May 17, 2024
Genetic Ethics
May 16, 2024
This Grim But Revolutionary DNA Technology Is Changing How We Respond to Mass Disasters
(MIT Technology Review) – After hundreds went missing in Maui’s deadly fires, rapid DNA analysis helped identify victims within just a few hours and bring families some closure more quickly than ever before. But it also previews a dark future … Read More
May 13, 2024
First Person to Receive a Genetically Modified Pig Kidney Transplant Dies Nearly 2 Months Later
(Associated Press) – The first recipient of a genetically modified pig kidney transplant has died nearly two months after he underwent the procedure, his family and the hospital that performed the surgery said Saturday. Richard “Rick” Slayman had the transplant … Read More
May 9, 2024
Pioneering Gene Therapy Restores UK Girl’s Hearing
(BBC) – A UK girl born deaf can now hear unaided, after a groundbreaking gene-therapy treatment. Opal Sandy was treated shortly before her first birthday – and six months on, can hear sounds as soft as a whisper and is … Read More
May 7, 2024
Genes Known to Increase the Risk of Alzheimer’s May Actually Be an Inherited Form of the Disorder, Researchers Say
(CNN) – Alzheimer’s disease may be inherited more often than previously known, according to a new study that paints a clearer picture of a gene long known to be linked to the common form of dementia. The authors of the … Read More
May 7, 2024
The One Huge Obstacle Standing in the Way of Progress on Gene-Editing Medicine
(Vox) – For decades, gene therapy has been defined by both its enormous therapeutic potential, and by the limitations imposed by our imprecise knowledge of human genetics. Even as gene-editing methods, including CRISPR, have become more sophisticated over the years, … Read More
May 6, 2024
First Patient Begins Newly Approved Sickle Cell Gene Therapy
(New York Times) – On Wednesday, Kendric Cromer, a 12-year-old boy from a suburb of Washington, became the first person in the world with sickle cell disease to begin a commercially approved gene therapy that may cure the condition. For … Read More
May 3, 2024
A New Edition of The New England Journal of Medicine Is Now Available
May 2, 2024
We Looked at Genetic Clues to Depression in More Than 14,000 People. What We Found May Surprise You
(The Conversation) – The core experiences of depression – changes in energy, activity, thinking and mood – have been described for more than 10,000 years. The word “depression” has been used for about 350 years. Given this long history, it … Read More
May 2, 2024
‘ChatGPT for CRISPR’ Creates New Gene-Editing Tools
(Nature) – In the never-ending quest to discover previously unknown CRISPR gene-editing systems, researchers have scoured microbes in everything from hot springs and peat bogs to poo and even yogurt. Now, thanks to advances in generative artificial intelligence (AI), they … Read More
April 30, 2024
An AI Blood Test Purports to Diagnose Postpartum Depression
(Washington Post via MSN) – Postpartum depression is a leading cause of maternal death, but its diagnosis and treatment is spotty at best, negligent at worst. Now San Diego-based start-up Dionysus Digital Health is pitching a blood test to check … Read More
April 29, 2024
US FDA Approves Pfizer’s Gene Therapy for Rare Bleeding Disorder
(Reuters) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Pfizer’s gene therapy for hemophilia B on Friday, the second such therapy for the rare bleeding disorder that typically requires regular infusions of a blood-clotting protein. People with hemophilia have a … Read More
April 26, 2024
‘Real Hope’ for Cancer Cure as Personal mRNA Vaccine for Melanoma Trialed
(The Guardian) – Doctors have begun trialling in hundreds of patients the world’s first personalised mRNA cancer vaccine for melanoma, as experts hailed its “gamechanging” potential to permanently cure cancer. Melanoma affects about 132,000 people a year globally and is … Read More
April 25, 2024
A New Kind of Gene-Edited Pig Kidney Was Just Transplanted Into a Person
(MIT Technology Review) – A month ago, Richard Slayman became the first living person to receive a kidney transplant from a gene-edited pig. Now, a team of researchers from NYU Langone Health reports that Lisa Pisano, a 54-year-old woman from … Read More
April 24, 2024
She Was Too Sick for a Traditional Transplant. So She Received a Pig Kidney and a Heart Pump
(Associated Press) – Doctors have transplanted a pig kidney into a New Jersey woman who was near death, part of a dramatic pair of surgeries that also stabilized her failing heart. Lisa Pisano’s combination of heart and kidney failure left … Read More
April 23, 2024
Restoring Sight Is Possible Now with Optogenetics
(Washington Post via MSN) – Science, a start-up company in Alameda, Calif., has designed a visual prosthesis called the Science Eye which could restore vision, albeit in a limited form, in people with retinitis pigmentosa. Hodak, its CEO, co-founded the … Read More
April 23, 2024
Generative A.I. Arrives in the Gene Editing World of CRISPR
(New York Times) – Now, new A.I. technology is generating blueprints for microscopic biological mechanisms that can edit your DNA, pointing to a future when scientists can battle illness and diseases with even greater precision and speed than they can … Read More
April 22, 2024
A New Edition of European Journal of Human Genetics Is Now Available
April 12, 2024
A New Edition of Journal of Medical Ethics Is Now Available
April 11, 2024
Medicare Floats Incentive for Hospitals to Offer New Sickle Cell Treatments
(Axios) – Hospitals within months could get extra federal money to administer pricey new gene therapies for sickle cell disease, including the first CRISPR-based treatment. Why it matters: The Medicare proposal would provide more incentive to offer the multimillion-dollar gene … Read More
April 10, 2024
How to Supercharge Cancer-Fighting Cells: Give Them Stem Cell Skills
(Nature) – Bioengineered immune cells have been shown to attack and even cure cancer, but they tend to get exhausted if the fight goes on for a long time. Now, two separate research teams have found a way to rejuvenate … Read More
April 10, 2024
This Woman Will Decide Which Babies Are Born
(Wired) – God help the babies! Or, absent God, a fertility startup called Orchid. It offers prospective parents a fantastical choice: Have a regular baby or have an Orchid baby. A regular baby might grow up and get cancer. Or … Read More
April 4, 2024
These Identical Twins Both Grew Up with Autism, But Took Very Different Paths
(NPR) – Sam and John Fetters, 19, are identical twins at opposite ends of the autism spectrum. Sam is a sophomore at Amherst College who plans to double major in history and political science. In his free time, he runs … Read More
April 4, 2024
Scientists Find Genes Can Raise Obesity Risk ‘By Six Times’
(Wales Online via MSN) – Scientists have discovered rare gene differences that could raise the risk of obesity by as much as six times. Led by Medical Research Council (MRC) researchers, the study identified genetic variants in two genes that … Read More
April 3, 2024
mRNA Drug Offers Hope for Treating a Devastating Childhood Disease
(Nature) – A drug that uses messenger RNA technology has shown early success in addressing the core deficiency behind a rare genetic disorder. The results have ignited hope that the technology — which first gained attention through its breakthrough use … Read More
