How the immune system could stymie some CRISPR gene therapies
Nature NEWS EXPLAINER 08 JANUARY 2018
Researchers hoping to use a gene-editing technique to treat diseases may have to seek alternative enzymes.
The body’s own immune system could thwart some efforts to develop gene therapies based on the trendy genome-editing tool called CRISPR-Cas9, according to a study released on 5th January.
Hopes are high that CRISPR–Cas9 could one day be used in people to correct mutations that cause disease. But the new study, which was …
U.S. doctors plan to treat cancer patients using CRISPR
MIT Technology Review by Emily Mullin January 17, 2018
Gene-edited immune cells could help wipe out deadly tumors.
The first human test in the U.S. involving the gene-editing tool CRISPR could begin at any time and will employ the DNA cutting technique in a bid to battle deadly cancers.
Doctors at the University of Pennsylvania say they will use CRISPR to modify human immune cells so that they become expert cancer killers, according to plans …
After 14 years, California’s stem cell agency finally gets a royalty cheque
BioEdge by Michael Cook | 4 Mar 2018
Fourteen years after Californians voted an overwhelming Yes! to stem cell research, including human embryonic stem cells, and created the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), the agency has received its first royalty cheque. The amount? US$190,345.87.
Not even the staff of the controversial CIRM were inclined to boast about the return on investment for Californian tax-payers. Proposition 71, which voters approved in 2004, authorised a $3 …
World’s first human-sheep hybrids pave way for diabetes cure and mass organ transplants
Human-sheep hybrids have been created by scientists for the first time, opening the door to organs being grown inside the farmyard animals for use in transplants or to cure diabetes.
A team at Stanford University successfully grew embryos inside a surrogate for three weeks which had both sheep and human cells.
It is the first stage towards growing an unlimited supply of human organs for transplants and even providing a cure for Type 1 diabetes.…
‘It was incredible’: adult stem cells help paralyzed woman walk again
February 8, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – Cutting-edge treatment with adult stem cells helped a paralyzed woman regain feeling in her body and start to walk again.
The Charlotte Lozier Institute (CLI) released a new video of Laura Dominguez-Tauer, whose story they first told in 2011, showing the progress in her life since receiving ethical adult stem cell treatment.
Dominguez-Tauer was in a car accident when she was 16. It paralyzed her from the neck down. She …
What is CRISPR gene editing, and how does it work?
by Merlin Crossley | 3 Feb 2018
What is CRISPR gene editing, and how does it work?
You’ve probably read stories about new research using the gene editing technique CRISPR, also called CRISPR/Cas9. The scientific world is captivated by this revolutionary technology, since it is easier, cheaper and more efficient than previous strategies for modifying DNA.
The term CRISPR/Cas9 stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats/CRISPR associated protein 9. The names reflect important features …
UK doctors select first women to have “three-person babies”
Two women carrying mutations that cause rare genetic disease to undergo radical therapy
Doctors in Newcastle have been granted permission to create Britain’s first “three-person babies” for two women who are at risk of passing on devastating and incurable genetic diseases to their children.
The green light from the fertility regulator means that doctors at the Newcastle Fertility Centre will now attempt to make healthy embryos for the women by merging fertilised eggs created through …
NEJM Debates Repairing Human Germlines
BioEdge.com Michael Cook 11-18-17
With the rapid advance in gene-editing technology, the time has come to consider how to ethical trials, according to an editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine. Bryan Cwik, a philosopher at Portland State University, in Oregon, zeroes in on some unprecedented difficulties in designing trials of modifying the human germline.
Cwik argues that “intergenerational monitoring” will be needed, not just of the first generation of modified children, but of …
Deletion of a Stem Cell Factor Promotes Traumatic Brain Injury Recovery in Mice
Science Daily UT Southwestern Medical Center November 17, 2017
UT Southwestern molecular biologists today report the unexpected finding that selectively deleting a stem cell transcription factor in adult mice promotes recovery after traumatic brain injury (TBI).
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines TBI as a bump, blow, or jolt to the head that disrupts normal brain function, ranging from mild — brief changes in mental status — to severe, marked by an extended
Investigating Patterns of Degeneration in Alzheimer’s Disease
Science Daily Brigham & Women’s Hospital November 17, 2017
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is known to cause memory loss and cognitive decline, but other functions of the brain can remain intact. The reasons cells in some brain regions degenerate while others are protected is largely unknown. In a paper to be published in Stem Cell Reports, researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital have found that factors encoded in the DNA of brain cells contribute to …