October 4, 2024
(Nature) – The treatment’s success in three people raises hopes for mass production of cutting-edge CAR T therapies. One woman and two men with severe autoimmune conditions have gone into remission after being treated with bioengineered and CRISPR-modified immune cells. … Read More
October 2, 2024
(Undark) – Precision medicine relies on genetic data that’s lacking in Latin America — especially for Indigenous groups. At stake is the practice of precision or personalized medicine, which uses individual variability, including genes, to make decisions regarding diagnosis or … Read More
September 30, 2024
(The Atlantic) – The company is in trouble, and anyone who has spit into one of the company’s test tubes should be concerned. 23andMe is not doing well. Its stock is on the verge of being delisted. It shut down … Read More
September 27, 2024
(MIT Technology Review) – Long-distance space travel can wreak havoc on human health. There’s radiation and microgravity to contend with, as well as the psychological toll of isolation and confinement. Research on identical twin astronauts has also revealed a slew … Read More
September 26, 2024
(MIT Technology Review) – In the decade-long fight to control CRISPR, the super-tool for modifying DNA, it’s been common for lawyers to try to overturn patents held by competitors by pointing out errors or inconsistencies. But now, in a surprise … Read More
September 23, 2024
(Knowable Magazine) – Some people of West African descent face a higher risk of renal failure. New drugs based on gene research may help right the ship — if they can reach everyone who needs them. The result was exciting. … Read More
September 20, 2024
(The Atlantic) – Deb Jenssen never wanted her children to suffer from the disease that killed her brother at 28. The illness, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, initially manifests in childhood as trouble with strength and walking, then worsens until the heart … Read More
September 18, 2024
(Plough) – If only her parents had been spared the terrible freedom of having to choose whether to have a child with a disability. “My husband and I decided that it was a loving decision not to bring her into … Read More
September 18, 2024
(Wall Street Journal) – CEO Anne Wojcicki ‘surprised and disappointed’ after independent directors say she failed to produce ‘actionable’ buyout proposal All seven independent directors of DNA-testing company 23andMe resigned Tuesday, following a protracted negotiation with founder and Chief Executive … Read More
September 16, 2024
(New York Times) – Kendric Cromer, 12, is among the first patients to be treated with gene therapy just approved by the F.D.A. that many other patients face obstacles to receiving. Last December, the Food and Drug Administration gave approval … Read More
September 16, 2024
European Journal of Human Genetics (vol. 32, no. 9, 2024) is available online by subscription only. Articles include:
September 13, 2024
(ABC News) – A San Jose-based biotechnology company that helps doctors detect genetic causes for cancer is among those that could be cut out of the U.S. market over ties to China A California biotechnology company that helps doctors detect … Read More
September 12, 2024
The New England Journal of Medicine (vol. 391, no. 7, 2024) is available online by subscription only. Articles include:
September 10, 2024
(Nature) – Questions surrounding an often-repeated statistic about Indigenous Peoples and biodiversity show that researchers should take more care when sourcing facts. For at least two decades, scientists, policymakers and journals, including Nature, have cited a statistic without determining its … Read More
September 10, 2024
(Wired) – With antibiotics losing their effectiveness, one company is turning to gene editing and bacteriophages—viruses that infect bacteria—to combat infections. The global rise in antibiotic resistance is making bacterial infections harder to treat and increasing the risk of disease … Read More
August 30, 2024
(Knowable Magazine) – For decades, adding or removing methyl or acetyl groups to histones was thought to be key to when and where genes are turned on. But accumulating evidence shows that this is only part of the story. Although … Read More
August 26, 2024
(Axios) – Biosecurity experts are calling on governments to set new guardrails in an effort to limit the risks posed by advanced AI models being applied to biology. Why it matters: AI models trained on genetic sequences have double-edged potential … Read More
August 26, 2024
Bioethics (vol. 38, no. 7, 2024) is available online by subscription only. Articles include:
August 23, 2024
(The Guardian) – First patient in UK gets dose of jab designed to kill most common form of lung cancer – and stop it coming back Doctors have begun trialling the world’s first mRNA lung cancer vaccine in patients, as … Read More
August 22, 2024
(MIT Technology Review) – Futurists who write about the destiny of humankind have imagined all sorts of changes. We’ll all be given auxiliary chromosomes loaded with genetic goodies, or maybe we’ll march through life as a member of a pod … Read More
August 16, 2024
(Nature) – Now, scientists are finding connections to modern relatives of African American ironworkers in eighteenth-century Maryland and to notable historical figures, such as Ludwig van Beethoven and the Native American leader known as Sitting Bull. Unravelling these relationships, researchers … Read More
August 16, 2024
(The Conversation) – I’m a medical anthropologist and bioethicist who studies the values and experiences driving prenatal gene therapy developments, including genome editing. Human prenatal genome editing has not happened yet – as far as we know. Prenatal genome editing … Read More
August 9, 2024
(BBC) – The first therapy that uses gene-editing is to be offered on the NHS in a “revolutionary breakthrough” for patients. It will be used as a potential cure for the blood disorder beta thalassaemia. Stem cells which make blood … Read More
August 8, 2024
(New York Times) – After promising results in monkeys, scientists plan to test the new treatment in a few people with H.I.V. Scientists have developed a new weapon against H.I.V.: a molecular mimic that invades a cell and steals essential … Read More
August 6, 2024
(Ars Technica) – The physician-scientist had just mastered a new chromosome-staining technique in a year-long sabbatical at Oxford. But it was in the dining room of her Chicago home where she made the discovery that would dramatically alter the course … Read More
