CRISPR Study Determines Science of DNA Replication Timing
A CRISPR study has determined how DNA times its own replication, something which until now has been unknown to scientists.
CRISPR
No-Incision CRISPR Reduces Genetic Obesity in Mice
A modified version of CRISPR has been used to reverse genetic obesity in two different mouse models without editing any genes. The technique uses the guidance system in CRISPR to target certain genetic sequences and amplifies existing gene activity to ramp up protein production.
CRISPR Babies Could Face Unintended Consequences of Editing
The CCR5 gene has been researched by scientists since the 1990s, and has a number of roles which have not yet properly been uncovered. Loss of the gene’s function is known, however, to increase the risk of potentially fatal reactions to some diseases, and has shown an ability to enhance learning in mice.
Genetic Heart Test Used to Identify Risk of Severe Cardiomyopathy
Scientists from the University of Pennsylvania have created a test using gene-editing tools such as CRISPR to identify a gene variant responsible for severe hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (SHC). SHC is an often-familial disease which thickens heart walls and is linked to a variant in the TNNT2 gene.
CRUK and AstraZeneca to Launch New Genomics Centre in UK
AstraZeneca and Cancer Research UK (CRUK) have announced that they will work together to open a new research centre in the UK, applying CRISPR and other functional genomics technologies to develop new cancer drugs. Specifically, the centre will study how genes and proteins interact with each other in cancer cells, and create disease models using genome-altering technologies based on this.
Baboons Live More Than Five Months with Engineered Pig Hearts
Baboons can live for up to 195 days with hearts taken from pigs and genetically engineered to avoid extreme immune reactions, three times longer than previous attempts, according to a report published in Nature journal.
WHO to Create Gene Editing Expert Panel
The World Health Organization is establishing an expert panel to set guidelines and standards on the ethical and safety issues of gene editing, the body has announced. This follows the recent revelation that a scientist in China claimed he had edited the genes of twin babies to make them HIV resistant.
New Study Details CRISPR to Molecular Level
A new study by the the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Research details how CRISPR-Cas12a works, right down to the molecular level. This should make it possible to fine-tune the process to achieve better results.
CRISPR-Edited Twins Allegedly Born in China
Twin girls in China have allegedly been born after having their embryonic genetic code modified using CRISPR. Chinese researcher He Jiankui, from the Southern University of Science and Technology, claims to have turned off a gene called CCR5 to offer total protection against HIV, as well as smallpox and cholera.
CRISPR Repairs DNA Even Without Donor Template
CRISPR-Cas9 can carry out precise genome editing even without the assistance of donor DNA templates, a team of scientists from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard have found.
Gene Editing Could Cure Fatal Muscle Disease
The editing of muscle cells in young beagles, bred to Duchenne muscular dystrophy, to remove a key barrier to higher protein production could greatly further the treatment of the disease in humans.
New ‘Big Picture’ Approach to Cancer Will Speed Up Treatment Research
A new scientific innovation is set to help scientists understand the causes of cancer with greater speed and precision than ever before. Rather than looking at individual gene mutations on their own, scientists can now create models incorporating a number of mutations.
CRISPR Used To Treat Congenital Disease Before Birth
For the first time, scientists have performed prenatal gene editing to prevent a lethal metabolic disorder in laboratory animals, offering the potential to treat human congenital diseases before birth.
CRISPR Creates New Single-Chromosome Species of Yeast
Researchers at the Key Laboratory of Synthetic Biology in Shanghai have used CRISPR to create a new species of yeast that only has a single giant chromosome.
DNA Repair After CRISPR Cutting: Not At All What People Thought
To find out which DNA repair enzymes are critical to homology-directed repair after CRISPR cutting, researchers have knocked out, one at a time, more than 2,000 genes known or suspected to be involved in DNA repair, a function critical to a healthy cell.
