PHILADELPHIA—A CRISPR screening tool identified a new therapeutic target to treat acute myeloid leukemia (AML) that has the potential to leave patients with fewer side effects than current approaches, according to a new study from Penn Medicine published online in Molecular Cell. The target, known as ZMYND8, isn’t a mutated gene, rather an epigenetic regulatory protein that cancer cells need...
Tag: <span>Crispr</span>
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Are we ready? Advances in CRISPR means the era of germline gene editing has arrived
by Delthia Ricks , Medical Xpress Credit: CC0 Public Domain Quick, accurate, and easy-to-use, CRISPR-Cas9 has made genomic editing more efficient—but at the same time has made human germline editing much more feasible, erasing many of the ethical barriers erected to prevent scientists from editing the genes of heredity. “The ethical debate about what is...
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CRISPR Illustrated
BY ALISA ZAPP MACHALEK You’ve probably heard news stories and other talk about CRISPR. If you’re not a scientist—well, even if you are—it can seem a bit complex. Here’s a brief recap of what it’s all about. In 1987, scientists noticed weird, repeating sequences of DNA in bacteria. In 2002, the abbreviation CRISPR was coined...
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Editing the immune response could make gene therapy more effective
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF PATHOLOGY, MEMBER OF THE PITTSBURGH LIVER RESEARCH CENTER AND THE MCGOWAN INSTITUTE FOR REGENERATIVE MEDICINE view more CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH PITTSBURGH, Sept. 3, 2020 – Gene therapy generally relies on viruses, such as adeno-associated virus (AAV), to deliver genes into a cell. In the case of CRISPR-based gene therapies, molecular scissors...
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Transplanted brown-fat-like cells hold promise for obesity and diabetes
by Joslin Diabetes Center Microscopic images of the various types of fat tissues developed in mice after transplantation. Top panels show the fat tissue’s general morphology, and the bottom panels are the tissue sections stained with hUCP1 (red color), which is unique for brown fat cells. These images show that while the HUMBLE fat cells...
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Deciphering the largest CRISPR system
Interview conducted by Emily Henderson, B.Sc. Professor Guillermo Montoya spoke to News-Medical on his research that involved visualizing the largest and most complex CRISPR system, which could have potential applications in biomedical diagnostics. What provoked your research into CRISPR? My interest in protein-DNA interactions and genome editing started a while ago when I collaborated with...
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New platform enables long-term tracking of stem cell-derived tissues after transplantation
ALPHAMED PRESS CO-AUTHORS SO GUN HONG, DVM, PH.D., AND CYNTHIA DUNBAR, M.D., OF THE NATIONAL HEART, LUNG, AND BLOOD INSTITUTE (NHLBI), PART OF THE NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH.view more CREDIT: ALPHAMED PRESS Durham, NC – A new platform reported on today in STEM CELLS Translational Medicine (SCTM) will enable long-term tracking of cardiomyocytes produced from...
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Listeria protein provides a CRISPR ‘kill switch’
A single protein derived from a common strain of bacteria found in the soil will offer scientists a more precise way to edit RNA. The protein, called AcrVIA1, can halt the CRISPR-Cas13 editing process, according to new research from Cornell, Rockefeller University and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center published in the journal Science. “We’re...
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The explosion of new coronavirus tests that could help to end the pandemic
Researchers are scrambling to find other ways to diagnose the coronavirus and churn out millions of tests a week — a key step in returning to normality. The timing couldn’t have been worse. In March, just as Thailand’s coronavirus outbreak began to ramp up, three hospitals in Bangkok announced that they had suspended testing for...
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A key gene modifies regulatory T cells to fine-tune the immune response
by Salk Institute A histology image showing inflammation in colon epithelium. Weakening of regulatory T cell function induces infiltration of immune cells (small blue dots) into colon epithelium (blue layer) and causes colitis. Credit: Salk Institute The human immune system is a finely-tuned machine, balancing when to release a cellular army to deal with pathogens,...