CRISPR

18 Stories

In the Future, Cows May Take a Pill to Help the Climate
Scientists Attempting
to Rejigger Cow Stomachs
longform
Aug 26, 2024 9:19 AM CDT

Scientists Attempting to Rejigger Cow Stomachs

Washington Post reports on a gene-editing experiment designed to reduce methane emissions

(Newser) - "It's completely out of the box," University of California at Davis professor Ermias Kebreab tells the Washington Post . "Nobody has done it before." The reference is to an attempt to change the stomachs of cows through gene editing to make them belch less methane, a...

Here Are 5 of 2023's Biggest Medical Breakthroughs

Alzheimer's meds, an OTC birth control pill, RSV vaccines all make ABC's list

(Newser) - If looking back at 2023 brings forth visions of dumpster fires in your head, take heart: There were some pretty amazing accomplishments over the past 12 months, notably on the health and science front. ABC News compiles some of the year's biggest medical breakthroughs, including a "significant milestone"...

It Feels 'Like Being Stabbed All Over.' A New Cure Is Closer

Panel clears CRISPR gene-editing product for sickle cell disease patients; FDA to weigh in

(Newser) - Sickle cell disease is a painful, debilitating, and possibly deadly inherited disorder that currently can only be remedied with a bone marrow transplant. Now, Boston's Vertex Pharmaceuticals hopes exa-cel, its treatment developed with CRISPR Therapeutics, will soon be approved by the FDA following a thumbs-up from a panel of...

Man Behind Gene-Edited Babies Is Back

He Jiankui aims to study gene therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy in Hong Kong

(Newser) - A Chinese scientist who set off an ethical debate five years ago with claims that he made the world’s first genetically edited babies said Tuesday that he hopes to research rare hereditary diseases in Hong Kong, per the AP . He Jiankui shocked the world in 2018 when he announced...

Scientist Behind Gene-Edited Babies Is Let Out of Prison

He Jiankui was convicted, sentenced in China in December 2019

(Newser) - Update: A Chinese biophysicist jailed in China for his role in helping to create the world's first gene-edited babies is a free man once more. The release of He Jiankui, who was convicted and sentenced to three years behind bars in December 2019 on charges of practicing medicine illegally,...

It's Another Big Milestone on Organ Transplants

In test, doctors give kidneys from genetically altered pig to brain-dead patient

(Newser) - It's the second big success story this month in regard to a potentially huge shift in the field of organ transplants. Doctors in Alabama transplanted the kidneys of a genetically altered pig to a brain-dead recipient, reports the New York Times . The surgeries took place in September, and the...

Blind Patients Undergo First-of-Its Kind Treatment

Gene editing through CRISPR technology aims to restore vision

(Newser) - The world won't know until later this year whether a novel treatment for blindness has restored patients' vision, but for now, "to even have the possibility—it's a gift," one participant tells NPR . Michael Kalberer is 43 and legally blind, and he agreed to let scientists...

2 Women Win Chemistry Nobel for Tool With 'Enormous Power'

Emmanuelle Charpentier, Jennifer A. Doudna claim prize for their genome editing method

(Newser) - French scientist Emmanuelle Charpentier and American Jennifer A. Doudna have won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing a method of genome editing likened to "molecular scissors" that offer the promise of one day curing genetic diseases. The recipients were announced Wednesday in Stockholm by the Royal Swedish Academy...

Big CRISPR First: Gene Editing Inside a Patient
For Gene Editing,
a 'New Frontier'
Mar 4, 2020 8:34 AM CST

For Gene Editing, a 'New Frontier'

If deemed safe, scientists hope for widespread use of CRISPR procedure inside patients' bodies

(Newser) - "We literally have the potential to take people who are essentially blind and make them see." Those are the attention-grabbing words of Charles Albright, the chief scientific officer at Editas Medicine, which is sponsoring a study to wield DNA technology in a novel way: edit genes using the...

The 'Most Complicated' Gene Engineering Yet

Doctors safely used CRISPR technology on 3 cancer patients in the US for first time

(Newser) - The first attempt in the United States to use a gene editing tool called CRISPR against cancer seems safe in three patients who've had it so far, but it's too soon to know if it will improve survival, doctors reported Wednesday. The doctors were able to take immune...

Scientists Break Ground In Use of Gene-Editing Tool

CRISPR was employed against a patient's HIV

(Newser) - Scientists are reporting the first use of the gene-editing tool CRISPR to try to cure a patient's HIV infection by providing blood cells that were altered to resist the AIDS virus. The gene-editing tool has long been used in research labs, and a Chinese scientist was scorned last year...

Landmark Gene-Editing Work May Help Restore Vision

Researchers will use CRISPR technology to try to help patients with rare disease

(Newser) - Patients are about to be enrolled in the first study to test a gene-editing technique known as CRISPR inside the body to try to cure an inherited form of blindness, per the AP . People with the disease have normal eyes but lack a gene that converts light into signals to...

Researchers Say They've Just Proved HIV Is Curable
Results of Mice Study
Bring Big HIV News
new study
Jul 3, 2019 11:58 AM CDT

Results of Mice Study Bring Big HIV News

Researchers eradicated HIV from the DNA of 9 infected mice

(Newser) - Researchers tell CNBC they have for the first time shown "that the HIV disease is a curable disease" A study published Tuesday in Nature Communications details how they got to such a statement: essentially by putting the brakes on HIV's spread in mice and then editing it out...

US Nobelist Knew About Gene-Edited Babies

Craig Mello was on board of He Jiankui's biotech company

(Newser) - Long before the claim of the world's first gene-edited babies became public , Chinese researcher He Jiankui shared the news with a US Nobel laureate who objected to the experiment yet remained an adviser to He's biotech company. The revelation that another prominent scientist knew of the work, which...

China to Gene Researcher: Stop Your Work

Investigation underway into He Jiankui's claims to have altered the DNA of newborn twins

(Newser) - China has ordered a scientist to stop his controversial work after his bombshell claim about creating the world's first gene-edited babies . Chinese Vice Minister of Science and Technology Xu Nanping said Thursday that He Jiankui's work "crossed the line of morality and ethics adhered to by the...

Scientist Behind Gene-Edited Babies Kept Work Shrouded in Secrecy

He Jiankui did not follow conventional path

(Newser) - The Chinese scientist who says he helped make the world's first gene-edited babies veered off a traditional career path, keeping much of his research secret in pursuit of a larger goal—making history. He Jiankui's outsized aspirations began to take shape in 2016, the year after another team...

Infant Twins Lula and Nana May Be a World First

Chinese scientist claims to have created the first gene-edited babies

(Newser) - The twin girls are known as Lulu and Nana, and if a Chinese scientist is correct, they are the world's first babies born with edited genes. Researcher He Jiankui says he tweaked embryos with CRISPR technology in the hope of making the resulting infants naturally resistant to HIV, reports...

This Could Be a Novel Way to Conquer Cocaine Addiction

Scientists devise a genetically engineered skin graft that works in mice

(Newser) - Could a skin graft help cocaine addicts get clean? Scientists at the University of Chicago say their novel approach has worked in mice, reports New Scientist . And if this translates to humans, it could be a game changer, though the remedy is specific to cocaine addiction. In a new study...

18 Stories