Lifeboat Foundation

Biophysist and Biochemist Dr. Maximilian Plach talks about a groundbreaking new technology for editing genes, called CRISPR-Cas9. The tool allows scientists to make precise edits to DNA strands, which could lead to treatments for genetic diseases … but could also be used to create so-called “designer babies.” Max reviews how CRISPR-Cas9 works — and asks the scientific community to pause and discuss the ethics of this new tool. Max has earned his PhD in biophysics and computational biology at the University of Regensburg, Germany. He is now Chief Scientific Officer of 2bind, a dynamic and growing company focused on providing biophysical research services for biotech and pharma industries. It is therefore no wonder that Max closely follows the latest breakthroughs and developments in biotech and biomedical technology. He is a long viewer and listener of TED talks; the more exotic, the better. Or who doesn’t remember the talk about the world’s worst city flags? This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community.

An increase in genetic regulatory elements explains how modern humans evolved a bigger brain size than other hominins.

Aging remains a primary risk factor for a host of diseases, including leading causes of death. Aging and associated diseases are inherently multifactorial, with numerous contributing factors and phenotypes at the molecular, cellular, tissue, and organismal scales. Despite the complexity of aging phenomena, models currently used in aging research possess limitations. Frequently used in vivo models often have important physiological differences, age at different rates, or are genetically engineered to match late disease phenotypes rather than early causes. Conversely, routinely used in vitro models lack the complex tissue-scale and systemic cues that are disrupted in aging.

A study published Wednesday in the JAMA Psychiatry journal shows that four key genetic variations are more common in military veterans who have taken their own life or considered it.

Scientists from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, found the pattern while analyzing blood samples from a database that included 633,778 U.S. veterans, cross-referenced with the International Suicide Genetics Consortium of more than 549,000 individuals.

The obtained samples were sequenced to create genetic profiles compared to participants’ medical records, showing that 121,211 recorded cases of attempted suicide or thoughts about killing themselves.

The entire DNA of 100,000 newborns in England will be sequenced to spot rare genetic conditions early.

Year 2020 face_with_colon_three

Scientists are working to end the need for human heart transplants by 2028. A team of researchers in the UK, Cambridge, and the Netherlands are developing a robot heart that can pump blood through the circulatory network but is soft and pliable. The first working model should be ready for implantation into animals within the next 3 years, and into humans within the next 8 years. The device is so promising that it is among just 4 projects that have made it to the shortlist for a £30-million prize, called the Big Beat Challenge for a therapy that can change the game in the treatment of heart disease.

The other projects include a genetic therapy for heart defects, a vaccine against heart disease, and wearable technology for early preclinical detection of heart attacks and strokes.

Continue reading “Robotic heart to replace human transplants on the horizon” »

In the underground movement known as, people are taking their health into their own hands. Biohacking ranges from people making simple lifestyle changes to extreme body modifications.

One popular form of focuses on nutrigenomics, where biohackers study how the foods they eat affect their genes over time. They believe they can map and track the way their diet affects genetic function. They use dietary restrictions and blood tests, while tracking their moods, energy levels, behaviors, and cognitive abilities.

Continue reading “I got a chip implanted in a biohacking garage” »

Huntington’s disease (HD) is a neurological disorder that causes progressive loss of movement, coordination and cognitive function. It is caused by a mutation in a single gene called huntingtin (HTT). More than 200,000 people worldwide live with the genetic condition, approximately 30,000 in the United States. More than a quarter of a million Americans are at risk of inheriting HD from an affected parent. There is no cure.

But in a new study, published December 12, 2022 in Nature Neuroscience, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, with colleagues elsewhere, describe using RNA-targeting CRISPR/Cas13D technology to develop a new therapeutic strategy that specifically eliminates toxic RNA that causes HD.

CRISPR is known as a genome-editing tool that allows scientists to add, remove or alter genetic material at specific locations in the genome. It is based on a naturally occurring immune defense system used by bacteria. However, current strategies run the risk of off-target edits at unintended sites that may cause permanent and inheritable chromosomal insertions or genome alterations. Because of this, significant efforts have focused on identifying CRISPR systems that target RNA directly without altering the genome.

An international research team led by Dr. Ana Guadaño at the Alberto Sols Biomedical Research Institute (IIBM, a combined CSIC-UAM center) and involving the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM), used CRISPR gene editing techniques to incorporate into mice a mutation of the MCT8 protein responsible for transporting thyroid hormones to the interior of the cell.

Patients with mutations in this protein suffer from Allan-Herndon-Dudley syndrome, a rare disease that takes the form of serious neurological alterations, in which each patient may reveal a different mutation of MCT8.

This study, published in Neurobiology of Disease, describes the first avatar model for the disease—in other words, the first animal model with the same genetic alteration as various patients.