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Archive for the ‘bioengineering’ category: Page 140

Dec 2, 2018

Gene editing not on the agenda as University of Hong Kong and Harvard join forces in bid to make disease detection faster, easier and smarter

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biotech/medical

Two institutions collaborate for first time in setting up new laboratory in Hong KongFocus will be on inventing means of improving diagnosis of diseases so treatment can start earlier.

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Dec 2, 2018

Precision genome engineering

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biotech/medical, genetics

Biotechnology
Genome editing through CRISPR-Cas systems has the potential to correct genetic mutations that occur in diseased cells, such as cancer cells. However, the ability to selectively activate CRISPR-Cas systems in diseased cells is important to ensure that gene editing only occurs where it is wanted. Zhu et al. developed a system whereby gene editing could be activated by a magnetic field, thus allowing spatial control. The use of nanomagnets in their system also improved transduction into target cells in tumor-bearing mouse models. This approach could potentially allow the translation of CRISPR-Cas systems into therapeutic agents.

Nat. Biomed. Eng. 10.1038/s41551-018‑0318-7 (2018).

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Nov 30, 2018

Ira Pastor — IdeaXme — Longevity Ambasador

Posted by in categories: aging, bioengineering, biotech/medical, cryonics, DNA, futurism, genetics, health, science, transhumanism

Very excited to join IdeaXme (http://radioideaxme.com/) as Longevity Ambassador, utilizing this wonderful media platform to help expand global awareness of the people engineering a future free of aging, disease, degeneration, and suffering.

Nov 30, 2018

‘Scientists are now very sure that the babies really were gene-edited’

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biotech/medical, genetics

He Jiankui has now presented his controversial work at a gene editing summit in Hong Kong. CRISPR expert Helen O’Neill of University College London was there.

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Nov 30, 2018

New research could fine-tune the gene scissors CRISPR

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biotech/medical, genetics

The introduction of the gene editing tool CRISPR in 2007 was a revolution in medical science and cell biology. But even though the potential is great, the launch of CRISPR has been followed by debate about ethical issues and the technology’s degree of accuracy and side effects.

However, in a new study published in Cell, from the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Research have described how Cas12a, one of the CRISPR technologies, works at the molecular level. This makes it possible to fine-tune the gene-editing process to achieve specific desired effects.

“If we compare CRISPR to a car engine, what we have done is make a complete 3D map of the engine and thus gained an understanding of how it works. This knowledge will enable us to fine-tune the CRISPR engine and make it work in various ways—as a Formula 1 racer as well as an off-road truck,” says Professor Guillermo Montoya from the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Research.

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Nov 30, 2018

Syfy’s Nightflyers asks whether humanity deserves to be saved

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, genetics, neuroscience, space travel

Showrunner Jeff Buhler has built a fascinating world around Martin’s story seeds, starting by setting the action within the foreseeable future, rather than in an incomprehensibly distant one. The invented technologies here are particularly intriguing, like the genetic modifications first officer Melantha Jhirl (Jodie Turner-Smith) has to make her better suited for space travel, or the cybernetics technician Lommie (Maya Eshet) uses to interface with machinery. Given the state of real-world technological developments in genetic engineering and research into brain-machine interfaces, the series feels plausible and grounded, even though it’s set in a spacefaring future.


The 10-episode space series adapts a 40-year-old George R.R. Martin novella.

Continue reading “Syfy’s Nightflyers asks whether humanity deserves to be saved” »

Nov 29, 2018

Would I Want a Designer Baby?

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biotech/medical, genetics

A couple of days ago, news about the first designer babies has shaken the world. A Chinese researcher, Jiankui He, and his team at the Southern University of Science and Technology of China have been recruiting couples in order to create the world’s first babies with artificially increased resilience to HIV. The embryos were modified using the CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing tool before being implanted in their mother.

According to the research lead, the twins were born healthy a few weeks ago, and genetic testing performed after they were born confirmed that the editing had actually taken place. While the academic community discusses whether it is acceptable or not to modify human genes, taking into account that the changes made will be inherited by these babies’ offspring and are now added to mankind’s genetic pool, I want to share my own views on designer babies.

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Nov 28, 2018

‘I feel an obligation to be balanced.’ Noted biologist comes to defense of gene editing babies

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biotech/medical, genetics

Harvard University geneticist George Church says reaction to experiments has been “extreme”.

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Nov 27, 2018

Chinese scientist angers just about everyone with gene-editing claims

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biotech/medical, genetics

Some researchers say it’s time to allow gene editing, with careful regulation.

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Nov 26, 2018

RegenerAge — Bioquark — Excélsior TV

Posted by in categories: aging, bioengineering, biotech/medical, business, cryonics, DNA, futurism, genetics, health, transhumanism