In a new study, a team of US scientists have used gene editing to change the genetic code of white blood cells and transform them into more efficient tumor fighting cells. How did they do it?
CRISPR has many applications, including targeted gene therapy, but the precision of the technology still has a way to go.
Shutterstock
CRISPR technology is continually improving to make it more specific, but serious consideration should be given to when and how CRISPR is safe for gene editing.
CRISPR technology could have momentous effects if it’s used to edit genes that will be inherited by future generations. Researchers and ethicists continue to weigh appropriate guidelines.
The metaphors we use when we talk about gene editing shape public perception of the complexity involved.
Shutterstock
The idea of CRISPR as scissors ignores an entire ecosystem of moving parts that are crucial for understanding the awe-inspiring, crazy thing scientists are trying to do when they attempt gene editing.
He Jiankui claims he helped make the world’s first genetically edited babies: twin girls whose DNA he said he altered.
AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein
News of the gene-edited babies excludes images of the children’s mother. Cutting her out of the picture underscores the idea that the mother is obsolete and babies can be created in the lab.
Venom from box jellyfish causes extreme pain and tissue damage. Massive exposure can cause death.
from www.shutterstock.com
Box jellyfish stings are excruciating and occasionally deadly. We have identified a common, cheap drug that is already on the market and which could be a treatment candidate with further development.
Will food laws change as more GM foods are created?
Zerbor/Shutterstock.com
With Gottlieb’s departure from the FDA imminent, what should we expect from the FDA? How is it likely to regulate the still controversial genetically engineered foods?
Experts have called for a moratorium on clinical research with CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing.
of the germline — that is changing heritable DNA in sperm, eggs or embryos to make genetically modified children.
(Shutterstock)
CRISPR gene editing should learn from the Slow Food movement. Scientists must allow time for critical conversations and perfecting of techniques before rewriting the source code of humanity.
CRISPR is a gene editing tool that can create permanent changes in the human genome.
from www.shutterstock.com
Four months ago a researcher claimed he had used the tool CRISPR to edit the genomes of twin girls. Now prominent researchers and ethicists are calling for a temporary halt to this sort of work.
Cows at the University of California, Davis beef research facility. Photo credit:
Alison Van Eenennaam/ University of California, Davis
According to current regulations, animals that have been genetically edited, like pigs or cows, are considered drugs. What are the consequences of such rules on American livestock and agriculture?
Revolutionary technologies like CRISPR are founded on discoveries uncovered through basic research that attracts very little attention.
United Soybean Board/flickr
On average, important new lab techniques like CRISPR take 23 years to develop – but there is a public expectation that scientific breakthroughs occur quickly and efficiently.
CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing technology is being used in field from agriculture to medicine to food security and disease control.
TotallyMJ/Shutterstock.com
You may not agree with using the gene-editing tool, CRISPR, to alter the DNA of human babies. But what about using it to engineer plants? Or wipe out one of the world’s most dangerous creatures?
Editing just one gene in an embryo could create many unanticipated side-effects once the baby is born.
from www.shutterstock.com
Genome editing technology has, and will always have, limits. Limits that are related not to the technology itself but to the intrinsic complexity of the human genome.
Bacteriophage viruses infecting bacterial cells , Bacterial viruses.
from www.shutterstock.com
The world seemed to be inching forward with CRISPR gene editing technology – but suddenly the forbidden fruit has been plucked, and some even worry that the CRISPR tree has been cut down.
Any children born of genome editing are genetic mosaics with uncertain resistance to disease.
(Shutterstock)
Chinese researcher, Jainkui He claims to have created the world’s first genome-edited twins. Such action would pose unknown risks to the lives of these children and to humanity as a whole.
Chinese scientists led by He Jiankui claimed they used CRISPR to modify human embryos that eventually were born as twin girls.
AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein
The announcement of the birth of babies with edited genes has been met by a deluge of scientific and ethical criticism. Public discussion focuses on risks and benefits – was breaking this taboo worth it?
A Chinese scientist claims he edited the DNA of twin girls during an in vitro fertilization procedure.
CI Photos / Shutterstock.com
A Chinese scientist has revealed he edited the DNA of twin girls born through in vitro fertilization. These girls are designed to be resistant to HIV. Is the edit a medical necessity or an enhancement?