DNA is the molecule that makes up your entire genome: the complete "instruction manual" that lives in every one of your cells and tells your cells how to make all the stuff (proteins, membranes, small molecules) that makes you, you! Scientists' ability to edit DNA (changing the genetic "instruction manual" in cells) has revolutionized our understanding of biology and created new approaches to the creation of medicines to treat all kinds of diseases. As a genetic bioengineer at MIT myself, I am excited to give you an overview of what genome editing is, the way scientists have actually figured out how to go into cells and change DNA sequences, some cool applications of gene editing for both better understanding biology itself and in creating new medicines, and some future directions in this field! We will start with the basics, I will assume no-one in the class knows what DNA is. I will go over what DNA is, and how your cells use it to create essentially everything that makes you you. I will then talk about the way that scientists have discovered different small molecules called "proteins" that are able to change DNA in different ways; most of the time, we take proteins from bacteria and viruses that do cool stuff to DNA and try to figure out how they work. Then, I will talk about how we build small machines using several proteins all linked together to change DNA exactly how we want; in a nutshell this is what bioengineering is: engineering a biology to do what we want! I will conclude by talking about some of the work I have been involved in and some future directions in the field of genome editing! There will be lots of pictures, animations, and explanations; the aim will be to have fun and learn some cool stuff, don't be afraid to ask questions or come with them! I'm happy to say this is my MIT 9th spark/splash; I started when I was in 7th grade, and spark was really what got me interested in science! Feel free to stay after class to ask questions about the class or about what a career in science might look like for you!