But there will also be a need for people away from the laboratory bench, including those who can help make sense of the huge amounts of data that will be generated as medical treatment becomes increasingly personalised to patients’ individual genomes.

“Gene therapy is rapidly becoming an accepted and growing part of the medical research and development industry,” says Michele Calos, president of the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy and a professor of genetics at Stanford University. “The growth of established and new gene therapy companies is expected to be accompanied by an increase in jobs, as these companies recruit scientists to staff their expanded operations.

“The gene therapy industry requires a range of graduates, with backgrounds in scientific fields like genetics, medicine, molecular biology, virology, bioengineering and chemical engineering, as well as business graduates.”

Much of the hype around gene editing lies in its ability to correct genetic defects that currently have no cure, such as cystic fibrosis and haemophilia. Many of the major pharmaceutical companies are betting on it becoming a key tool in the future of healthcare.

According to some projections, the global genome editing market is expected to double in size over the five years from 2017 to reach a value of $6.28bn (£4.84bn). Earlier this year, the UK government announced it was investing £60m ($76m) into a new cell and gene therapy manufacturing centre to help speed up the development of new treatments. In the US, the National Human Genome Research Institute predicts there will be a “considerable” increase in demand for employees in tandem with this growth.

There are already some 2,700 clinical trials using gene therapies under way or approved around the world, aiming to combat diseases as diverse as cancer, muscular dystrophy and sickle cell anaemia. Most of the small gene therapy companies behind these trials have partnerships or have received investment from much bigger drug firms, including Bayer, GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, Merck and Novartis. A quick search on recruitment websites reveals most of these pharma firms are actively seeking to hire their own gene therapy scientists too.