All living organisms, including viruses and bacteria, carry DNA or RNA molecules. On the surface, Chin's most promising results would appear to be in the area of RNA cleavage. Compared to DNA, RNA is simply an easier nut to crack. Half-life is the amount of time it takes for half the bonds to break down. That's fast enough for RNA, but we need to get the DNA half-life down to seconds as well.
Genetic diseases are another promising area for applications.
Environmental factors notwithstanding, some people carry a predisposition to certain diseases within their DNA molecules, the body's repository of genetic information. Catalysts may one day be designed to cleave, sequence specifically, only the disease-causing gene. Some biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies are concentrating on RNA cleavage, which is likely to lead to applications more rapidly. Once we develop catalysts that are very efficient at cleaving DNA, we may someday be able to use the same principles to develop catalysts that can 'paste' by reversing the cleavage reaction. Catalysts must not only be effective but non-toxic as well, for applications in drugs.