CRISPR ups corn yields
/Scientists Use CRISPR on Edit-Resistant Corn to Boost Yields
Scientists have used pollen carrying CRISPR/Cas9 to genetically edit hard-to-edit crops like corn, opening the door to new ways to boost important crop yields.
“Polygenic Adaptation”
Improved CRISPR efficiency in DMD treatment
/Scientists find method to boost CRISPR efficiency
Scientists have developed a method to boost the efficiency of CRISPR gene editing in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), according to a study that could have implications for optimizing gene therapies for other diseases.
Read more …
China claims it will tighten rules on human genetic engineering
/China to tighten rules on gene editing in humans
China’s health ministry has issued draft regulations that will restrict the use of gene editing in humans, just three months after Chinese researcher He Jiankui announced that twin girls had been born with edited genomes. The proposal includes severe penalties for those who break the rules. If approved, scientists say the policy could have gains and drawbacks for research.
Non-small cell lung cancer prognosis from blood samples
/Tumor DNA in blood may predict response to lung-cancer immunotherapy
Blood tumor mutational burden may give insight into which patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) may benefit from therapy with anti-programmed cell death 1 (anti-PD-1) and anti-programmed cell death ligand 1 (anti-PD-L1) monoclonal antibodies, according to Chinese researchers.
A considerable number of patients with advanced cancer may not be able to provide sufficient tissue for molecular testing to guide treatment decisions, Dr. Jie Wang of Peking Union Medical College and colleagues note in JAMA Oncology, online February 28. However, rather than use tumor mutational burden measured by whole-exome sequencing or cancer gene panel, the researchers sought to determine the utility of using circulating tumor DNA in blood.
(CAR)-T treatment for Lupus looks promising
/Genetically engineered immune cells wipe out lupus in mice
Lupus can be a stubborn disease to treat. Although many struck by the autoimmune condition live relatively normal lives, some suffer from kidney failure, blood clots, and other complications that can be deadly. Now, scientists have found that a novel treatment that wipes out the immune system’s B cells cures mice of the condition. Though the work is preliminary, it has excited researchers because it uses a therapy already approved for people with blood cancer.
The strategy is known as chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T therapy.
More populations need to be sampled from the whole human family tree
/Lack of diversity hinders genetic studies. We can change that
As a geneticist, I feel fortunate to live in the post-genomic era. The sequencing of the human genome has made it possible to make advances in understanding human genetics at an unprecedented pace. Genetic research is changing our understanding of early human migration and offering tantalizing insights into human biology. I have high hopes that we will be able to use these insights to better prevent, treat, and potentially cure diseases.
World Economic Forum weighs in on CRISPR
/Editing the human genome: do the risks outweigh the rewards?
In November last year, the international scientific community was shocked by the announcement by He Jiankui, a CRISPR scientist, that he and his team at the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen had created the first “gene-edited babies”. The genetic material of these babies had been edited to make them resistant to HIV, smallpox and cholera.
This event has raised a flurry of reactions and controversies, and also demonstrated some deep ambiguities surrounding the risks and implications of research on genome editing, which could fundamentally change how humans are “fabricated”. Beyond the purely scientific aspect, the question of how to balance potential benefits against the potential negative consequences must consider the acceptability of the risks involved.
Think about Thermo Fisher ...
/ARE INVESTORS UNFAIRLY PUNISHING THERMO FISHER SCIENTIFIC INC. (TMO)?
Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) recorded -1.92% loss during trading session on March 5th, 2019. The script traded as low as $253.405 and last traded at $254.46. 3.76 million shares changed exchanged hands during trading, a drop of -105.57% from the 30-day average session volume of 1.83M shares. The firm had previously closed at $259.45. The company has $402.00M outstanding shares, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.14, price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.20and a beta of 1.14. The company has a RSI of 60.52, ATR of 4.29 and a volatility of 2.31% this week. TMO has a 52 week low price of $199.85 and a 52 week high price of $266.18.
RNA-seq advances aim to get it all
/Taming the RNA Zoo While Saving Rare Transcripts
The lab is no wildlife park for RNA, but life sciences researchers can capture and display low-abundance, unstable, and otherwise vulnerable species
RNA analysis would do well to follow the example set by naturalists, scientists who patiently add new species to their catalogs while remembering that any catalog, however comprehensive, is of limited interest. What really matters, in botany or zoology or, more pertinently, RNA biology, is learning how species impact each other and fulfill their environmental roles.
Recruiting bacteria's oldest enemies
/Phage Therapy: Turning the Tables on Bacteriax
When engineered to incorporate CRISPR components, phages may overwhelm bacterial defenses or transform bacterial functions. Throughout the life and death (and nonlife) struggle between bacteria and bacteriophages, bacteria try to cut apart the genetic material that bacteriophages deploy when they try to commandeer bacterial resources. And now the bacterial weapon of choice, the immune system known as CRISPR, is starting to cut both ways. CRISPR components are being engineered into bacteriophages, arming them against pathogenic bacteria, including antimicrobial-resistant bacteria. In phage therapies, CRISPR-wielding bacteriophages may kill bacteria or compel them to carry out useful functions. For example, after suffering a few thrusts of the CRISPR sword, otherwise recalcitrant bacteria may have no choice but to express therapeutic proteins.
The swashbuckling ways of engineered phages are possible only though the patient work of highly disciplined researchers. For example, two research teams—one based at Rockefeller University, and one at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)—began independent investigations of phage therapy that culminated in a close and productive collaboration.
Potential of CAR T
/Custom CAR T Cells Made to Order
Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells are about as cutting-edge as cancer care gets today. Having demonstrated the ability to eradicate tumor cells in up to 90% of patients with certain blood cancers, these engineered immune cells became the first class of gene therapy to win FDA approval in 2017—with Novartis’ Kymriah getting the nod in August, followed by Kite Therapeutics’ Yescarta in October.3 But Alexander Marson, MD, PhD, knows these sophisticated cells are capable of so much more.
Marson, an immunologist at the University of California at San Francisco, is exploring this potential by using the CRISPR-Cas9 system to introduce precisely targeted genome modifications. The idea is that by adding or deleting specific genomic sequences, one can make these cells more lethal for tumors but also safer for the patient. Marson’s team recently developed a platform called SLICE4—single-guide RNA (sgRNA) lentiviral infection with Cas9 protein electroporation—to perform diverse CRISPR modifications in many cells in parallel, in hopes of rapidly identifying changes that measurably improve CAR T-cell performance. “We’re pretty good at manufacturing the ‘hardware’ of gene edited cells, and we’re continuing to improve that,” says Marson. “The really interesting thing will be what genetic ‘software’ we can put into them.”
China's CRISPR twins raise possibility of far off-target effects
/China’s CRISPR twins might have had their brains inadvertently enhanced
New research suggests that a controversial gene-editing experiment to make children resistant to HIV may also have enhanced their ability to learn and form memories.
The brains of two genetically edited girls born in China last year may have been changed in ways that enhance cognition and memory, scientists say.
The twins, called Lulu and Nana, reportedly had their genes modified before birthby a Chinese scientific team using the new editing tool CRISPR. The goal was to make the girls immune to infection by HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
Now, new research shows that the same alteration introduced into the girls’ DNA, deletion of a gene called CCR5, not only makes mice smarter but also improves human brain recovery after stroke, and could be linked to greater success in school.
BEAM invests in CRISPR-based therapeutics
/Beam Brings In $135M to Turn CRISPR Base Editing into Drugs
Xconomy Boston — Beam Therapeutics made a splash last year when it launched with $87 million to develop medicines that use a more precise form of CRISPR editing. Beam’s promise of CRISPR-based therapeutics that swap out specific bases or “letters” in the genome—something the current generation of CRISPR-based drugs can’t do—has been so enticing to investors that they have put in $135 million in a Series B investment less than a year after the first funding round.
CRISPR corrects Duchenne muscular dystrophy mutation
/CRISPR-Cas9 corrects Duchenne muscular dystrophy exon 44 deletion mutations in mice and human cells
Abstract
Mutations in the dystrophin gene cause Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), which is characterized by lethal degeneration of cardiac and skeletal muscles. Mutations that delete exon 44 of the dystrophin gene represent one of the most common causes of DMD and can be corrected in ~12% of patients by editing surrounding exons, which restores the dystrophin open reading frame. Here, we present a simple and efficient strategy for correction of exon 44 deletion mutations by CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing in cardiomyocytes obtained from patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells and in a new mouse model harboring the same deletion mutation. Using AAV9 encoding Cas9 and single guide RNAs, we also demonstrate the importance of the dosages of these gene editing components for optimal gene correction in vivo. Our findings represent a significant step toward possible clinical application of gene editing for correction of DMD.
More to consider with Cancer Genetics, Inc.
/What’s at Stake for Cancer Genetics, Inc. (NasdaqCM:CGIX)? Cash Flow Change of -1.00000 Tells a Story
Cancer Genetics, Inc. (NasdaqCM:CGIX) has seen year over year cash flow change of -1.00000. This is calculated as the one year percentage growth of the firm’s cash flow from operations from their publicly filed statement of cash flows. Cash reserves are an important element for an investor to consider when analyzing a stock. A continued reduction in cash flow could spell trouble for a firm while on the other hand solid continued cash flow growth should translate into stock growth.
Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month
/Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month: Knowledge of BRCA2 gene is power
This Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month our Cancer Stories Officer, Lydia Brain, spoke to Davina Gardner – a survivor of ovarian and breast cancer – about being a BRCA2 gene carrier and how it has affected her and her family.
Glioblastoma treatment with promise from Sloan Kettering
/Starving Cancer Stem Cells Could Be the Trick to Treating Glioblastoma, Study Finds
Summary
Using genetically engineered mouse models and high-throughput screening technologies, MSK researchers have found a surprising new approach for targeting glioblastoma.
The type of brain tumor known as glioblastoma (GBM) is one of the most difficult cancers to treat. Complete removal by surgery is impossible because of where and how they infiltrate brain tissue. Additionally, the most commonly used treatments for glioblastoma — radiation therapy and the chemotherapy drug temozolomide (Temodar®) — are not very effective over the long term.
Researchers in Memorial Sloan Kettering’s Brain Tumor Center, led by developmental biologist Luis F. Parada, are focused on finding more effective ways of attacking this deadly cancer. In a study published in Nature, they report on the identification of a compound that kills glioblastoma cells using a mechanism that’s completely different from earlier treatments. The scientists say one of the keys to finding better drugs is developing models that accurately reflect the cells that make up these tumors.
American Renal Associates Holdings Inc. (ARA)’s and Cancer Genetics Inc. (NASDAQ:CGIX) go head to head
/Reviewing American Renal Associates Holdings Inc. (ARA)’s and Cancer Genetics Inc. (NASDAQ:CGIX)’s results
Since American Renal Associates Holdings Inc. (NYSE:ARA) and Cancer Genetics Inc. (NASDAQ:CGIX) are part of the Medical Laboratories & Research industry, they are influenced by contrast. The influences particularly affect the institutional ownership, earnings and valuation, profitability, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations of both companies.
U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends screening for BRCA mutations
/USPSTF: Screen At-risk Women for BRCA-related Cancer
Positive Screens Warrant Genetic Counseling, Testing
March 06, 2019 03:17 pm Chris Crawford – Mutations in the breast cancer susceptibility genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 are just one of many factors that can greatly increase a woman's risk of developing certain cancers, such as breast and ovarian cancer. One important step in preventing these cancers is to help women understand their risk.
On Jan. 15, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) posted a draft recommendation statement(www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org) and draft evidence review(www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org) on risk assessment, genetic counseling and genetic testing for BRCA-related cancer in women.
Based on its review of the evidence, the USPSTF recommended that physicians screen women who have family members with breast, ovarian, tubal or peritoneal cancer or who have an ethnicity or ancestry associated with BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutations with one of several screening tools designed to identify a family history that may be associated with an increased risk for potentially harmful mutations in these breast cancer susceptibility genes, the draft recommendation said.
Boston Herald gives a short intro to genetic testing
/Gene mutations alert patients to cancer risks
Genetic testing that alerts patients to harmful gene mutations is paving the way to aid in preventing inherited cancers.
Cape Cod natives and sisters Liz Ellis, Katie Paquin and Christine Leary, who were all diagnosed with breast cancer within one year, carry the PALB2 gene, which is found to increase the risk of breast cancer.
Dr. Michael Misialek, associate chair of pathology at Newton-Wellesley Hospital, said knowing about a family history of cancer is the first step in taking preventative measures against the disease and getting tested for harmful genetic mutations.
