March 26, 2025
(NBC News) – Chinese researchers are reporting new steps in the quest for animal-to-human organ transplants — with a successful pig kidney transplant and a hint Wednesday that pig livers might eventually be useful, too. A Chinese patient is the third person in world … Read More
March 26, 2025
(Wall Street Journal) – Anne Wojcicki aims to buy the assets of her failed DNA-testing company after her prior bids were rejected The company she co-founded, 23andMe, has burned through more than $1 billion and laid off more than half … Read More
March 25, 2025
(Axios) – The demise of 23andMe illustrates the vulnerable state of Americans’ health data, as med tech companies vacuum up more personal information with little regulatory oversight. Why it matters: Fitness trackers, wellness apps, genetic tests and other direct-to-consumer tools … Read More
March 21, 2025
(Nature) – The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) has expanded its cuts to science funding, terminating a growing list of research projects that now encompasses hundreds of grants funding studies on a wide range of topics — from HIV … Read More
March 18, 2025
(Associated Press) – Sarepta Therapeutics said Tuesday that a patient died while taking its closely watched gene therapy for muscular dystrophy, sending company shares plummeting in morning trading. The young man died of acute liver injury, a known side effect, … Read More
March 13, 2025
(Wired) – The mRNA technology behind coronavirus vaccines is now being used to create bespoke vaccines for cancer patients. Lennard Lee, a UK National Health Service oncologist and medical director at the Ellison Institute of Technology in Oxford, calls himself … Read More
March 12, 2025
(Nature) – Researchers have identified 64 genes that help to shape how quickly a person’s brain ages, in one of the largest attempts to pinpoint genetic factors that influence the organ’s decline. The study, published in Science Advances on 12 … Read More
March 12, 2025
(Nature) – After 150,000 articles and 17 million genome sequences, what has science taught us about SARS-CoV-2? Scientists have also generated more than 17 million SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences so far, more than for any other organism. This has given an … Read More
March 12, 2025
(New York Times) – Some scientists are confident that organs from genetically modified pigs will one day be routinely transplanted into humans. But substantial ethical questions remain. They are delivered by C-section to protect them from viruses that sows can … Read More
March 12, 2025
The New England Journal of Medicine (vol. 392, no. 5, 2025) is available online by subscription only. Articles include:
March 12, 2025
European Journal of Human Genetics (vol. 33, no. 2, 2025) is available online by subscription only. Articles include:
March 11, 2025
(Texas Monthly) – Lamm and Shapiro were quick to highlight the utility of the mammouse’s creation. The Colossal Woolly Mouse, though radically cute, is not all that radical from a gene editing perspective. Its creation is not as impactful as, … Read More
March 10, 2025
Bioethics (vol. 39, no. 3, 2025) is available online by subscription only. Articles include:
March 6, 2025
The New England Journal of Medicine (vol. 392, no. 6, 2025) is available online by subscription only. Articles include:
March 5, 2025
(New York Times) – Researchers identified a gene that seems to help slow brain aging in women, and studied links between hormone therapy, menopause and Alzheimer’s. Women’s brains are superior to men’s in at least in one respect — they … Read More
March 5, 2025
(Science) – Risks and benefits of mirror life, AI, synthetic cells debated at anniversary of the landmark 1975 meeting Half a century ago, molecular biologists came together up the hill from the beach in a conference center—made up of exquisite … Read More
March 4, 2025
(NBC News) – Scientists have been genetically engineering mice since the 1970s, but new technologies like CRISPR “make it a lot more efficient and easier.” Extinction is still forever, but scientists at the biotech company Colossal Biosciences are trying what they say … Read More
February 28, 2025
(Wall Street Journal) – Half of all pancreatic cancer patients live less than a year after diagnosis. But researchers say there is potential for change. Researchers estimate by 2030 that deaths will overtake those for colorectal cancer, as other cancers … Read More
February 28, 2025
(Knowable Magazine) – Can genetically modified animals help ease the shortage of organs? After years of research into xenotransplantation, the field is at a turning point — yet risks and ethical issues remain. Over the past few years, a handful … Read More
February 21, 2025
(BBC) – An experimental trial of gene therapy has helped four toddlers – born with one of the most severe forms of childhood blindness – gain “life-changing improvements” to their sight, according to doctors at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London. … Read More
February 20, 2025
(Nature) – The child, who is now almost three years old, shows no signs of the often fatal motor neuron disease. A two-and-a-half-year-old girl shows no signs of a rare genetic disorder, after becoming the first person to be treated … Read More
February 19, 2025
(ABC News) – Why did humans start speaking? Scientists suggest genetics played a big role – and they say the evolution of this singular ability was key to our survival. A new study links a particular gene to the ancient origins of spoken language, … Read More
February 19, 2025
(Bloomberg via MSN) – Environmental and lifestyle factors play a far greater role than genetics in determining the likelihood of dying young, according to the largest study yet to untangle the contributions of nature and nurture to healthy aging. A … Read More
February 17, 2025
(Nature) – CAR-T-cell therapy treated a girl with a rare childhood cancer, raising hopes for future recipients of the approach. The girl was four years old when she arrived at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston to receive a highly experimental … Read More
February 17, 2025
(Daily Mail) – A few years ago, Britain’s first commercial surrogate mother, Kim Cotton, joined one of those ancestry DNA sites. It’s not a step you’d take if you wanted to keep the past firmly in the past, and yet, she says, … Read More
