CRISPR gene editing debuts in space, as astronauts study how DNA repairs itself from cosmic radiation

CRISPR gene editing debuts in space, as astronauts study how DNA repairs itself from cosmic radiation

Amirah Al Idrus | 
Space radiation has long been a concern for astronauts living beyond Earth’s protective atmosphere—it can damage DNA, leading to cancer ...
With treatments for COVID still elusive, CRISPR offers promise in preliminary tests

With treatments for COVID still elusive, CRISPR offers promise in preliminary tests

Rachel Rettner | 
Scientists have harnessed CRISPR gene-editing technology to block the replication of the novel coronavirus in human cells — an approach ...
Viewpoint: Might CRISPR gene editing ‘unleash dangerous mutants, designer babies and new weapons of mass destruction?’

Viewpoint: Might CRISPR gene editing ‘unleash dangerous mutants, designer babies and new weapons of mass destruction?’

John Lauerman | 
Mankind has been manipulating genetics since early civilizations realized that certain traits of crops, animals and humans themselves were hereditary ...
Video: Curious about the full implications of the CRISPR gene editing revolution? Here’s a primer

Video: Curious about the full implications of the CRISPR gene editing revolution? Here’s a primer

Andrea Gawrylewski, Michael Tabb | 
With CRISPR, a group of enzymes recognize certain repeats, and break the DNA there to insert important information in the ...
Saving the world — or possibly destroying it? What does the future of CRISPR genetic engineering portend?

Saving the world — or possibly destroying it? What does the future of CRISPR genetic engineering portend?

Sherryn Groch | 
In the past 70 years, we have uncovered the structure of DNA, the blueprint of life, built machines to read ...
Setting ethical limits on human gene editing after fall of 14-day barrier

Setting ethical limits on human gene editing after fall of 14-day barrier

Delthia Ricks | 
Quick, accurate and easy-to-use, CRISPR-Cas9 has made genomic editing more efficient—but at the same time has made human germline editing ...
WHO restates opposition to gene-editing live human embryos but endorses other forms of genome modification

WHO restates opposition to gene-editing live human embryos but endorses other forms of genome modification

Megan Molteni | 
[July 12,] a World Health Organization advisory committee called on the world’s largest public health authority to stand by the ...
WHO proposes global registry and whistle-blowing mechanism to curb unethical and unsafe human gene editing abuses

WHO proposes global registry and whistle-blowing mechanism to curb unethical and unsafe human gene editing abuses

The World Health Organization issued new recommendations [July 12] on human genome editing, calling for a global registry to track ...
Intellia’s disease-eradicating CRISPR tool is injected directly into the bloodstream. Here’s why that’s such a big deal

Intellia’s disease-eradicating CRISPR tool is injected directly into the bloodstream. Here’s why that’s such a big deal

Kristen Houser | 
CRISPR gives us the ability to correct genetic mutations, and given that such mutations are responsible for more than 6,000 ...
How tall will your children be? Here are the nature versus nurture factors

How tall will your children be? Here are the nature versus nurture factors

Eva Hamrud | 
We often consider our height as being unchangeable, determined by our genetic make-up from when we were conceived. After all, ...
Why sickle cell disease is a perfect target candidate for CRISPR gene editing

Why sickle cell disease is a perfect target candidate for CRISPR gene editing

Katherine Blesie | 
When the gene-editing technology CRISPR/Cas9 was discovered in 2012 by Berkeley biochemist Jennifer Doudna and collaborator Emmanuelle Charpentier, it changed ...
Here’s an update on the (quixotic?) CRISPR gene editing project to revive the defunct woolly mammoth

Here’s an update on the (quixotic?) CRISPR gene editing project to revive the defunct woolly mammoth

Eric James Beyer | 
As CRISPR allows scientists to splice individual genes that program for specific characteristics into the genome of living species, it ...
CRISPR milestone: Crippling transthyretin amyloidosis disease now treatable through gene editing, paving way for addressing other genetic diseases

CRISPR milestone: Crippling transthyretin amyloidosis disease now treatable through gene editing, paving way for addressing other genetic diseases

Rob Stein | 
[65-year-old Patrick] Doherty found out he had a rare, but devastating inherited disease — known as transthyretin amyloidosis — that ...
CRISPR gene editing on the cusp of adding new gene drive tools to control disease-carrying mosquitoes

CRISPR gene editing on the cusp of adding new gene drive tools to control disease-carrying mosquitoes

[D]espite decades of effort, vaccines have, for many [diseases like malaria and dengue], proved tricky to develop. Better, then, to ...
Viewpoint: 'Magic promised by genetically pruning ‘defective’ embryos has fairy-dusted the eyes of even the most intelligent’ — Maybe it’s time to hit the pause button

Viewpoint: ‘Magic promised by genetically pruning ‘defective’ embryos has fairy-dusted the eyes of even the most intelligent’ — Maybe it’s time to hit the pause button

Barbara Pfeffer Billauer | 
Advances in genetics have been revolutionized in the last few years. First came CRISPR, which can edit single genes, possibly ...
Viewpoint: Patenting human embryo gene editing? Two rival universities push the ethical and legal debate

Viewpoint: Patenting human embryo gene editing? Two rival universities push the ethical and legal debate

Pete Shanks | 
Two prominent groups of scientists, and two major American universities, are trying to patent methods for editing human embryos, with ...
Could we cut out cancer genes using CRISPR gene editing?

Could we cut out cancer genes using CRISPR gene editing?

Marion Olsen | 
An oncogene is a gene that has the potential to cause cancer. Fusion oncogenes are cancer-causing genes that are made ...
Chronic pain is a pain: How gene editing offers hopeful alternative to addictive opioids

Chronic pain is a pain: How gene editing offers hopeful alternative to addictive opioids

Moheb Costandi | 
Chronic pain—defined as pain that persists for longer than 12 weeks despite medication or treatment—is estimated to affect some 20 ...
Genomic Cold War? More nations joining the US in using biotechnology to enhance military capabilities

Genomic Cold War? More nations joining the US in using biotechnology to enhance military capabilities

Yusef Paolo Rabiah | 
The UK government recently announced an £800 million, taxpayer-funded Advanced Research and Invention Agency (Aria). The brainchild of the British ...
Dangerously high cholesterol? CRISPR gene editing could lower it, tests on monkeys suggest

Dangerously high cholesterol? CRISPR gene editing could lower it, tests on monkeys suggest

Bob Yirka | 
A team of researchers from Verve Therapeutics and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has developed ...
‘It would be huge to see my granddaughter’: In an attempt to cure blindness, scientists use CRISPR to edit DNA inside patients' bodies

‘It would be huge to see my granddaughter’: In an attempt to cure blindness, scientists use CRISPR to edit DNA inside patients’ bodies

Rob Stein | 
Carlene Knight would love to do things that most people take for granted, such as read books, drive a car, ...
‘Less water, fertilizer, pesticides and land’? How next-generation soy and corn seeds optimized with CRISPR and AI can increase crop yields while lowering our carbon footprint

‘Less water, fertilizer, pesticides and land’? How next-generation soy and corn seeds optimized with CRISPR and AI can increase crop yields while lowering our carbon footprint

Lana Bandoim | 
Inari wants to engineer crops that require less water, fertilizer, pesticides and land. The company is focusing on soybeans and ...
The COVID pandemic has changed the future of CRISPR and synthetic biology, says Rahul Dhanda, Sherlock Biosciences CEO

The COVID pandemic has changed the future of CRISPR and synthetic biology, says Rahul Dhanda, Sherlock Biosciences CEO

John Cumbers, Rahul Dhanda | 
It’s been a transformative year for synthetic biology and for the world. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed weaknesses in our global ...
‘Optogenetics’ miracle? Gene therapy and high-tech goggles partially restore sight to man blinded for 40 years

‘Optogenetics’ miracle? Gene therapy and high-tech goggles partially restore sight to man blinded for 40 years

Ed Cara | 
[A new gene therapy to treat blindness] relies on something called optogenetics. The idea is to edit nerve cells collected ...
Is science finally getting gene therapy right in the effort to fight intractable diseases?

Is science finally getting gene therapy right in the effort to fight intractable diseases?

Wynne Parry | 
Over time, researchers have devised a number of ways to manipulate the genetic activity within cells, often by giving them ...
‘Genetic pain’: Prince Harry’s comments stir controversial debate over whether we can inherit our parents’ traumas

‘Genetic pain’: Prince Harry’s comments stir controversial debate over whether we can inherit our parents’ traumas

Chris Stokel-Walker | 
The Duke of Sussex said he had left the UK because he wanted to “break that cycle” of “genetic pain” ...
Biofuels, bioplastics and bioremediation: How CRISPR-designed technologies can protect the environment

Biofuels, bioplastics and bioremediation: How CRISPR-designed technologies can protect the environment

Patrick Jones | 
Nowadays, scientists can use CRISPR design technologies to protect the environment. Remember, the environment is at the mercy of human ...
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