Team Genetically ‘Edits’ Human Blood Stem Cells

November 7, 2014

(Medical Xpress) – Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) researchers at Massachusetts General (MGH) and Boston Children’s hospitals (BCH) for the first time have used a relatively new gene-editing technique to create what could prove to be an effective technique for blocking HIV from invading and destroying patients’ immune systems. This is the first published report of a group using CRISPR Cas technology to efficiently and precisely edit clinically relevant genes out of cells collected directly from people, in this case human blood forming stem cells and T-cells.