Symptoms for Huntington’s disease typically only start to be experienced in mid-adulthood.
A standee of the movie ‘Rampage’ at a theater in Bangkok, Thailand. Scientists in the film used CRISPR to create a monster.
By Sarunyu L/shutterstock.com
CRISPR has been hailed as the an editing tool that can delete inherited mutations and cure disease. But recent papers suggest that the technique may be too dangerous for use in human therapies.
The new Tasmanian tiger genome reveals some fascinating facts about this extinct marsupial, including why they were so similar to dogs, and how they were growing more vulnerable to genetic disease.
Couples who are carriers of genes for recessive diseases don’t show any symptoms.
Photo by Drew Hays on Unsplash
Cystic fibrosis, spinal muscular atrophy and fragile X syndrome are serious diseases, and most couples carrying the genetic mutations for these don’t know it. Should they all be tested?
Canadians are overwhelmingly opposed to insurance companies having access to their genetic test results. A new Canadian law prevents insurers from using genetic information to determine coverage or pricing.
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Canadian insurance companies argue that a new law denying them access to genetic test results will raise the cost of insurance for everyone. That’s doubtful.
About 3% of babies are born with birth defects, when there is a problem with how they develop in the womb.
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A new report from the National Academies of Science and Medicine outlines conditions that have to be met before gene editing that results in heritable genomic changes can be considered.
Future people would be grateful if their disease is cured, rather than being replaced by a different healthier or non-disabled person.
sabianmaggy/Flickr
Experts from around the world are in the US to discuss the scientific, ethical and governance issues linked to human gene editing. Here are five reasons they shouldn’t ban research in the field.
A visually impaired young girl reads a Braille notice. Retinal dysfunction results in one in 3 500 people suffering night blindness, loss of peripheral vision and later complete blindness.
Reuters/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
Today is the start of World Retinal Week. Establishing retinal degenerative disorders in Africa is challenged by the unique genetic diversity of Africans.
History shows how scientists and the public tried to understand hereditary cancer risk well before we had the technology to discover mutations and test for genetic disorders.
Gene therapy is allowing us to switch on natural beneficial mutations to counteract the effects of negative mutations in diseases such as sickle cell anaemia.
In the future, our DNA could be different by design.
DNA by Seamartini Graphics/www.shutterstock.com
That genetic editing techniques have become as straightforward as they have poses questions for how we want them to be used.
A powerful new genetic engineering technique allows scientists to precisely cut out and replace DNA in genes.
Jennifer Doudna/University of California Berkeley
Leading researchers have called for a ban on using a precise gene-editing technology on humans. How can CRISPR advance science and why is it raising concerns?
Families share genes but that doesn’t mean no individual in a family should be accorded privacy about their genetic tests.
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When a family member dies from a disease caused by a genetic mutation, doctors have to decide whether to share the deceased person’s test results with the rest of the family.
Supermodel Gisele Bündchen: sixth generation German, 100% Brazilian.
Bob Bekian
There’s a huge variety in physical appearance in Latin America: there are indigenous native Americans, descendants of African slaves, Europeans and Middle Easterners of all kinds, and Chinese and Japanese…
Helpful viruses get protected by decoy viruses in the bloodstream.
Maddy Cow
The presence of foreign objects, like viruses, in our bloodstream is usually a bad thing. Evolution has created some extremely efficient immune cells that patrol the blood, seeking out material that should…
Mitochondrial genes are inherited from our mothers’ eggs and passed on through her daughters to subsequent generations.
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The UK government has announced its intention to draft proposals allowing carriers of mitochondrial disease to have babies using a controversial IVF treatment that’s currently prohibited. The procedure…