For many diseases, the tools of medicine are reaching their limits. CRISPR technologies open new avenues for diagnostics and therapies, although the natural source of CRISPR remains largely untapped. Scientists from the Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI) in Würzburg, a joint venture of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig and the Julius Maximilian University (JMU) Würzburg, now demonstrate a new way to study CRISPR systems that can accelerate their conversion into tools. Their approach was published today in the journal Molecular Cell.