Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News
‘It’s all about genetic variability’: CRISPR targets sustainable agriculture
Although CRISPR has been slower to realize agricultural applications than biotechnology and biomedical applications, it is ready to help us ...
60% of elderly people have hearing problems. Here’s how gene editing and other cutting-edge techniques could restore the inner ear
Hearing loss is one of the most common disabilities in the United States. It can be caused by the effects ...
OCD relief: A genetic-based therapy for obsessive-compulsive disorder could be within reach
[OCD], which affects 1–2% of the population, commonly runs in families, and genes are known to play a large role ...
The exabyte data solution? How we can store all of the world’s data in microscopic silica particles placed in DNA
On Earth right now, there are about 10 trillion gigabytes of digital data, and every day, humans produce emails, photos, ...
Hopeful vaccine research: Universal vaccine protects against COVID-19 and four other coronaviruses and their variants, mice experiment shows
To prevent a future coronavirus pandemic... UNC-Chapel Hill researchers designed a vaccine to provide protection from the current SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus ...
‘Mindwriting’: Paralyzed clinical trial patient with brain implant able to ‘type’ words by thinking about writing by hand
Call it “mindwriting.” The combination of mental effort and state-of-the-art technology have allowed a man with spinal injury and immobilized ...
Breathing in CRISPR enzymes to treat infectious diseases, like the flu or COVID? It might soon be possible
A team of investigators from the Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University has developed a CRISPR-based treatment to stop ...
Mapping overthinking: Athletes who ‘choke’ under pressure activate areas of the brain involved in long-term thinking
Are penalty shots a soccer player’s dream or nightmare? Penalties can go either way, which makes them exciting to watch, ...
Using 3D printing to create algae-based novel, environmentally-friendly ‘living materials’, from skin to bio-garments
[A] solution that can help save our environment and change the world is 3D printing, which has been used in ...
400,000 people – that’s how many die from malaria each year. Here’s how gene editing and gene drives could prevent those deaths
The estimated number of malaria deaths stood at 409,000 in 2019. There is an urgent need to find new ways ...
Video: Synthetic life? Scientists have created xenobots that move, remember, heal and work together in groups
Biologists and computer scientists from Tufts University and the University of Vermont have created novel, tiny self-healing living machines from ...
Sex differences: Stress during pregnancy affects babies’ physical and mental health — but males and females are impacted differently
In a new longitudinal study where individuals are followed over a course of 45 years, [researcher Jill] Goldstein and her ...
Fighting gut inflammation? Limiting alcohol, sugar, processed foods and animal-based proteins could be key
Reporting their findings in the journal Gut, [a team of researchers at the University of Groningen and University Medical Centre ...
What are the biological roots of psychosis? Studying mice offers a window into understanding human hallucinations
Psychosis occurs when a person loses touch with reality. During a psychotic episode people may become delusional — acquire false ...
A golden age of gene therapy is now in sight
To date, just two in vivo gene therapies have been approved in the United States. Both are for what [Duke ...
Regrowing brain tissue? With the help of gene therapy, stroke victims can recover motor function
Most stroke victims don’t receive treatment fast enough to prevent brain damage, but scientists at the Ohio State University Wexner ...
‘Broken heart syndrome’: High stress, emotional situations can kill you
[Takotsubo syndrome, or TTS,] is characterised by a sudden temporary weakening of the heart muscles that causes the left ventricle ...
What’s your biological age? There’s a genetic clock that could tell you
Biological age isn’t as simple as counting the number of birthday candles you’ve blown out like your chronological age. Rather, ...
Critics say gene drives could lead to species extinction. Scientists have developed a brake system
By exerting control over the degree of spread, those who unleash gene drives may realize the benefits promised by gene ...
The placebo effect and pain reduction: Brain imaging helps explain how it works
Does the placebo [effect] change the way a person constructs the experience of pain, or is it changing the way ...
Organs on a chip? Device tracks Parkinson’s disease by modeling how the gut microbiome interacts with the brain, liver, and colon
[B]acteria living in our gut can influence some neurological diseases. To help researchers better understand how this gut-brain axis communicates, ...
One a day keeps the doctor away? Eating apples appears to boost brain function
Given that apples are one of the most widely consumed fruits in the world, [researchers Tara Louise] Walker, [Gerd] Kempermann ...
How COVID is revolutionizing vaccine development and production
According to Charles Christy, head of commercial solutions, Ibex Dedicate, Lonza, the response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been driving ...
Antidepressant paroxetine could halt osteoarthritis and degenerative cartilage damage
Research headed by scientists at Penn State College of Medicine has found that the antidepressant paroxetine can halt the progression ...
There are 400 children worldwide with progeria, a rapid-aging disease. Now there’s a potential treatment
The prevalence of [Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome, or] HGPS is approximately 1 in 20 million, so at any given time, there ...
Synthetic biology is creating a more sustainable world—advancing precision medicine, curbing pollution, conserving energy and securing data
Synthetic biology has become a powerful tool to advance science, making processes more efficient, enabling completely new approaches to biology, ...
Loss of smell, headaches, nausea and other neurological effects suggest COVID enters the brain through the nose
Although recent studies have noted the presence of viral RNA in the brain and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), it remains unclear ...
What the brain looks like when we’re lonely
A new study, headed by a team at McGill University, has now identified neurobiological signatures in the brains of lonely ...
