Scientists at the Francis Crick Institute have discovered a set of simple rules that determine the precision of CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing in human cells. These rules, published in Molecular Cell, could help to improve the efficiency and safety of genome editing in both the lab and the clinic.

Despite the wide use of the CRISPR system, rational application of the technology has been hindered by the assumption that the outcome of genome editing is unpredictable, resulting in random deletions or insertions of DNA regions at the target site.

Before CRISPR can be safely applied in the clinic, scientists need to make sure that they can reliably predict precisely how DNA will be modified.

Continue reading “Scientists crack the CRISPR code for precise human genome editing” »

• Scientists at the University of Brisbane may have found a simple way of detecting the early stages of cancer.
• The method is inexpensive, takes 10 minutes, and can work for all types of cancer.
• The test uses gold particles to detect cancerous DNA.

According to Nature, researchers at the University of Brisbane may have developed a simple test that’s able to detect the early stages of cancer.

Not only that but the method is inexpensive, takes a mere 10 minutes, and works for all types of cancer — and the central component used for identifying cancer cells is gold particles.

Some patients were even able to indicate that they were happy.

A brain-computer interface records “yes” and “no” answers in patients who lack any voluntary muscle movement.

Nano-sized particles already make bicycles and tennis rackets lighter and stronger, protect eyeglasses from scratches, and help direct chemotherapy drugs to cancer cells. But their usefulness depends on being able to precisely sculpt them into the right configurations—no easy task when they’re so tiny that thousands of them could fit into the thickness of a sheet of paper.

https://www.bustle.com/p/7-creepy-things-a-dead-body-can-do-…e-13550864

Seneca Valley virus sounds like the last bug you’d want to catch, but it could be the next breakthrough cancer therapy. Now, scientists at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) and the University of Otago have described exactly how the virus interacts with tumors—and why it leaves healthy tissues alone.

The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on October 29, 2018, provides the first detailed images of how the complex Seneca Valley virus forms with its preferred receptor. The researchers used cryo-electron microscopy to capture images of over 7000 particles and rendered the structure in high resolution. They predict their results will help scientists develop the virus, and other viral drug candidates, for clinical use.

“If you have a virus that targets cancer cells and nothing else, that’s the ultimate cancer fighting tool,” said Prof. Matthias Wolf, principal investigator of the Molecular Cryo-Electron Microscopy Unit at OIST and co-senior author of the study. “I expect this study will lead to efforts to design viruses for cancer therapy.”

Continue reading “Anti-cancer virus fits tumor receptor like a ‘key in a lock’” »

Viruses use bacteria’s chemical language to time their destruction; this might lead to new ways to fight infections.

• By Angus Chen on December 14, 2018

“It’s brilliant and insidious!”

These assassins could help in the fight against antibiotic resistance.

Marie—a five-foot-one, fifteen-pound 3D printed body—could be used to help create better radiation treatments for cancer.