CRISPR News and Research

Latest CRISPR News and Research

CRISPR tool streamlines gene editing

Within the past few years, a new technology has made altering genes in plants and animals much easier than before. The tool, called CRISPR/Cas9 or just CRISPR, has spurred a flurry of research that could one day lead to hardier crops and livestock, as well as innovative biomedicines. But along with potential benefits, it raises red flags, according to an article in Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society.

10 Sep 2015

University of Helsinki researchers develop new method for controlling the activation of genes in a cell

Researchers at the University of Helsinki, Finland, have developed a new method which enables the activation of genes in a cell without changing the genome. Applications of the method include directing the differentiation of stem cells.

9 Sep 2015

Study demonstrates effectiveness of new approach to protect humans from infectious disease

There are two common approaches to protecting humans from infectious disease: Targeting pathogens and parasites with medicines like antibiotics, or dealing with the conditions that allow transmission.

8 Sep 2015

UCSF study reveals molecular timing mechanism of stem cells

UC San Francisco researchers have for the first time developed a method to precisely control embryonic stem cell differentiation with beams of light, enabling them to be transformed into neurons in response to a precise external cue.

27 Aug 2015

Researchers uncover genetic circuit involved in obesity

Like many other conditions, obesity is caused by an interplay between genetic and environmental factors. While efforts to combat the obesity epidemic will need to include changes in diet and exercise, insights into the genes involved may also help with prevention and treatment.

20 Aug 2015

Deerfield provides $20 million financing to Editas Medicine

Deerfield Management Company, L.P.'s venture capital fund, Deerfield Healthcare Innovations Fund, L.P., today announced its first therapeutics-based investment by participating, along with Deerfield Private Design Fund III, in providing financing to Editas Medicine. In total, Deerfield invested $20 million in this early-stage institutional financing.

10 Aug 2015

University of Zurich professor recognized with 2015 Vallee Young Investigator Award

Martin Jinek, a professor at the University of Zurich's Department of Biochemistry, was presented with the 2015 Vallee Young Investigator Award. The international prize is awarded to young researchers for outstanding achievements in biomedicine and carries USD 250,000 in prize money.

6 Aug 2015

New synthetic gene drives could one day improve human health and the environment

Gene drives are genetic elements - found naturally in the genomes of most of the world's organisms - that increase the chance of the gene they carry being passed on to all offspring, and thus, they can quickly spread through populations. Looking to these natural systems, researchers around the world, including some Wyss Institute scientists, are developing synthetic gene drives that could one day be leveraged by humans to purposefully alter the traits of wild populations of organisms to prevent disease transmission and eradicate invasive species.

31 Jul 2015

Researchers find way to reverse clotting factor deficiency that triggers hemophilia A

Sufferers of hemophilia live in a perpetual state of stress and anxiety: their joints wear down prematurely and they have bleeding episodes that feel like they will never end. Their bodies lack the ability to make the clotting factor responsible for the coagulation of blood so any cut or bruise can turn into an emergency without immediate treatment.

24 Jul 2015

Georgia researchers develop new tools to genetically manipulate parasite that causes cryptosporidiosis

Researchers at the University of Georgia have developed new tools to study and genetically manipulate cryptosporidium, a microscopic parasite that causes the diarrheal disease cryptosporidiosis.

16 Jul 2015

Umeå University to present special Jubilee Award to Emmanuelle Charpentier at Annual Celebration Ceremony

Umeå University honours Professor Emmanuelle Charpentier for her pioneering research with the powerful discovery of CRISPR-Cas9, which has already been of great importance by providing new opportunities for Life Science research and its applications in Biology and Medicine. Umeå University will present a special Jubilee Award to Emmanuelle Charpentier

25 Jun 2015

Study opens new area of discovery for different aspects of cell biology, biomedical research

Every cell in the body uses phosphorylation, the process of adding a chemical tag to control a protein's function and fate, such as when it moves from one part of a cell to another or binds to other proteins.

19 Jun 2015

Researchers create cell lines to study gene expression in precursor brown fat and white fat cells

Since the 2009 discovery that energy-burning brown fat can be active in adults, research has raced ahead to understand this tissue and exploit it to treat the epidemic of obesity. Active brown fat also may assist in directly easing the burden of diabetes and related metabolic diseases by lowering the levels of glucose and fatty acids in the bloodstream. But progress in studying human brown fat often has been slowed by difficulties in obtaining and studying samples of the human cells that develop into brown fat.

17 Jun 2015

Electroporation technique brings higher efficiency, higher throughput genome engineering in animal models

Jackson Laboratory researchers have shown that using an electric current to deliver the CRISPR/Cas9 system, in order to engineer genetic changes in laboratory mice, is highly efficient and significantly improves the system's throughput.

9 Jun 2015

New Tel Aviv University research introduces promising new tool to combat antibiotic-resistant pathogens

At its annual assembly in Geneva last week, the World Health Organization approved a radical and far-reaching plan to slow the rapid, extensive spread of antibiotic resistance around the world. The plan hopes to curb the rise caused by an unchecked use of antibiotics and lack of new antibiotics on the market.

5 Jun 2015

IDT to host instructive talk on accelerating synthetic biology at ASM General Meeting

Integrated DNA Technologies will host an instructive talk on accelerating synthetic biology at the American Society for Microbiology General Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana on Sunday May 31, 2015 at 11am CDT.

From Integrated DNA Technologies 28 May 2015

Sex-determining gene in mosquitoes may help reduce disease transmission

Researchers with the Fralin Life Science Institute at Virginia Tech have identified a gene responsible for sex determination in mosquitoes that can transmit yellow fever, dengue, and chikungunya viruses.

22 May 2015

NAS, NAM launch major initiative to guide decision making on human gene-editing research

The National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine are launching a major initiative to guide decision making about controversial new research involving human gene editing. Human gene-editing technologies, such as CRISPR-Cas9, may lead to promising new treatments for disease.

19 May 2015

HHMI selects two Boston University medical students to conduct full-time biomedical research

Two medical students from Boston University have been selected by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to conduct full-time biomedical research in its Medical Research Fellows Program. Joseph Park and Jacqueline Estevez are two of the selected 68 top medical and veterinary students from 37 different schools in the United States to receive this honor.

14 May 2015

ISSCR calls for moratorium on human germline genome editing attempts in clinical practice

In response to an article published by Chinese scientists describing research that used gene editing technologies in human embryos, the International Society for Stem Cell Research has again called for a moratorium on attempts at human clinical germline genome editing while extensive scientific analysis of the potential risks is conducted, along with broad public discussion of the societal and ethical implications.

27 Apr 2015