Visual cultures of CRISPR: intermedial figuration in science communication – ERRATUM

The figure of the human subject fluctuates across our social-media analysis, largely in relation to the proposed applications of CRISPR.In 2018, the figure only comprised approximately 1.4 per cent of the Instagram posts as human applications were still largely theoretical.In 2019, this number jumped to approximately 18 per cent, with approximately 62.5 per cent of these comprising embryos and babies -likely in response to the He scandal -and approximately 31.3 per cent of the posts comprising images of Victoria Gray, the first patient to undergo a CRISPR clinical trial to treat sickle-cell.In 2020, representations of the human subject decreased to approximately 2.5 per cent as the figure of the scientist rose to prominence.In 2021, this number rose again to approximately 14.2 per cent of the posts, with approximately 53 per cent of these featuring children and approximately 70.6 per cent featuring patients.During this time, there was a significant overlap between the figure of the patient and the figure of the child as CRISPR was beginning to be used to treat somatic cell genetic disease in children, offering a hopeful alternative to the polarizing figure of the designer baby.This trend continued in 2022 when the figure of the human subject comprised approximately 23.5 per cent of posts with 78.3 per cent featuring children and approximately 65.2 per cent featuring patients.