Lifeboat Foundation

A Stanford team has launched a new challenge on the Eterna computer game. Players will design a CRISPR-controlling molecule, and with it open the possibility of new research and therapies.

A team of researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine has launched a new challenge for the online computer game Eterna in which players are being asked to design an RNA molecule capable of acting as an on/off switch for the gene-editing tool CRISPR/Cas9.

Continue reading “Online game challenges players to design on/off switch for CRISPR” »

It is important to note that none of the embryos were allowed to develop for more than a few days, and that the team never had any intention of implanting them into a womb. However, it seems that this is largely due to ongoing regulatory issues, as opposed to issues with the technology itself.

In the United States, all efforts to turn edited embryos into a baby — to bring the embryo to full term — have been blocked by Congress, which added language to the Department of Health and Human Services funding bill that forbids it from approving any such clinical trials.

Continue reading “Edited embryos mean U.S. scientists have passed a major milestone” »

A Chicagoland hospital system has added something new to its patients’ annual checkups: the option to get a genetic test.

Until now, DNA tests have tended to live either in the consumer realm or through referrals to specialists when a patient brings it up.

NorthShore University HealthSystem wants to bring that conversation about genetics into every doctor’s office during annual checkups.

Continue reading “A Chicagoland hospital is adding a new test to its annual checkup — and it could be the future of medicine” »

Say hello to genetic storage.

Good quick interview. Technical, and a mention that it’s not just about telomeres.

BioViva is looking for a way to slow aging. Globalive Chairman Anthony Lacavera talks to CEO Elizabeth Parrish, who is using herself as a test subject and claims to have seen some fascinating results. (Source: Bloomberg)

Scientists recently used a gene-editing tool to fix a mutation in a human embryo. Around the world, researchers are chasing cures for other genetic diseases.

Now that the gene-editing genie is out of the bottle, what would you wish for first?

Babies with “perfect” eyes, over-the-top intelligence, and a touch of movie star charisma?

Continue reading “Will Gene Editing Allow Us to Rid the World of Diseases?” »

“If astronauts are going to make journeys that span several years, we’ll need to find a way to reuse and recycle everything they bring with them,” says Mark A. Blenner, assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at Clemson University, South Carolina.

To this end, the Blenner Research Group is looking into the potential uses of a type of yeast called Yarrowia lipolytica, that feeds on the urea content of urine.

With a little genetic engineering the group has proven that the yeast can be used to produce hydrogen and carbon – the atomic ingredients of nutrients like Omega 3, and polyester-based 3D printer filament.

Continue reading “Astronauts may depend upon recycled urine filament for 3D printing in space” »

China’s five year plan to eliminate birth defects by preimplantation genetic diagnosis of embryos.

Gene-editing with CRISPR has been in the headlines over the past month and touted as a way of eliminating genetic diseases. But the cruder and cheaper technique of preimplantation genetic diagnosis does the same. And it is exploding in China. According to a feature in Nature, fertility doctors there “have been pursuing a more aggressive, comprehensive and systematic path towards its use there than anywhere else”.

The government’s current five-year plan for economic development has made reproductive medicine, including PGD, a priority. In 2004, only four clinics in the whole country were licensed to perform PGD; now there are 40.

Continue reading “China rushes into embryo selection” »

By Aylin Woodward

Injections of vitamin C could be a way to help fight blood cancer. Experiments in mice suggest that the nutrient helps tell out-of-control cells to stop dividing and die.

Some blood cancers, including acute and chronic leukaemia, often involve mutations affecting a gene called TET2. This gene usually helps ensure that a type of stem cell matures properly to make white blood cells, and then eventually dies. But when TET2 mutates, these cells can start dividing uncontrollably, leading to cancer. Mutations in TET2 are involved in around 42,500 cancers in the US a year.

Continue reading “Vitamin C helps genes to kill off cells that would cause cancer” »