CRISPR News and Research

Latest CRISPR News and Research

Entos Pharmaceuticals selects two lead DNA vaccine candidates for COVID-19

Entos Pharmaceuticals, a healthcare biotechnology company developing nucleic acid medicines with its Fusogenix drug delivery platform, today announced the selection of two lead candidates for a pan-coronavirus Fusogenix DNA vaccine from its prototyping program launched at the onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic.

25 Jun 2020

Widespread testing could help stop the spread of COVID-19

The world is now in the grips of a historic pandemic. The death toll from the novel coronavirus has climbed to more than 117,000 in the United States and 448,000 around the world.

18 Jun 2020

First genome-wide CRISPR screen reveals genes that control SARS-CoV-2 infection

By performing a genome-wide CRISPR screen on the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), U.S. researchers identified novel proviral genes and pathways, and highlighted host genes that may regulate coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pathogenesis, as well as revealing potential targets for novel treatment approaches. Their findings are currently available on the bioRxiv* preprint server.

18 Jun 2020

Scientists use CRISPR tool to make rapid, precise cuts in genomic material

In a series of experiments using human cancer cell lines, scientists at Johns Hopkins Medicine say they have successfully used light as a trigger to make precise cuts in genomic material rapidly, using a molecular scalpel known as CRISPR, and observe how specialized cell proteins repair the exact spot where the gene was cut.

18 Jun 2020

Hepatitis C virus co-opts an immune protein to evade antiviral defenses

By discovering a trick the hepatitis C virus uses to evade the immune system, scientists have identified a new antiviral defense system that could be used to treat many virus infections, according to new research published today in eLife.

16 Jun 2020

Researchers use human stem cell models to analyze degeneration in glaucoma

More than 3 million Americans have glaucoma, a serious eye condition causing vision loss. Using human stem cell models, researchers at Indiana University School of Medicine found they could analyze deficits within cells damaged by glaucoma, with the potential to use this information to develop new strategies to slow the disease process.

11 Jun 2020

Overactive enzyme causes an inherited form of high blood pressure

A Turkish family from a village near the Black Sea first caught the attention of medical researchers in the early 1970s.

11 Jun 2020

New Canadian study investigates how cancer adapts its metabolism to overcome therapies

Knowing what cancer will do next could lessen the likelihood of it becoming resistant to treatment. A new Canadian study investigates how cancer adapts its metabolism to potentially overcome therapies still in development.

8 Jun 2020

Scientists aim to develop a gene-targeting, antiviral agent against COVID-19

A team of scientists from Stanford University is working with researchers at the Molecular Foundry, a nanoscience user facility located at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), to develop a gene-targeting, antiviral agent against COVID-19.

4 Jun 2020

New technique opens the door to treating genetic forms of hearing loss

Using a new genetic engineering technique, known as base editing, researchers from Boston Children's Hospital and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, have restored hearing in mice with a known recessive genetic mutation.

3 Jun 2020

Researchers discover key gene essential for survival of leukemia stem cells

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is one of the most common forms of blood cancer among adults and is associated with a low survival rate, and leads to the inhibition of normal blood formation.

3 Jun 2020

New advance addresses a big challenge with using CRISPR in cancer patients

A mutation unique to certain cancer tumors is a potential homing beacon for safely deploying CRISPR gene editing enzymes to disarm DNA that makes cancer cells resistant to treatment, while ignoring the gene in normal cells where it's critical to healthy function, according to a new study from ChristianaCare's Gene Editing Institute in the journal Molecular Cancer Research.

2 Jun 2020

Study identifies gene that causes eye loss in cavefish

Mexican cavefish spend their entire lives in the dark. With no need for vision, many of them lost functional eyes.

2 Jun 2020

New genetic engineering technique sets the stage for advances in medicine and beyond

From bacteria-made insulin that obviates the use of animal pancreases to a better understanding of infectious diseases and improved treatments, genetic engineering of bacteria has redefined modern medicine. Yet, serious limitations remain that hamper| progress in numerous other areas.

30 May 2020

New drug combinations could help overcome genetic immunotherapy resistance

A new study from researchers at the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center helps explain how disruptions in genes can lead to the resistance to one of the leading immunotherapies, PD-1 blockade, and how new drug combinations could help overcome resistance to the anti-PD-1 therapy in a mechanistically-based way.

28 May 2020

UTSW/Children's Health joint program approved as Certified Duchenne Care Center

A joint program of UT Southwestern Medical Center and Children's Health has been approved as a Certified Duchenne Care Center by Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy, the nation's most comprehensive nonprofit organization focused on finding a cure for Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

27 May 2020