by Amy Norton Researchers are reporting progress on a blood test that can detect multiple cancers in a relatively simpler, and potentially less pricey way than other tests under development. The test picks up certain cancer signals in the blood using a fairly straightforward method: counting bits of DNA that appear to be “broken” in unexpected...
Researchers have discovered that DNA from the mitochondria – the cell’s “powerhouses” – acts as a danger signal in the body and triggers inflammation in people with sickle cell disease. A better understanding of mitochondrial DNA, long known to circulate in human blood, may provide vital insight into how to stop the underlying chronic inflammation that...
by La Jolla Institute for Immunology Your immune system’s ‘memory’ T cells keep track of the viruses they have seen before. This immune cell memory gives the cells a headstart in recognizing and fighting off repeat invaders. Now, a new study led by scientists at La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) shows that memory helper...
University of Illinois researchers achieved the highest reported rates of inserting genes into human cells with the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing system, a necessary step for harnessing CRISPR for clinical gene-therapy applications. By chemically tweaking the ends of the DNA to be inserted, the new technique is up to five times more efficient than current approaches. The...
