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.
Read moreGene Editing
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.
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Digging Deep For Differences In Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy
DALLAS – Dec. 21, 2020 – A UT Southwestern research team has catalogued gene activity in the skeletal muscle of mice, comparing healthy animals to those carrying a genetic mutation that causes Duchene muscular dystrophy (DMD) in humans. The findings, published online recently in PNAS, could lead to new treatments for this devastating degenerative disease and insights into factors that affect muscle development.
Read moreAdvancing Gene Editing With New CRISPR/Cas9 Variant
Researchers report the ability to improve safety and efficacy using a CRISPR-Cas9 variant known as miCas9.
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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.
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Weizmann Scientists Reveal the Role of Retrons in Bacteria
Prof. Rotem Sorek’s lab at the Weizmann Institute of Science has revealed the role retrons play in bacteria, finding that the hybrid structures are immune system guards that ensure the bacteria’s survival when it is infected by viruses. In addition, the team hopes that newly identified retrons will improve genome-editing tools.
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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.
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Can Gene Editing and Gene Therapy Techniques Combine to Treat Angelman Syndrome?
Babies born with a faulty maternal copy of the UBE3A gene will develop a severe neurodevelopmental disorder with no cure and limited treatments. Now, scientists show that gene editing/gene therapy techniques can be used to restore UBE3A in human neuron cultures and treat deficits in an animal model.
Read moreRegulators Classify Gene-Edited Rice Varieties with Disease Resistance as Equivalent to Conventional Varieties
The Healthy Crops team, with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, have used gene editing tools to develop new varieties of disease-resistant rice that regulators in the United States and Colombia have determined are equivalent to what could be accomplished with conventional breeding.
Read moreAmerican 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.”
Read moreSomething 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.
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Research shows potential of gene editing in barley
An international team of plant scientists have shown the potential to rapidly improve the quality of barley grain through a genetic tool known as CRISPR or gene editing.
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