Penn scientists create novel technique to form human artificial chromosomes

Human artificial chromosomes (HACs) capable of working within human cells could power advanced gene therapies, including those addressing some cancers, along with many laboratory applications, though serious technical obstacles have hindered their development. Now a team led by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has made a significant breakthrough in this field that effectively bypasses a common stumbling block.

MD Anderson Research Highlights for August 30, 2023

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center’s Research Highlights showcases the latest breakthroughs in cancer care, research and prevention. These advances are made possible through seamless collaboration between MD Anderson’s world-leading clinicians and scientists, bringing discoveries from the lab to the clinic and back.
Recent developments include a novel computational tool to detect single base pair DNA changes in single-cell sequencing data, a potential target to treat hypertension caused by drugs commonly used in organ transplants, further insights into the steps involved in genetic recombination, a novel treatment target for a subset of adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC), a combination therapy that improves outcomes in certain patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), and a target for treating prolonged cytopenia in patients with relapsed/refractory large B cell lymphoma treated with chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy.

Beyond the average cell

Models based on an average cell are useful, but they may not accurately describe how individual cells really work. New possibilities opened up with the advent of single-cell live imaging technologies. Now it is possible to peer into the lives of individual cells. In a new paper in PLOS Genetics, a team of biologists and physicists from Washington University in St. Louis and Purdue University used actual single-cell data to create an updated framework for understanding the relationship between cell growth, DNA replication and division in a bacterial system.