Targeting a blood stem cell subset shows lasting, therapeutically relevant gene editing

In a paper published in the July 31 issue of Science Translational Medicine, researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center used CRISPR-Cas9 to edit long-lived blood stem cells to reverse the clinical symptoms observed with several blood disorders, including sickle cell disease and beta-thalassemia. It’s the first time that scientists have specifically edited the genetic makeup of a specialized subset […]

Read more

Experts call for halt to CRISPR editing that allows gene changes to pass on to children

Remember the global outrage four months ago at world-first claims a researcher had used the gene editing tool CRISPR to edit the genomes of twin girls? The molecular scissors known as CRISPR (CRISPR/cas9 in full) allow scientists to modify DNA with high precision and greater ease than previous technologies. Now researchers from the USA, Europe, China and New Zealand have […]

Read more

Scientists generate high-quality human vascular cells through genome editing technology

Scientists from the Institute of Biophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Peking University and the Institute of Zoology of CAS have generated the world’s first genetically enhanced human vascular cells by targeting a single longevity gene, FOXO3. The study was recently published in Cell Stem Cell. This six-year joint research effort represents the first time human vascular cell […]

Read more

Team uses gene editing to personalize clinical care for family with cardiomyopathy

A little over a year ago, a 65-year-old woman with severe hypertrophic cardiomyopathy—a condition in which the heart’s muscle becomes abnormally thick, potentially causing dangerous irregular heartbeats—had her genes sequenced before her first visit to the Penn Center for Inherited Cardiac Disease. In the sequence, the patient’s care team identified a variant in a gene called TNNT2, which is associated […]

Read more