MIT Technology Review
Pamela Ronald reinvents rice: Drought-resistant varieties show progress
Pamela Ronald stands in front of two rows of rice plants, sprouting from black plastic pots, in a stifling greenhouse ...
Bubble boy hope: Strimvelis gene therapy revises genetic make-up, offers rare immune deficiency cure
A child in Europe has become the second individual ever to receive a commercial gene therapy, according to GlaxoSmithKline. The ...
Should we use genetically modified astronauts to reach Mars?
At the International Astronautical Congress last September, in Guadalajara, Mexico, Elon Musk convinced many die-hard space engineers he could get a ...
Edible ‘CRISPR pill’ instructs harmful bacteria to self-destruct, may revolutionize fight against antibiotic resistance
As resistance to antibiotics grows in the U.S., researchers are looking for new ways to fight germs like Clostridium difficile, ...
Sperm drugs: Women’s best bet for cancer-killing gynecological tumor treatments
Delivering drugs to cancerous tissue is one of the more urgent medical issues of our time. The problems with drug ...
Anti-aging pill? Scientists study drug’s ability to rejuvenate older immune cells
Can a pill make you younger? One of the few drug studies ever carried out in an attempt to address ...
What one boy’s ‘Lazarus-like’ recovery tells us about the future of bio drugs
Shortly after Cameron Harding’s one-month check-up, his mother, Alison, saw that her newborn seemed to stop moving. She’d unwrap him ...
No longer waiting idly: Parents of patients establishing gene therapy programs
In recent years, gene therapies have become safer and better at hitting their intended targets in the body, leading to ...
5 biotech products US regulators might struggle to regulate
A new report issued by the National Academy of Sciences says U.S. regulatory agencies need to prepare for new plants, ...
Can pigs solve our organ transplant shortage with help from CRISPR?
[B]iotechnology startup eGenesis [just] raised $38 million to fund a new effort to edit the DNA of pigs so they ...
‘Speeding up evolution’: Artificial yeast project could boost drug, biofuel production
An international team of scientists is closing in on its goal of replacing all the genetic material in a yeast ...
Cell atlas: 37 trillion cells in the human body will be catalogued in ambitious effort
The objective is to construct the first comprehensive “cell atlas,” or map of human cells, a technological marvel that should ...
Brain implants might soon restore vision to the blind, improve digestion, relieve PTSD symptoms
[Brain implant experiments] like those that let a paralyzed person swig coffee using a robotic arm, or that let blind ...
Synthetic conservation: Gene drives could revive extinct animals, protect endangered species, knock out pests
Scientists working in coördination with a U.S. conservation group say they’ve established an evolution-warping technology called a “gene drive” in ...
Will you win the cancer treatment lottery? It’s in the genes
[Q]uestions about precision oncology vex doctors, scientists, health insurance companies, and the more than 1.6 million Americans who will receive ...
Brain cancer in children: Unique ‘genetic drivers’ open door to precision medical treatments
In the past 30 years, childhood deaths from cancer have declined by 50 percent overall, but those from pediatric brain ...
Our voices and smartphones may soon help diagnose diseases and stress disorders
Voice samples are a rich source of information about a person’s health, and researchers think subtle vocal cues may indicate ...
Are we ready for DIY (do-it-yourself) gene therapy?
Brian Hanley, 60, is the founder of a one-man company called Butterfly Sciences...After encountering little interest from investors for his ...
From 2016 onwards: Gene therapy’s transition from idea to revolutionary medicine
For a few lucky patients, 2016 was the year when gene therapy turned from promises to cures. The technology...made big advances ...
Personalized cancer vaccines could revolutionize treatment and prevent relapse
Ernest Levy joined an early-stage clinical trial led by the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, testing a cancer vaccine for ...
Snapshots of patients’ faces may help identify genetic diseases
Many genetic conditions have a “face”—a distinctive constellation of features that provides a clue to a potential diagnosis. But identifying ...
Bug gene therapy: Helpful insects could carry genes to protect diseased crops
...[S]cientists at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) want to capitalize on insects’ natural relationships with plants. They believe ...
White House science advisors urge CRISPR bioterrorist defense strategy
Scientific advisers to President Obama warn that the U.S. urgently needs a new biodefense strategy and should regularly brief President-elect ...
Fight against Zika turns into money-driven contest between different eradication strategies
The fight against dengue and Zika in Latin America is turning into a contest between mosquito-altering technologies, and between profits ...
CRISPR may hold key to curing muscular dystrophy
At 24, Benjamin Dupree has outlived many people with Duchenne muscular dystrophy...Doctors say the disease is terminal, but they tell ...
Gene drive inventor will aggressively enforce his patent to ensure technique is used ethically
Kevin Esvelt has helped develop a technology called “gene drive”...Now he’s proposing the unprecedented step of using patents to require university scientists ...
How America’s top bioterror cop patrols for warning signs of an attack
As a supervisory special agent in the weapons of mass destruction directorate in the FBI’s Washington, D.C., headquarters, [Edward You] ...
WHO: GMO cows that produce human antibodies could revolutionize how we fight Ebola, flu
SAB Biotherapeutics of South Dakota has genetically engineered cattle to produce large quantities of human antibodies—proteins that help remove harmful ...