Gene Editing News and Research

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New technology advances genome engineering

In his mind, Basil Hubbard can already picture a new world of therapeutic treatments for millions of patients just over the horizon. It's a future in which diseases like muscular dystrophy, cystic fibrosis and many others are treated permanently through the science of genome engineering.

11 Aug 2015

Deerfield provides $20 million financing to Editas Medicine

Deerfield Management Company, L.P.'s venture capital fund, Deerfield Healthcare Innovations Fund, L.P., today announced its first therapeutics-based investment by participating, along with Deerfield Private Design Fund III, in providing financing to Editas Medicine. In total, Deerfield invested $20 million in this early-stage institutional financing.

10 Aug 2015

New synthetic gene drives could one day improve human health and the environment

Gene drives are genetic elements - found naturally in the genomes of most of the world's organisms - that increase the chance of the gene they carry being passed on to all offspring, and thus, they can quickly spread through populations. Looking to these natural systems, researchers around the world, including some Wyss Institute scientists, are developing synthetic gene drives that could one day be leveraged by humans to purposefully alter the traits of wild populations of organisms to prevent disease transmission and eradicate invasive species.

31 Jul 2015

Deep Genomics set to bring the power of deep learning technologies to genomics

Evolution has altered the human genome over hundreds of thousands of years -- and now humans can do it in a matter of months.

23 Jul 2015

Researchers use gene-editing technique involving low-dose irradiation to repair human stem cells

For the first time, researchers have employed a gene-editing technique involving low-dose irradiation to repair patient cells, according to a study published in the journal Stem Cells Translational Medicine. This method, developed by researchers in the Cedars-Sinai Board of Governors Regenerative Medicine Institute, is 10 times more effective than techniques currently in use.

23 Jul 2015

Study opens new area of discovery for different aspects of cell biology, biomedical research

Every cell in the body uses phosphorylation, the process of adding a chemical tag to control a protein's function and fate, such as when it moves from one part of a cell to another or binds to other proteins.

19 Jun 2015

EU research project to study how social inequalities influence healthy ageing

The Lifepath project, involving 15 institutions in Europe, the US and Australia, has been supported by a six million euro grant from the EU's Horizon 2020 programme...

10 Jun 2015

New UAB research identifies link between temporal lobe epilepsy and memory loss

New research from the University of Alabama at Birmingham identifies an epigenetic cause for why patients with temporal lobe epilepsy tend to have memory loss, and suggests a potential way to reverse that loss.

8 Jun 2015

NAS, NAM launch major initiative to guide decision making on human gene-editing research

The National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine are launching a major initiative to guide decision making about controversial new research involving human gene editing. Human gene-editing technologies, such as CRISPR-Cas9, may lead to promising new treatments for disease.

19 May 2015

Salk discovery may offer new avenues for generating novel therapies

Scientists at the Salk Institute have discovered a novel type of pluripotent stem cell--cells capable of developing into any type of tissue--whose identity is tied to their location in a developing embryo. This contrasts with stem cells traditionally used in scientific study, which are characterized by their time-related stage of development.

7 May 2015

Sangamo BioSciences to present data on ZFP Therapeutic platform at ASGCT meeting

Sangamo BioSciences, Inc. announced that data from clinical, preclinical and research-stage programs focused on the development of ZFP Therapeutics will be presented at the 18th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy

29 Apr 2015

Yale researchers successfully correct gene mutation that causes cystic fibrosis

Yale researchers successfully corrected the most common mutation in the gene that causes cystic fibrosis, a lethal genetic disorder. The study was published April 27 in Nature Communications.

28 Apr 2015

ISSCR calls for moratorium on human germline genome editing attempts in clinical practice

In response to an article published by Chinese scientists describing research that used gene editing technologies in human embryos, the International Society for Stem Cell Research has again called for a moratorium on attempts at human clinical germline genome editing while extensive scientific analysis of the potential risks is conducted, along with broad public discussion of the societal and ethical implications.

27 Apr 2015

A beginner’s guide to CRISPR genome editing

In a recent DECODED Online entry, Integrated DNA Technologies (IDT), the world leader in oligonucleotide synthesis, provides an overview of the CRISPR/Cas9 system to scientists looking to enhance their genome modification strategy in model organisms or cell lines.

From Integrated DNA Technologies 14 Apr 2015

Researchers use new gene editing tool to cut HIV DNA

The virus that causes AIDS is an efficient and crafty retrovirus. Once HIV inserts its DNA into the genome of its host cells, it has a long incubation period, and can remain dormant and hidden for years.

10 Apr 2015

New approach could help identify novel drug targets to combat lethal fungal infections

By modifying the CRISPR-Cas genome editing system, Whitehead Institute researchers are now able to manipulate Candida albicans' genome systematically--an approach that could help identify novel targets for therapies against this serious pathogen for which there are a limited number of anti-fungal agents.

6 Apr 2015

Researchers harness gene editing technique in mosquito that infects people with deadly diseases

Traditionally, to understand how a gene functions, a scientist would breed an organism that lacks that gene - "knocking it out" - then ask how the organism has changed. Are its senses affected? Its behavior?

30 Mar 2015

Broad Institute of MIT researcher honored for groundbreaking research using new gene editing tool

The newest gene editing tool - called CRISPR-Cas9 - is leading to new research possibilities in cell biology and neuroscience. This includes the ability to make transgenic animal models more quickly, which helps researchers better study diseases that affect thousands of people each year.

25 Mar 2015

Finding could lead to more effective, less invasive treatment for 'bubble boy' disease

For infants with severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), something as simple as a common cold or ear infection can be fatal. Born with an incomplete immune system, kids who have SCID--also known as "bubble boy" or "bubble baby" disease--can't fight off even the mildest of germs.

12 Mar 2015

BeiGene chooses SAFC's CHOZN Platform to support oncology drug development

Sigma-Aldrich Corporation today announced that SAFC Commercial, its custom manufacturing services business unit, has entered a commercial sales and service contract with leading biopharmaceutical company, BeiGene.

11 Mar 2015