May 3, 2024
Genetic Ethics
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
April 3, 2024
A New Edition of European Journal of Human Genetics Is Now Available
April 2, 2024
New Genetic Analysis Tool Tracks Risks Tied to CRISPR Edits
(PhysOrg) – University of California San Diego researchers have developed a new genetic system to test and analyze the underlying mechanisms of CRISPR-based DNA repair outcomes. As described in Nature Communications, Postdoctoral Scholar Zhiqian Li, Professor Ethan Bier and their … Read More
March 28, 2024
‘A Chance to Live’: How 2 Families Faced a Catastrophic Birth Defect
(New York Times) – Cases of trisomy 18 may rise as many states restrict abortion. But some women choose to have the babies, love them tenderly and care for them devotedly. In Texas last year, Kate Cox, whose fetus had … Read More
March 26, 2024
Overdosing on Chemo: A Common Gene Test Could Save Hundred of Lives Each Year
(KFF Health News) – Rosen was one of more than 275,000 cancer patients in the United States who are infused each year with fluorouracil, known as 5-FU, or, as in Rosen’s case, take a nearly identical drug in pill form … Read More
March 26, 2024
DNA Test Says It Can Predict Opioid Addiction Risk. Skeptics Aren’t So Sure.
(Washington Post) – Using a swab inside the cheek and a sophisticated computer algorithm, a DNA test recently approved by federal regulators promisesto assess genetic risk of opioid addiction. The test’s maker says results give doctors and patients a crucial … Read More
March 21, 2024
Surgeons Transplant Pig Kidney Into a Patient, a Medical Milestone
(New York Times) – Surgeons in Boston have transplanted a kidney from a genetically engineered pig into an ailing 62-year-old man, the first procedure of its kind. If successful, the breakthrough offers hope to hundreds of thousands of Americans whose … Read More
March 20, 2024
A Lifesaving Therapy for Children with a Rare Disease Is Now the World’s Most Expensive Drug, Raising Questions About Access
(CNN) – A new gene therapy for the fatal genetic disorder metachromatic leukodystrophy, or MLD, will carry a wholesale price of $4.25 million, its manufacturer announced Wednesday, making it the world’s most expensive medicine. Lenmeldy was approved by the US … Read More
