Scientists have developed a CRISPR-based technology that could offer a safer approach to correcting genetic defects. The new “soft” CRISPR system makes use of natural DNA repair machinery, providing a foundation for novel gene therapy strategies with the potential to cure genetic diseases.
Tag: CRISPR
MD Anderson Research Highlights for June 29, 2022
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center’s Research Highlights provides a glimpse into recent basic, translational and clinical cancer research from MD Anderson experts. Current advances include a lower-intensity therapy for acute myeloid leukemia, a new target for treating chronic myelomonocytic leukemia, real-world synthetic controls for clinical trials in rare cancers, a potential biomarker to predict endocrine therapy response in breast cancer, integrated CRISPR screens to identify novel tumor suppressors, and a deeper knowledge of the immune tumor microenvironment in melanoma-derived brain metastases.
Who trusts gene-edited foods? New study gauges public acceptance
Researchers at ISU surveyed a nationally representative sample of 2,000 U.S. residents to gauge public acceptance of gene-edited foods. Social factors like food beliefs and trust in institutions played a big role in the participants’ willingness to eat or actively avoid products made with gene-editing technologies.

Low levels of high-risk salmonella evade traditional methods of detection
Poultry is responsible for more than one out of every five cases of salmonella infection in the U.S. But traditional methods of testing the chicken you grab off the grocery shelf may not be enough to detect all strains of the bacteria, according to new research from the University of Georgia.
A ‘factory reset’ for the brain cures anxiety, drinking behavior
Gene editing may be a potential treatment for anxiety and alcohol use disorder in adults who were exposed to binge drinking in their adolescence, according to the results of an animal study published in the journal Science Advances. The researchers used a gene-editing tool called CRISPR-dCas9 in their experiments to manipulate the histone acetylation and methylation processes at the Arc gene in models of adult rats.
Study encourages cautious approach to CRISPR therapeutics
Researchers from Sanford Burnham Prebys and the National Cancer Institute have shown that gene editing with CRISPR may select for certain cancer-associated mutations, highlighting the need for caution when using CRISPR therapeutically.
New Research Helps Explain the Genetic Basis of Why We Look the Way We Do
Comparing features of a common laboratory fruit fly with its rarer cousin collected from Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park, UC San Diego researchers used CRISPR technology to uncover clues about how high-level control genes called Hox genes shape our appearance.
Genetic analysis uncovers shared evolutionary history of fish fins and vertebrate limbs
Scientists from UChicago and Spain use CRISPR to show how genes that control growth at the end of fish fins play the same role in fingers and toes.
Researchers Develop CRISPR-based Rapid Diagnostic Tool for SARS-CoV-2
UC San Diego scientists have created a new technology that rapidly detects the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The new SENSR was developed using CRISPR gene-editing technology as a rapid diagnostic that could eventually be used in homes, airports and other locations.
MD Anderson and SNIPR BIOME collaborate to advance next-generation CRISPR microbiome therapeutics
MD Anderson and SNIPR BIOME have announced a strategic collaboration to advance next-generation CRISPR-based microbiome therapies to reduce immune-related side effects in patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors.
GW Wins Contract to Develop Antidote-Bearing Organisms to Protect Against Biological, Chemical Threats
The George Washington University has been awarded a $3.6 million contract to genetically modify commensal organisms to produce antidotes for harmful biological and chemical agents, such as anthrax, Ebola, and even COVID-19.
New Technology Designed to Genetically Control Disease-spreading Mosquitoes
Scientists have created the precision-guided sterile insect technique, a new CRISPR-based technology to control Aedes aegypti, the mosquito species responsible for spreading wide-ranging diseases including dengue fever, chikungunya and Zika.
$6M NIH Grant Launches UC San Diego Consortium to Study Insulin-Producing Cells
UC San Diego School of Medicine researchers will receive $6.4 million in National Institutes of Health grant funding to study how external signals and genetic variations influence the behavior of one cell type in particular: insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas.
Behind the COVID-19 Diagnostic for Testing Hundreds of People at a Time
Hertz Fellow Cameron Myhrvold and colleagues are advancing research that started long before the pandemic.
Genetics/biotech expert offers comments & availability on IVG (in vitro gametogenesis) major breakthrough
A groundbreaking study demonstrating the most advanced form of in vitro gametogenesis (making eggs from stem cells, IVG) was published Thursday in Science. See STAT’s coverage of the study. Regarding the study and breakthrough, Dr. Kevin Doxzen offers the below comments…
UM School Of Medicine Researchers Receive NIH Avant Garde Award For Out-Of-Box, Innovative Concept To Cure HIV And Treat Co-Existing Addiction
University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) Professor of Diagnostic Radiology & Nuclear Medicine, Linda Chang, MD, MS, received the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) 2021 Avant Garde Award (DP1) for HIV/AIDS and Substance Use Disorder Research — a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director’s Pioneer Award.
UC San Diego Scientists Develop the First CRISPR/Cas9-based Gene Drive in Plants
Researchers have created the first CRISPR-Cas9-based gene drive designed for plants. The new technology, which allows scientists to cut and copy key genetic elements, helps scientists breed plants that defend against crop diseases and withstand the impacts of climate change.
Researchers Create New CRISPR Tools to Help Contain Mosquito Disease Transmission
Scientists have developed a toolkit that helps pave the way to a gene drive designed to stop Culex mosquitoes from spreading disease. Culex mosquitoes spread devastating afflictions stemming from West Nile virus, Japanese encephalitis virus and the pathogen causing avian malaria.
New Genetic ‘CopyCatchers’ Detect Efficient and Precise CRISPR Editing in a Living Organism
Scientists have developed a novel CRISPR-based genetic sensor called a “CopyCatcher” to detect instances in which a genetic element is copied precisely from one chromosome to another in cells of a fruit fly.
With gene therapy, scientists develop opioid-free solution for chronic pain
A gene therapy for chronic pain could offer a safer, non-addictive alternative to opioids. Researchers at the University of California San Diego developed the new therapy, which works by temporarily repressing a gene involved in sensing pain. It increased pain tolerance in mice, lowered their sensitivity to pain and provided months of pain relief without causing numbness.
Potential Target for Treating Many Cancers Found Within GLI1 Gene
Scientists from the Stanley Manne Children’s Research Institute at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago found that a region within the DNA of the cancer-promoting GLI1 gene is directly responsible for regulating this gene’s expression. These findings, published in the journal Stem Cells, imply that this region within GLI1 could potentially be targeted as cancer treatment, since turning off GLI1 would interrupt excessive cell division characteristic of cancer.
UIC researchers invent new gene-editing tool
Researchers have discovered a new gene-editing technique that allows for the programming of sequential cuts — or edits — over time.

Scientists Use DNA Origami to Monitor CRISPR Gene Targeting
ROCKVILLE, MD – The remarkable genetic scissors called CRISPR/Cas9, the discovery that won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, sometimes cut in places that they are not designed to target.
Mount Sinai-Led Team Builds First Model of the Progression of Acute Myeloid Leukemia using CRISPR
A research team led by the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (Icahn Mount Sinai) has built the first cellular model to depict the evolution of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), from its early to late stages. By using gene editing technologies to alter genes that make cells malignant, the team was able to identify potential therapeutic targets for early disease stages. The study was reported in the journal Cell Stem Cell in February.
Stem Cell Study Illuminates the Cause of a Devastating Inherited Heart Disorder
Stem cell study findings show that LMNA gene mutations can disrupt the “identity” of heart muscle cells

Making wheat and peanuts less allergenic
Research uses plant breeding and biotechnology to remove proteins associated with food allergies.
Biotechnology research and policy expert joins Thunderbird School of Global Management and Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at ASU through World Economic Forum fellowship
Thunderbird School of Global Management announces the first of two prestigious Hoffmann Fellowships appointed in collaboration with the World Economic Forum for post-doctoral research and policy innovation at the intersection of society, science and technology.

Gene-Editing ‘Scissor’ Tool May Also be a ‘Dimmer Switch’
In a series of experiments with laboratory-cultured bacteria, Johns Hopkins scientists have found evidence that there is a second role for the widely used gene-cutting system CRISPR-Cas9 — as a genetic dimmer switch for CRISPR-Cas9 genes. Its role of dialing down or dimming CRISPR-Cas9 activity may help scientists develop new ways to genetically engineer cells for research purposes.

Synthetic Biology and Machine Learning Speed the Creation of Lab-Grown Livers
Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have combined synthetic biology with a machine learning algorithm to create human liver organoids with blood and bile handling systems. When implanted into mice with failing livers, the lab-grown replacement livers extended life.
CRISPR-edited CAR T Cells Enhance Fight Against Blood Cancers
Knocking out a protein known to stifle T cell activation on CAR T cells using the CRISPR/Cas9 technology enhanced the engineered T cells’ ability to eliminate blood cancers.
Advancing Gene Editing With New CRISPR/Cas9 Variant
Researchers report the ability to improve safety and efficacy using a CRISPR-Cas9 variant known as miCas9.

Scientists Use Geometry to Track Cell Migrations
A team of physicists and biologists investigate the effect that the geometry of the biological environment has on cellular movement. Their findings are published in the journal Science.

Breaking It Down: How Cells Degrade Unwanted Micrornas
DALLAS – Nov. 12, 2020 – UT Southwestern researchers have discovered a mechanism that cells use to degrade microRNAs (miRNAs), genetic molecules that regulate the amounts of proteins in cells.

Cancer-Fighting Gene Restrains ‘Jumping Genes’
DALLAS – Oct. 29, 2020 – About half of all tumors have mutations of the gene p53, normally responsible for warding off cancer. Now, UT Southwestern scientists have discovered a new role for p53 in its fight against tumors: preventing retrotransposons, or “jumping genes,” from hopping around the human genome. In cells with missing or mutated p53, the team found, retrotransposons move and multiply more than usual. The finding could lead to new ways of detecting or treating cancers with p53 mutations.
FSU CRISPR EXPERTS AVAILABLE TO COMMENT ON CHEMISTRY NOBEL PRIZE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Kathleen Haughney, University Communications (850) 644-1489; [email protected] @FSUResearch Florida State University professors as well as scientists around the world have benefited from the advent of CRISPR, the sophisticated genome editing technology that has revolutionized genetic research. The scientists Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna received…
American Chemical Society’s president comments on award of 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
On behalf of the American Chemical Society (ACS), President Luis Echegoyen, Ph.D., congratulates today’s winners of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry: Emmanuelle Charpentier, Ph.D., and Jennifer A. Doudna, Ph.D. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the prize “for the development of a method for genome editing.”
Something old, something new combine for effective vaccine against parasitic skin disease
Scientists are planning for Phase 1 human trials of a vaccine they developed by using CRISPR gene-editing technology to mutate the parasite that causes leishmaniasis, a skin disease common in tropical regions of the world and gaining ground in the United States.

Twist on CRISPR Gene Editing Treats Adult-Onset Muscular Dystrophy in Mice
UC San Diego researchers demonstrate that one dose of their version of CRISR gene editing can chew up toxic RNA and almost completely reverse symptoms in a mouse model of myotonic dystrophy, a type of adult-onset muscular dystrophy.

Transplanted brown-fat-like cells hold promise for obesity and diabetes
A potential therapy for obesity would transplant HUMBLE (human brown-like) fat cells, human white fat cells that have been genetically modified using CRISPR to become similar to heat-generating brown fat cells.
The Gut Microbiome, CRISPR/Cas-9, and More Featured in August 2020 Toxicological Sciences
The August 2020 issue of Toxicological Sciences includes exciting advances in toxicology research. The edition features pieces on biotransformation, toxicokinetics, and pharmacokinetics; developmental and reproductive toxicology; and more.

Scientists use CRISPR to knock down gene messages early in development
Researchers at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research in Kansas City, Missouri, and the Andalusian Center of Developmental Biology at Pablo de Olavide University in Seville, Spain, have harnessed the technology to target gene messages (messenger RNA) involved in early vertebrate development.

Light-Activated ‘CRISPR’ Triggers Precision Gene Editing and Super-Fast DNA Repair
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.

Tomato’s Hidden Mutations Revealed in Study of 100 Varieties
A new analysis of difficult-to-access genetic variation is the most comprehensive ever conducted in plants. It could guide the improvement of tomatoes and other crops.

Scientists Aim Gene-Targeting Breakthrough Against COVID-19
Scientists at Berkeley Lab and Stanford have joined forces to aim a gene-targeting, antiviral agent called PAC-MAN against COVID-19.

Grant will help scientists break new ground in gene editing
A new grant from the National Institutes of Health will allow Iowa State University scientists to continue to develop gene editing technologies to model human disease in zebrafish. The research aims to build new tools to determine which genes have therapeutic potential to treat human genetic diseases that affect the cardiovascular, immune and nervous systems.
Xenobiotic Receptor Activation, CRISPR/Cas9, Magnetic Resonance-Guided Radiotherapy, and More Featured in May 2020 Toxicological Sciences
During these difficult times, the Society of Toxicology’s official journal, Toxicological Sciences, remains a source for leading research in toxicology, including in the areas of biomarkers, carcinogenesis, and organ-specific toxicology.

Finding Leukemia’s Weakness Using Genome-Wide CRISPR Technology
Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Moores Cancer Center used CRISPR technology to identify key regulators of aggressive chronic myeloid leukemia.

“CRISPR: A Screener’s Guide” Headlines the March Edition of SLAS Discovery
The March edition of SLAS Discovery features the cover article, “CRISPR: A Screener’s Guide,” by Carlos le Sage, Ph.D., Steffen Lawo, Ph.D., and Benedict C.S. Cross, Ph.D., (Horizon Discovery, United Kingdom). In their review, the authors discuss how CRISPR-Cas9 systems are being used widely throughout the drug discovery process and the development of new precision medicines.

CRISPR Gene Cuts May Offer New Way to Chart Human Genome
In search of new ways to sequence human genomes and read critical alterations in DNA, researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine say they have successfully used the gene cutting tool CRISPR to make cuts in DNA around lengthy tumor genes, which can be used to collect sequence information.
Serum Biomarkers, Metabolite Indicators for Kidney Toxicity, Estrogenic Compound Screening, and More Featured in February 2020 Toxicological Sciences
The February 2020 issue of Toxicological Sciences includes cutting-edge research spanning the toxicological field, from molecular, biochemical, and systems toxicology and nanotoxicology to regulatory science, risk assessment, and decision-making.