要治疗领域利用被称作CRISPR的“基因剪刀”技术。“基因剪刀”技术使得研究人员可以相对快而准地“编辑”一些细胞的基因。

例句：

Some companies are using gene-editing techniques to change the plant's existing DNA rather than insert foreign genes.

一些公司正使用“基因剪刀”技术来改变植物现在的DNA，而不是插入外来基因。