An issue that will ultimately affect the entire speciesDescription of human germline editing in words of 18 prominent scientists on pages of Nature journal We...
New tools of genome editing introduce undesirable mutations
Genome editing in recent years has become synonymous to CRISPR toolset. However, we are still not certain about the accuracy and efficiency of procedures involving Cas enzyme. New research suggests that seemingly precise single base...
Organisms compensate mutations by changes in gene regulation
Not all mutations are equal – this sentence sounds obvious, but biological reality offers surprisingly complex mechanisms behind it. Two independent groups have recently described one of those mechanisms: and . Mutations are commonly associated...
The first trial to edit genes in patients with Danon Disease
Rare genetic disorder caused by mutations in LAMB2 gene will receive the first gene therapy attempt. The trial started recruitment and is available at ClinicalTrials.gov. Danon Disease manifests itself by weakening of muscles (including heart)...
Fertility doctor used his own sperm cells instead of donor’s
DNA tests revealed that at least 48 individuals conceived in a U.S. fertility clinic are biologically related to Donald Cline, fertility doctor. Indianapolis physician has been assuring its patients about the usage of husband's or...
Hilarious parody of DNA testing
DNAfriend.com is a new Onion-ish satire of DNA testing companies. Absolutely worth checking! I found out I'm not related to anyone! Looks like I’ve got a race between Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s coming up. How exciting!...
Controversial DNA testing practice in Israeli marriage institution
What happens if people need to confirm ancestry with DNA tests in order to... get married? That procedure is used by the Chief Rabbinate and the Rabbinical Courts to check for Jewish ancestry. Although the...
Adding genes to human brain cells – will it work for Alzheimer’s disease?
Gene therapy is rarely straightforward mutation correction. The prevalent approach relies on a much simpler procedure of adding just more genes using viral vectors. That is also the case for a novel clinical trial involving...
Progression to Q3 phase of the project
After six months of experiments and prototyping, the Genome Context is closer to a final, satisfactory form. As you probably saw, previous materials were substantially diverse (or heterogeneous if we want to borrow scientific jargon!)....
The first successful gene drive in mammals – mice with Tyr gene
More: Super-Mendelian inheritance mediated by CRISPR–Cas9 in the female mouse germline, H. A. Grunwald et al., published 23rd January 2019, doi:10.1038/s41586-019-0875-2
Plant genome: new insights into methylation mechanisms
More: DNA methylation and histone H1 cooperatively repress transposable elements and aberrant intragenic transcripts, J. Choi et al., posted 27th January 2019 at bioRxiv, doi:10.1101/527523 - not peer-reviewed