Genetically Modified Bacteriophages Appear To Fight Off Resistant Bacteria : Shots — Health News Treatment with genetically altered bacteriophages — viruses that attack bacteria — may have halted a patient’s near-fatal infection, hinting at new ways to fight antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
A soft neural implant that can be controlled by a smartphone is capable of drug delivery and optogenetics. The technology could speed up efforts to uncover the causes of neurological and psychological disorders.
The trial is just one of a few underway to test the powerful CRISPR technology around the world. One of the most promising, for example, is studying whether gene editing can treat, and effectively cure, blood disorders such as beta thalassemia and sickle cell anemia.
In beta thalassemia, the hemoglobin part of red blood cells, which is supposed to pick up oxygen from the lungs and distribute it to the cells in the rest of the body, doesn’t work properly. Patients need to be transfused with donors blood regularly, and even with these transfusions, complications can occur if the dose isn’t right and iron levels in the blood cells spike, which can lead to organ damage and even death. In sickle cell disease, a mutation in the gene that makes hemoglobin causes the red blood cells to collapse into a sickle shape, which makes it more difficult for the cells to flow smoothly through the body’s arteries and veins. Blockages caused by the misshapen blood cells can lead to severe pain and strokes.
The biotech company CRISPR Therapeutics, founded by one of the technology’s co-developers, has engineered a solution to treat both conditions that relies on genetic modifications connected to the production of fetal hemoglobin. Normally fetal hemoglobin, which provides the developing fetus with oxygen via the blood while in utero, is shut off about six months after birth, and genes for adult hemoglobin are turned on. While it’s not clear why adult hemoglobin replaces the fetal version, researchers say that they have not seen any significant differences between the two types when it comes to the ability to transport oxygen to the body’s cells. However, since the genes for adult hemoglobin don’t produce healthy red blood cells in people with beta thalassemia and sickle cell disease, one treatment strategy is to introduce genetic changes that turn on fetal hemoglobin again.
Today, we want to draw attention to a new study that shows how partial cellular reprogramming was able to reverse cellular aging and address age- and injury-induced blindness in mice.
Epigenetic alterations
One of the proposed reasons we age is the changes to gene expression that our cells experience as we get older; these are known as epigenetic alterations. These alterations cause harmful changes to cellular function and gradually shift our cells from a youthful to aged state.
A study of 8,000 years of genetics from Spain and Portugal yields a surprisingly complex picture of the inhabitants’ ancestry.
Two known gene mutations induce pathways that enhance pancreatic cancer’s ability to invade tissues and evade the immune system. Researchers report the molecular details of this process, providing insights into druggable targets for immunotherapies.
Mutations in the genes KRAS and TP53 are closely linked to pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, by far the most common type of pancreatic cancer. Pancreatic cancers are often already malignant when diagnosed, making its five-year survival rate extremely low—less than ten percent. So, understanding how it evolves at the molecular level could help anti-cancer drug development.
Hisataka Sabe of Hokkaido University and colleagues in Japan conducted tests in human cancer cells and in mouse models of the disease to investigate the roles of KRAS and TP53 gene mutations in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. The study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
(repeat) Are you ready to defer all your personal decision-making to machines? Polls show that most Americans are uneasy about the unchecked growth of artificial intelligence. The possible misuse of genetic engineering also makes us anxious. We all have a stake in the responsible development of science and technology, but fortunately, science fiction films can help.
The movies Ex Machina and Jurassic Park suggest where A.I. and unfettered gene-tinkering could lead. But even less popular sci-fi movies can help us imagine unsettling scenarios regarding over-population, smart drugs, and human cloning.
And not all tales are grim. The 1951 film, The Man in the White Suit, weaves a humorous story of materials science run amok.
On Wednesday, we wrote about a database of mutations that could give people superhuman characteristics or medical benefits.
The database, which reads like a real-life skill tree from a video game, is housed on the website of famed Harvard geneticist George Church. Now Church has opened up, telling Futurism why he assembled the list and how he hopes others will use it as gene-hacking technology develops.
It’s not everyday that you see some of the worlds leading cancer scientists attending a scientific forum put on by a hospital from Mexico. But CHIPSA hospital isn’t your average hospital and the scientists showed presenting their research, much of which they are working on with CHIPSA.
Take for instance Dr. Franco Marincola. The fa med former chief of immunogenetics for the NIH, editor of 9 peer reviewed publications and co-author of the textbook mosts oncologists use for immunotherapy reference. Dr. Marincola joined the CHIPSA Scientific advisory board in June and speaks highly of their work and passion for translational science.
Or Dr. Vijay Mahant, who did his post doctorate at MD Anderson in 1985 and invented the prostate cancer test that is widely used today. He also co-founded auto-genomics a leading liquid biopsy company that is studying diagnosing cancer through the blood.
