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There were mixed reactions across gene editing space on Thursday after CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ: CRSP) and Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: VRTX), in a world’s first, won U.K. approval for their CRISPR-based drug exa-cel for sickle cell disease and beta-thalassemia.

CRISPR Therapeutics (CRSP) has added ~5%, and MaxCyte (NASDAQ: MXCT), which has a licensing deal with the Swiss biotech, has gained ~4%. Vertex Pharma (VRTX) is trading lower for the third straight session.

Other CRSPR-based drug developers Graphite Bio (GRPH) and Precision BioSciences (DTIL) are also among the gainers, while notable gene editing biotechs Editas Medicine (EDIT), Beam Therapeutics (BEAM), Intellia Therapeutics (NTLA), and Verve Therapeutics (VRTX) are in the red.

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Over the years, Einstein received a lot of letters from children. “I am a little girl of six,” one announced in large letters drawn haphazardly across the full width of the writing paper. “I saw your picture in the paper. I think you ought to have a haircut, so you can look better.” Having given her advice, the girl, with model formality, signed it, “Cordially yours, Ann.”

“I have a problem I would like solved,” wrote Anna Louise of Falls Church, Virginia. “I would like to know how color gets into a bird’s feather.” Dear Mr. Einstein was asked the age of Earth and whether life could exist without the sun (to which he replied that it very much could not). One child asked him whether all geniuses were bound to go insane. Frank, from Bristol, Pennsylvania, asked what was beyond the sky—“My mother said you could tell me.”

Kenneth, from Asheboro, North Carolina, was more philosophical: “We would like to know, if nobody is around and a tree falls, would there be a sound, and why.” Similarly, Peter, from Chelsea, Massachusetts, drove straight to the heart of human inquiry: “I would appreciate it very much if you could tell me what Time is, what the soul is, and what the heavens are.”

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Major work led by Dr. André Veillette’s team at the Institut de recherches cliniques de Montréal (IRCM), in collaboration with a group of researchers, and just published in Nature Immunology, managed to identify a previously unknown molecular action that prevents phagocytosis, which is a process that promotes the immune system’s response to cancer. A Research Briefing on the work done by the team has been published in the same journal.

Macrophages are cells of the immune system. One of the roles of is to engulf, or “eat,” cells that are defective or dangerous, including cancer cells. This process is named phagocytosis. Macrophages can be called into action to eliminate cancer cells. However, this capacity is often defective, because macrophages are put in a state of dormancy by the cancer cells.

This is in part because a particular molecule called CD47 is often over-abundant on cancer cells. CD47 prevents phagocytosis by triggering a molecule or “receptor” on macrophages named SIRPα. Agents that block the ability of CD47 to trigger SIRPα have shown promising results for treating cancer.

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One question has relentlessly followed ChatGPT in its trajectory to superstar status in the field of artificial intelligence: Has it met the Turing test of generating output indistinguishable from human response?

Two researchers at the University of California at San Diego say it comes close, but not quite.

ChatGPT may be smart, quick and impressive. It does a good job at exhibiting apparent intelligence. It sounds humanlike in conversations with people and can even display humor, emulate the phraseology of teenagers, and pass exams for law school.

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The researchers used human stem cells to create a model of early brain development — organoids.

Super-resolution image of human stem cell-derived Microglia cells with labeled mitochondria (yellow), nucleus (magenta), and actin filaments (cyan). These Microglia cells help in the maturation of neurons in human brain organoid models. Photo credit: A*STAR’s SIgN

An international team of scientists has uncovered the vital role of microglia, the immune cells in the brain that acts as its dedicated defense team, in early human brain development.

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