Epigenetic Leaderboard The Rejuvenation Olympics – where you win by never crossing the finish line See How You Rank Top 15 largest age reversals validated by phenotypically trained epigenetic methylation algorithms Rank Name % Improved From Baseline Chronological Age Baseline PACE PACE Of Aging Now (Mean Of 3 Tests) Managing Doctor 1 Bryan […].
I never thought I’d order live human kidney cells to my address, but that all changed when I found out about biohacker Jo Zayner’s at-home genetic engineering class.
You may know Jo Zayner, a “biohacker” who has been in the vanguard of scientific self-experimentation for years, from their role in Netflix’s 2019 docuseries Unnatural Selection. The series shows Zayner attempting to edit their DNA by injecting themselves with CRISPR, a gene-editing technology. The action inspired a firestorm of criticism.
Zayner is also known for a variety of other bold moves, such as claiming to create a DIY at-home COVID vaccine in 2020 and executing their own fecal microbiome transplant.
CRISPR may be in for a fight thanks to this new, faster, safer, AI-powered zinc-finger gene-editing technique.
A new study has developed what the researchers call the “world’s first” simple, modifiable proteins. Called “zinc fingers,” these special proteins were developed partially through artificial intelligence.
Continue reading “A new AI-powered gene-editing technique could be set to replace CRISPR” »
Researchers from Harvard Medical School found that it is the changes that affect the expression of the DNA — called epigenetics — that affect aging. The discovery may pave the way for more insights into how humans age.
Cancer cells can shrink or super-size themselves to survive drug treatment or other challenges within their environment, researchers have discovered.
Scientists at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, combined biochemical profiling technologies with mathematical analyses to reveal how genetic changes lead to differences in the size of cancer cells—and how these changes could be exploited by new treatments.
The researchers believe smaller cells could be more vulnerable to DNA-damaging agents like chemotherapy combined with targeted drugs, while larger cancer cells might respond better to immunotherapy.
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Mycoplasma pneumoniae are tiny bacteria typically known to cause lung infections. But now, a group of scientists have turned them into double agents. Genetically engineered Mycoplasma helped break down biofilms of another pathogenic microbe, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, in a mouse model of ventilator-associated pneumonia and on tube samples taken from human patients, the team reported January 19 in Nature Biotechnology. It is one of the first times that scientists have used live bacteria to treat a lung disease, and is the first therapeutic use of Mycoplasma.
“This approach is really powerful,” says Dave Hava, a microbiologist who wasn’t involved in the research, but who works at a company called Synlogic that develops live bacteria therapeutics for gut issues. “It offers the chance to target diseases and mechanisms that you can’t do with conventional therapies.”
China building Bio Weapon that can target people based on race. China has been amassing a disturbing amount of genetic data from the rest of the world, and it’s been doing it for something nightmarish.
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Continue reading “China’s Nightmarish New Bio Weapon Targets Race and Ethnicity” »
An examination of 19,149 mammalian genes sheds new light on the future of hair loss.
Due to evolution, we got rid of most of the hair on our bodies. Although we are mammals, it is obvious that we are less hairy than the majority of them. So, could this mean we are on our way to becoming more hairless? Or is there a way to turn hair development back on?
This is where a new study comes in. As stated by the University of Utah, a groundbreaking comparison of genetic codes from 62 animals is beginning to tell the story of how humans—and other mammals—came to be, naked. The study was published in the journal eLife.
Continue reading “Can humans still grow fur? New study discovers the genes” »
REHOVOT, ISRAEL—March 17, 2021— To observe how a tiny ball of identical cells on its way to becoming a mammalian embryo first attaches to an awaiting uterine wall and then develops into the nervous system, heart, stomach, and limbs: This has been a highly sought-after grail in the field of embryonic development for nearly 100 years. Now, Prof. Jacob Hanna of the Weizmann Institute of Science and his group have accomplished this feat. The method they created for growing mouse embryos outside the womb during the initial stages after embryo implantation will give researchers an unprecedented tool for understanding the development program encoded in the genes, and may provide detailed insights into birth and developmental defects as well as those involved in embryo implantation. The results were published in Nature.
Prof. Hanna, who is in the Institute’s Department of Molecular Genetics, explains that much of what is currently known about mammalian embryonic development comes through either observing the process in non-mammals, like frogs or fish that lay transparent eggs, or obtaining static images from dissected mouse embryos and adding them together. The idea of growing early-stage embryos outside the uterus has been around since before the 1930s, Prof. Hanna says, but those experiments had limited success and the embryos tended to be abnormal.
Prof. Hanna’s team decided to renew that effort in order to advance the research in his lab, which focuses on the way the development program is enacted in embryonic stem cells. Over seven years, through trial and error, fine-tuning and double-checking, his team came up with a two-step process in which they were able to grow normally developing mouse embryos outside the uterus for six days – around a third of their 20-day gestation period – by which time the embryos have a well-defined body plan and visible organs. “To us, that is the most mysterious and the most interesting part of embryonic development, and we can now observe it and experiment with it in amazing detail,” say Prof. Hanna.
You’ve seen the headlines. The FDA approved its use in tackling the underlying genetic mutation for sickle cell disease. Some researchers edited immune cells to fight untreatable blood cancers in children. Others took pig-to-human organ transplants from dream to reality in an attempt to alleviate the shortage of donor organs. Recent work aims to help millions of people with high cholesterol—and potentially bring CRISPR-based gene therapy to the masses—by lowering their chances of heart disease with a single injection.
But to Dr. Jennifer Doudna, who won the Nobel Prize in 2020 for her role in developing CRISPR, we’re just scratching the surface of its potential. Together with graduate student Joy Wang, Doudna laid out a roadmap for the technology’s next decade in an article in Science.
If the 2010s were focused on establishing the CRISPR toolbox and proving its effectiveness, this decade is when the technology reaches its full potential. From CRISPR-based therapies and large-scale screens for disease diagnostics to engineering high-yield crops and nutritious foods, the technology “and its potential impact are still in their early stages,” the authors wrote.
