Genes 101
Our curation of what's happening in the world of genes and genomics.
Here's what we find worthy of reading. Most of the time, it is only a title and summary of the content. Sometimes, we add a couple of lines to it.
We also post one minute summaries about genes and the different traits they influence. Got Alexa? Add Gene of the Day to your Flash Briefing to start the morning by learning about genes!
In a First, Gene Therapy Halts a Fatal Brain Disease with an unlikely Partner
For the first time, doctors have used gene therapy to stave off a fatal degenrative brain disease, an achivement that some experts had thoughts impossible.
The key to making the therapy work? One of medicine's greatest villains: HIV
CRISPR, Patents, and Nobel Prizes
A CRACK IN CREATION is not The Double Helix. They are both stories of revolutionary biological advances, told by one of the discoverers, but The Double Helix feels like a novel. And, like a historical novel, it was eventually understood to be “based on real events” but not always reliable history.
Scientists in US Edit Human Embryos With CRISPR for First Time
In a step that some of the nation’s leading scientists have long warned against and that has never before been accomplished, biologists in Oregon have edited the DNA of viable human embryos efficiently and apparently with few mistakes, according to a report in Technology Review.
Taking on Rare Diseases with A.I.
The lack of tools to enable meaningful recognition and understanding of clinical symptoms is causing a failure to successfully and promptly diagnose rare diseases, a category of diseases with more patients globally than all cancers combined. Boston-based digital health innovator, FDNA, saw this as an opportunity to make a difference by generating unique genomic insights through artificial intelligence (A.I.). Read More
Engineered Cell Therapy for Cancer Gets Green Light from FDA
n Wednesday (13 July), the FDA panel advisory committee announced that it backed Novartis’ (NVS) new gene therapy treatment.
The therapy treats patients with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia or ALL, reports Seeking Alpha. It is a new treatment known as CAR-T or chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy.
The Loopholes in the Law Prohibiting Genetic Discrimination
GINA only applies to health insurance and employment, but a new Republican bill would weaken even those protections.