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Versatile mouse model opens doors to new targeted cancer therapies

Researchers from the Seve Ballesteros Foundation-CNIO Brain Tumour Group at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre have developed an extremely powerful and versatile mouse model that will improve cancer research and accelerate pre-clinical testing of novel targeted therapies. Their work appears in Nature Communications.

13 Apr 2018

New technique makes it possible to trace lineage of each cell

Every biology textbook states that cells are life's building blocks. But researchers are only now beginning to understand their diversity. Technologies such as RNA sequencing are revealing which genes are expressed in each individual cell.

9 Apr 2018

UCLA researchers tweak CRISPR to accelerate genomic editing

The powerful gene-editing tool, CRISPR, has revolutionized research by allowing scientists to snip and patch DNA with remarkable precision. But tracking the impact of these changes on gene function can be time-consuming. Researchers currently analyze each edit one at a time, a process that can take weeks.

9 Apr 2018

Mice study reveals important role of pTreg cell population in autoimmune diabetes

In autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes, some of the immune system's T cells mistakenly attack the body's own cells, while protective T regulatory cells try to defend against that attack.

6 Apr 2018

New method simplifies genetic modification of T-cells in mice

A new method enables genes in living T-cells in mice to be modified quickly and efficiently. It makes use of plasmids, a tried-and-tested method of genetic engineering.

5 Apr 2018

Scientists use CRISPR to develop a genome surveillance tool

Scientists have converted CRISPR/Cas9 into a genome surveillance tool, in an effort to develop a more effective way of fighting disease.

27 Mar 2018

Researchers uncover link between Parkinson’s disease mutations and plaque formation in the brain

Working with lab-grown human brain cells, Johns Hopkins researchers report they have uncovered a much sought-after connection between one of the most common genetic mutations in Parkinson's disease and the formation of fatty plaques in the brain thought to contribute to the destruction of motor neurons that characterize the disease.

15 Mar 2018

NIH-funded researchers use CRISPR to rapidly find new genetic suspects behind ALS, FTD

NIH-funded researchers at Stanford University used the gene editing tool CRISPR-Cas9 to rapidly identify genes in the human genome that might modify the severity of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal dementia caused by mutations in a gene called C9orf72.

13 Mar 2018

Gene-editing technology enhances T cell immunotherapies for treating cancer

Last year, the Food and Drug Administration approved the first cellular immunotherapies to treat cancer. These therapies involve collecting a patient's own immune cells -- called T cells -- and supercharging them to home in on and attack specific blood cancers, such as hard-to-treat acute lymphoblastic leukemia and non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

6 Mar 2018

New and improved CRISPR

David Liu, professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Harvard University is a pioneer of CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technology. He has now come up with two new upgrades for this gene editing tool that makes it better than before. These two tools are “cellular detective” and “sharp scissors”.

5 Mar 2018

CRISPR enzyme can also cleave RNA, finds study

Researchers have discovered that the Cas-9 enzyme used in CRISPR gene editing can also cleave complimentary messenger RNA, in addition to DNA.

2 Mar 2018

Researchers describe important step toward gene therapy for patients with Sandhoff disease

Babies with the rare, deadly genetic disorder Sandhoff disease begin to miss developmental milestones just months after birth. Lacking muscle tone, they never learn to sit up, develop heads too large to lift and eventually suffer uncontrollable seizures. There is no cure.

22 Feb 2018

Lab-grown cerebellar cells may help explain how ASD develops at molecular level

Increasing evidence has linked autism spectrum disorder with dysfunction of the brain's cerebellum, but the details have been unclear. In a new study, researchers at Boston Children's Hospital used stem cell technology to create cerebellar cells known as Purkinje cells from patients with tuberous sclerosis complex, a genetic syndrome that often includes ASD-like features.

19 Feb 2018

Gene editing tool used to detect cancer

Researchers have developed a DNA detection system that can detect the presence of bacterial and viral DNA, which could be a valuable diagnostic tool for a range of disorders.

16 Feb 2018

Using CRISPR To Produce Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

An interview with Dr. Sheng Ding about using a modified version of the CRISPR-Cas9 system to produce induced pluripotent stem cells.

9 Feb 2018

Scientists develop ultrasound-propelled nanomotors for active delivery of Cas9-sgRNA complex

In cancer research, the “Cas-9–sgRNA” complex is an effective genomic editing tool, but its delivery across the cell membrane to the target (tumor) genome has not yet been satisfactorily solved. American and Danish scientists have now developed an active nanomotor for the efficient transport, delivery, and release of this gene scissoring system.

9 Feb 2018

Scientists identify special pair of RNA scissors with many functions

CRISPR/Cas systems are known as promising "gene scissors" in the genome editing of plants, animals, and microorganisms by targeting specific regions in their DNA - and perhaps they can even be used to correct genetic defects.

8 Feb 2018

New CRISPR gene-editing technique can correct majority of mutations that cause DMD

Scientists have developed a CRISPR gene-editing technique that can potentially correct a majority of the 3,000 mutations that cause Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) by making a single cut at strategic points along the patient's DNA, according to a study from UT Southwestern Medical Center.

6 Feb 2018

Next-generation ‘active genetics’ tool opens new horizons

In 2015, University of California San Diego biologists Ethan Bier and Valentino Gantz developed a breakthrough technology known as "active genetics," which results in parents transmitting a genetic trait to most of their offspring (instead of 50 percent receiving the trait under standard inheritance).

6 Feb 2018

Researchers report technical advances in production of HIV vaccines

Research on HIV over the past decade has led to many promising ideas for vaccines to prevent infection by the AIDS virus, but very few candidate vaccines have been tested in clinical trials.

6 Feb 2018