Human Gene Editing
CRISPR gene editing debuts in space, as astronauts study how DNA repairs itself from cosmic radiation
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
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?’
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
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?
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
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
[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
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
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
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
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
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
[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
[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
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
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?
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—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
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
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
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
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
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
[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?
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
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
Nowadays, scientists can use CRISPR design technologies to protect the environment. Remember, the environment is at the mercy of human ...