Sharon Begley
Corvids are more brainiac than birdbrain: Crows may be able to reflect and ponder their own mind
Research unveiled on [September 24] in Science finds that crows know what they know and can ponder the content of their ...
Knocking out cholesterol genes could offer ‘one-and-done’ CRISPR cure for heart disease
When CRISPR “base editing” was used to knock out two cholesterol-associated genes in monkeys, the animals’ blood levels of heart-disease-causing ...
Experimental Parkinson’s treatment draws ethics scrutiny with wealthy donor selected as first patient
A secretive experiment revealed [May 12], in which neurosurgeons transplanted brain cells into a patient with Parkinson’s disease, made medical ...
‘This is what it feels like to be normal’: Experimental stem cell treatment shows promise against Parkinson’s
[Researchers planned] to carry out an experimental transplant surgery unprecedented in the annals of medicine: replacing the dysfunctional brain cells ...
Dealing with ‘confusing directives’, US doctors seek coronavirus advice from Chinese counterparts
Now, fed up with what they see as inadequate and confusing directives from public health authorities, many physicians are trying ...
If China’s coronavirus isn’t contained soon, we may be stuck with it permanently
With the new coronavirus spreading from person to person (possibly including from people without symptoms), reaching four continents, and traveling faster than ...
Refining CAR-T therapy could halt ‘violent, life-threatening’ immune reactions
CAR-T cells that have been so successful against some leukemias and lymphomas often cause a violent and even life-threatening immune ...
Aging is ‘truly personal’: You could have the immune system of a teenager and the metabolism of a 50-year-old
One 50-year-old has the nimble metabolism of a teenager, while another’s is so creaky he developed type 2 diabetes — ...
Rethinking Huntington’s: Disease may have origins in the womb
From the first days of the tiny lab-grown organs’ development, primitive “progenitor cells” romped out of their birthplaces in the ...
CRISPR therapy demonstrates ‘real curative potential’ for sickle cell disease, beta thalassemia
The first two patients to receive a CRISPR-based treatment for the inherited blood disorders sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia ...
CRISPR prime editing: Broad Institute biochemist David Liu discusses pros, cons and off-target effects
STAT invited readers to submit questions to [biochemist David] Liu on the new [CRISPR prime] technology. He also received some ...
New CRISPR tool promises ability to reduce unintended consequences to almost zero, treat expanded range of diseases
A new form of the genome-editing tool CRISPR-Cas9 appears to significantly expand the range of diseases that could be treated ...
California man invites scientists to experiment with CRISPR on his rare disorder
On one level, Malakkar Vohryzek always knew what was wrong with him. For as long as he can remember — ...
Worried about genetic privacy? This start-up is offering anonymous DNA sequencing
The upstart direct-to-consumer DNA-testing company Nebula Genomics announced on [September 19] that it will offer anonymous genome sequencing, becoming the first to do ...
We can cure Alzheimer’s, schizophrenia, glioblastoma in mice. Why not humans?
Lab mice endure a lot for science, but there’s often one (temporary) compensation: near-miraculous recovery from diseases that kill people ...
Rushing to revamp international gene-editing rules before ‘crazy people’ start opening embryo-editing clinics
The second-most shocking thing He Jiankui told the international genome editing summit in Hong Kong last November — right after ...
Seeking origins of schizophrenia, autism by putting ‘stress’ on mini-placenta, mini-brains
Biologist Jennifer Erwin of the Lieber Institute for Brain Development, however, has no intention of babying her organoids: the world’s ...
‘Cancer vaccine’ boosts survival rates when combined with immunotherapy drugs in small study
The largest study to date of a “cancer vaccine” plus one of the immunotherapy drugs that has revolutionized cancer treatment ...
US patent office reopens Broad Institute—University of California CRISPR patent dispute
The U.S. patent office has declared an interference between a dozen key patents awarded to the Broad Institute on the ...
‘Jumping genes’ may help CRISPR make precision edits of disease-causing DNA
[In a 2017 study] four biologists wrote that “it has not escaped our notice” that a funny little “jumping gene” ...
Computer-based ‘brain-training’ program could aid veterans who suffer traumatic injuries
It has been 27 years since an attack on a U.S. military convoy in the Middle East left Army reservist ...
Building a better hearing aid: This one filters out unwanted sounds by reading your mind
The brain is unsurpassed in its ability to pick out juicy tidbits and attention-grabbing voices against a cacophony of background ...
Families plagued by inherited diseases push back against ban on gene-edited embryos
In 2012, scientists showed that CRISPR, an ancient bacterial immune system, can edit DNA. ... Barely three years after, leaders in ...
Electrical brain zaps show promise at improving memory in older adults
Shooting electrical current into the brain for just 25 minutes reversed the decline in working memory that comes with aging, ...
Viewpoint: Precision medicine plagued by an ’embarrassing’ human reference genome
The human reference genome, largely completed in 2001, has achieved near-mythic status. It is “the book of life,” the “operating ...
US approves immunotherapy for breast cancer for first time
Roche’s cancer immunotherapy Tecentriq (atezolizumab), a PD-L1 inhibitor, scored its fifth Food and Drug Administration approval on [March 8], for advanced triple-negative ...
‘Genetic crapshoot’: Two studies suggest clinical use of CRISPR hampered by off-target editing
The version of CRISPR whose selling point has been its precision suffers, ironically, from the same shortcoming that has dogged ...
Can vaccines be supercharged by CRISPR, creating ‘one-and-done’ virus protection?
Vaccines are risky or ineffective in people with compromised immune systems, they don’t even exist for several viral diseases, and ...
