Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Category: genetics – Page 319

A biotech company wants to take human DNA and create artificial embryos that could be used to harvest organs for medical transplants

A biotechnology company based in Israel wants to replicate a recent experiment that successfully created an artificial mouse embryo from stem cells — only this time with human cells.

Scientists at Weizmann’s Molecular Genetics Department grew “synthetic mouse embryos” in a jar without the use of sperm, eggs, or a womb, according to a paper published in the journal Cell on August 1. It was the first time the process had been successfully completed, Insider’s Marianne Guenot reported.

The replica embryos could not develop into fully-formed mice and were therefore not “real,” Jacob Hanna, who led the experiment, told the Guardian. However, scientists observed the synthetic embryos having a beating heart, blood circulation, the start of a brain, a neural tube, and an intestinal tract.

Chinese scientists develop new ‘reversible’ gene-editing technique

Cas13 variants with minimal collateral effect are expected to be more competitive for in vivo RNA editing and future therapeutic applications, researchers claim.

Scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) have allegedly developed a new “controllable, reversible and safer” gene-editing approach using CRISPR technology.

The system, named Cas13D-N2V8, showed a significant reduction in the number of off-target genes and no detectable collateral damage in cell lines and somatic cells, which indicated its future potential, according to a report published in South China Morning Post newspaper on Wednesday.

Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences say their technology uses an enzyme that targets RNA and has more short-lived effects.

Probing the Secrets to Human Longevity with Methuselah Flies

In the 1980s, biologist Dr Michael Rose started to selectively breed Drosophila fruit flies for increased longevity. Today, the descendants of the original Methuselah flies are held by biotech firm Genescient Corporation and live 4.5 times longer than normal fruit flies.

The flies’ increased lifespan is explained by a significant number of systemic genetic changes — but how many of these variations represent lessons that can be used to design longevity therapies for humans? Dr. Ben Goertzel and his bio-AI colleagues at SingularityNET and Rejuve. AI are betting the answer is quite a few.

SingularityNET and Rejuve. AI have launched a partnership with Genescient to apply advanced machine learning and machine reasoning methods to transfer insights gained from the Methuselah fly genome to the human genome. The goal is to acquire new information regarding gene therapies, drugs or nutraceutical regimens for prolonging healthy human life.

‘Zombie Cells’ Are Still Alive but Can’t Function, and They Accumulate as We Age

Damage to the ends of your chromosomes can create “zombie cells” that are still alive but can’t function, according to our recently published study in Nature Structural and Molecular Biology.

When cells prepare to divide, their DNA is tightly wound around proteins to form chromosomes that provide structure and support for genetic material. At the ends of these chromosomes are repetitive stretches of DNA called telomeres that form a protective cap to prevent damage to the genetic material.

However, telomeres shorten each time a cell divides. This means that as cells divide more and more as you age, your telomeres become increasingly shorter and more likely to lose their ability to protect your DNA.

‘Jurassic Park’? Scientists want to resurrect Australia’s Tasmanian tiger

Is de-extinction realistic?

Scientists in the US and Australia have announced a multi-million dollar project — resurrecting the extinct Tasmanian tiger. The last known marsupial officially called a thylacine, died in the 1930s. According to the team, the extinct thylacine can be recreated using stem cells and gene-editing technology, and the first one could be “reintroduced” to the wild within 10 years.

We would strongly advocate that first and foremost we need to protect our biodiversity from further extinctions, but unfortunately we are not seeing a slowing down in species loss.

TIGGR Lab.

The last known marsupial officially called a thylacine, died in the 1930s. According to the team, the extinct thylacine can be recreated using stem cells and gene-editing technology, and the first one could be reintroduced to the wild within 10 years.

Dr. Katherine High, MD — Gene Therapy Pioneer — President, Therapeutics, Asklepios BioPharmaceutical

Gene therapy pioneer — dr. katherine high, MD — president, therapeutics, askbio.

Dr. Katherine High, MD, is President, Therapeutics, at Asklepios BioPharmaceutical (AskBio — https://www.askbio.com/), where she is also member of the AskBio Board of Directors, and has responsibility for driving the strategic direction and execution of pre-clinical and clinical programs of the company.

AskBio is a wholly owned and independently operated subsidiary of Bayer AG, set up as a fully integrated gene therapy company dedicated to developing life-saving medicines that cure genetic diseases.

Most recently, Dr. High was a Visiting Professor at Rockefeller University and previous to that, she served as President, Head of Research and Development, and a member of the Board of Directors at Spark Therapeutics (a subsidiary of Hoffmann-La Roche), where she directed the development and regulatory approval of Luxturna® (a gene therapy medication for the treatment of the ophthalmic condition Leber congenital amaurosis), and represents the first gene therapy for genetic disease to obtain regulatory approval in both the United States and Europe.

Dr. High was a longtime member of the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania and medical staff at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, where she was also an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. She served a five-year term on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Advisory Committee on Cell, Tissue and Gene Therapies and is a past president of the American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy.

Continue reading “Dr. Katherine High, MD — Gene Therapy Pioneer — President, Therapeutics, Asklepios BioPharmaceutical” | >

Breakthrough study creates 3D genetic map of prostate cancer like never before

In a new study published in Nature, researchers have developed a breakthrough technique called spatial transcriptomics, which allows scientists to map tumors non-invasively and at an unprecedented resolution depth. For the first time, researchers have created a three-dimensional map of a whole prostate to an unprecedented resolution, including areas of healthy and cancerous cells. Surprisingly, the study revealed that individual prostate tumors contain a range of genetic variations, which until this point were unknown.

“We have never had this level of resolution available before, and this new approach revealed some surprising results,” said Alastair Lamb of Oxford’s Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences, who jointly led the study.

/* */