#crispr news

[dandelionsresilience]

Good News - July 15-21

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1. Thai tiger numbers swell as prey populations stabilize in western forests

“The tiger population density in a series of protected areas in western Thailand has more than doubled over the past two decades, according to new survey data. […] The most recent year of surveys, which concluded in November 2023, photographed 94 individual tigers, up from 75 individuals in the previous year, and from fewer than 40 in 2007. […] A total of 291 individual tigers older than 1 year were recorded, as well as 67 cubs younger than 1 year.”

2. Work starts to rewild former cattle farm

“Ecologists have started work to turn a former livestock farm into a nature reserve [… which] will become a "mosaic of habitats" for insects, birds and mammals. [… R]ewilding farmland could benefit food security locally by encouraging pollinators, improving soil health and soaking up flood water. [… “N]ature restoration doesn't preclude food production. We want to address [food security] by using nature-based solutions."”

3. Harnessing ‘invisible forests in plain view’ to reforest the world

“[… T]he degraded land contained numerous such stumps with intact root systems capable of regenerating themselves, plus millions of tree seeds hidden in the soil, which farmers could simply encourage to grow and reforest the landscape[….] Today, the technique of letting trees resprout and protecting their growth from livestock and wildlife [… has] massive potential to help tackle biodiversity loss and food insecurity through resilient agroforestry systems. [… The UN’s] reported solution includes investing in land restoration, “nature-positive” food production, and rewilding, which could return between $7 and $30 for every dollar spent.”

4. California bars school districts from outing LGBTQ+ kids to their parents

“Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the SAFETY Act today – a bill that prohibits the forced outing of transgender and gay students, making California the first state to explicitly prohibit school districts from doing so. […] Matt Adams, a head of department at a West London state school, told PinkNews at the time: “Teachers and schools do not have all the information about every child’s home environment and instead of supporting a pupil to be themselves in school, we could be putting them at risk of harm.””

5. 85% of new electricity built in 2023 came from renewables

“Electricity supplied by renewables, like hydropower, solar, and wind, has increased gradually over the past few decades — but rapidly in recent years. [… C]lean energy now makes up around 43 percent of global electricity capacity. In terms of generation — the actual power produced by energy sources — renewables were responsible for 30 percent of electricity production last year. […] Along with the rise of renewable sources has come a slowdown in construction of non-renewable power plants as well as a move to decommission more fossil fuel facilities.”

6. Deadly cobra bites to "drastically reduce" as scientists discover new antivenom

“After successful human trials, the snake venom antidote could be rolled out relatively quickly to become a "cheap, safe and effective drug for treating cobra bites" and saving lives around the globe, say scientists. Scientists have found that a commonly used blood thinner known as heparin can be repurposed as an inexpensive antidote for cobra venom. […] Using CRISPR gene-editing technology […] they successfully repurposed heparin, proving that the common blood thinner can stop the necrosis caused by cobra bites.”

7. FruitFlow: a new citizen science initiative unlocks orchard secrets

“"FruitWatch" has significantly refined phenological models by integrating extensive citizen-sourced data, which spans a wider geographical area than traditional methods. These enhanced models offer growers precise, location-specific predictions, essential for optimizing agricultural planning and interventions. […] By improving the accuracy of phenological models, farmers can better align their operations with natural biological cycles, enhancing both yield and quality.”

8. July 4th Means Freedom for Humpback Whale Near Valdez, Alaska

“The NOAA Fisheries Alaska Marine Mammal Stranding Hotline received numerous reports late afternoon on July 3. A young humpback whale was entangled in the middle of the Port of Valdez[….] “The success of this mission was due to the support of the community, as they were the foundation of the effort,” said Moran. [… Members of the community] were able to fill the critical role of acting as first responders to a marine mammal emergency. “Calling in these reports is extremely valuable as it allows us to respond when safe and appropriate, and also helps us gain information on various threats affecting the animals,” said Lyman.”

9. Elephants Receive First of Its Kind Vaccine

“Elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus is the leading cause of death for Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) born in facilities in North America and also causes calf deaths in the wild in Asia. A 40-year-old female received the new mRNA vaccine, which is expected to help the animal boost immunity[….]”

10. Conservation partners and Indigenous communities working together to restore forests in Guatemala

“The K’iche have successfully managed their natural resources for centuries using their traditional governing body and ancestral knowledge. As a result, Totonicapán is home to Guatemala’s largest remaining stand of conifer forest. […] EcoLogic has spearheaded a large-scale forest restoration project at Totonicapán, where 13 greenhouses now hold about 16,000 plants apiece, including native cypresses, pines, firs, and alders. […] The process begins each November when community members gather seeds. These seeds then go into planters that include upcycled coconut fibers and mycorrhizal fungi, which help kickstart fertilization. When the plantings reach about 12 inches, they’re ready for distribution.”

July 8-14 news here | (all credit for images and written material can be found at the source linked; I don’t claim credit for anything but curating.)

[reasonsforhope]

I'm worried about the rising rate of young adults getting cancer.

For what it's worth, we've actually made a shocking amount of progress against cancer - especially the most common cancers like breast cancer, and especially in the past 30 years.

Cancer rates have been falling, often dramatically (x, x, x, x, x, x). One of the best examples it that breast cancer deaths in the United States dropped 58% between 1975 and 2019 (x).

Right now, we're at the beginning of an absolute revolution in cancer care that promises to increase survival rates even further. This revolution has been going on to a lesser degree since the first human genome was successfully sequenced in the early 2000s (and in fact, the first gapless sequencing of a human genome was finally finished just two years ago, in 2022), and to a greater extent since CRISPR DNA-editing technology was first successfully tested in 2013, and since medical digitzation/digital communication and vaccination were massively spurred ahead in 2020, by the COVID pandemic (x, x).

Right now, the results of this revolution are only beginning to trickle out into actual treatments. But I guarantee you, in the next one to three decades, the way we fight cancer will be massively transformed.

We're talking personalized genome sequencing for each person with cancer - not just for early and better detection, but even to figure out what types of treatments will work best. (x, x, x, x)

We're talking using CRISPR-based DNA editing to literally cut cancer-causing mutations out of your DNA, to edit the genes of immune cells to better detect and kill cancer cells, and to kill cancer-causing viruses. (x, x, x, x)

We're talking using CRISPR-based screening to figure out how chemotherapy resistance works, so that we can overcome it - and even weaponize it. (x, x)

We're talking using CRISPR to edit immune cells so that they recognize and target the mutations of a single individual's specific tumor. (x)

We're talking new types of testing that can predict if cancer will return years before it shows up on scans. (x)

We're talking using (non-generative) AI to massively increase the accuracy and earliness of cancer detection - which by the way is already starting to happen, there are several AI-based systems that detect cancer earlier and more accurately than doctors do. (x, x, x, x, x, x)

Also, the more we transition to a green, sustainable, and ethical future, the fewer cancer-causing substances will be in the environment (fossil fuels, oil drilling, and mining are massive sources of carcinogens at every point in the process).

Cancer is awful. That is a massive understatement. But the fight against cancer is one where there are so many reasons for hope.

[cbirt]

The ability to precisely alter genes with CRISPR technology has revolutionized biomedical research. It does, however, take a thorough grasp of CRISPR technology and sophisticated experimental setups to design effective gene-editing systems. Despite its promise in various tasks, large language models (LLMs) sometimes lack specialized expertise and have difficulty correctly answering biological design puzzles. Researchers from Princeton University, Stanford University, and Google DeepMind present CRISPR-GPT, an LLM agent enhanced with external tools and domain expertise to improve and automate the process of designing CRISPR-based gene-editing studies. 

LLM agents, like CRISPR-GPT, have the potential to help non-expert researchers in gene-editing experiments. They can help choose CRISPR systems, create guide RNAs, suggest cellular delivery strategies, compose procedures, and create validation tests. This program bridges the knowledge gap between novice biologists and CRISPR genome engineering techniques by addressing ethical and regulatory issues related to automated gene-editing design. It also shows the potential of LLM agents in challenging biological discovery tasks.

Continue Reading

[unopenablebox]

came home ravenously hungry at like 7:15, sat around talking to my mom on the phone for a bit, texted 🌸 about whether we should be planning dinner together, ate a yogurt while i was waiting to hear back, then suddenly woke up when they came home at 10:45 from where i had apparently sat down in the middle of the couch, tucked my knees into my chest like an egg, and fallen asleep sitting up

[macleod]

New CRISPR cancer treatment tested in humans for first time

Researchers have made an important step forward toward a long-desired goal: using the gene-editing technology CRISPR to treat cancer. [Source: Time]

Now, PACT Pharma and UCLA have used CRISPR to remove and add genes to these cells to help them recognize a patient’s specific tumor cells. [...]

By genetically engineering T cells to be better at spotting proteins commonly found on the surfaces of blood cancer cells, researchers have been able to develop treatments — called “CAR-T cell therapies” — for people with those cancers. [..]

Using CRISPR, they knocked out a gene for an existing receptor and inserted a gene for a cancer-targeting receptor into T cells that lacked it. Once they had engineered what they thought would be enough T cells, the researchers infused them back into the patient.

The results: Later biopsies found that up to 20% of the immune cells in the patients’ tumors were the engineered T cells, suggesting that those cells were in fact very adept at homing in on the cancer.

Only two of the 16 participants experienced minor side effects — fever, chills, confusion — attributable to the T cells, but they quickly resolved. [..]

A month after treatment, five of the patients’ tumors were the same size as before, suggesting that the engineered cells may have had a stabilizing effect on their condition.

---------

My thoughts: While the results weren't absolutely mind-staggering, 100% fantastic, the amount that they were able to keep the cancer cells at bay, and normalize the growth is tremendously great.

The researchers went on to say that this may be due to their purposeful limited attack methods, and that this is something they can build on and truly develop a personalized life-saving or extending treatment for cancer.

“We are reprogramming a patient’s immune system to target their own cancer, [..] It’s a living drug, so you can give one dose and ideally have life-long protection [from the cancer].”

Source: Freethink, November 21st, 2022.

[cosmogenous]

im cool doin my own thang but what u up to? u wanna hang? rob bank?

[thiefnessman]

i’m not gonna get too worked up about it but like. idk today some of us were talking with our instructors about our future internships and careers and how a lot of the areas we’re passionate about are things we’re unlikely to get stable positions in because scientific progress only gets rewarded if it can be profitable or in someone’s business interests. the fucking song and dance of bowing down to the interests of investors and the almighty nebulous idea of Profit is fucking screwing everything over

[bomnun]

jaden jeong coming up with “yyxy” 🤝 min heejin coming up with “new jeans”

[techtoio]

The Latest Breakthroughs in Technology for 2024

Introduction

Welcome to TechtoIO, your go-to source for the latest in tech news and trends. As we dive into 2024, the tech landscape continues to evolve at a rapid pace. From artificial intelligence advancements to breakthroughs in quantum computing, this year promises to be a landmark in technological innovation. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore the most exciting developments in technology for 2024, offering insights into how these advancements will impact our lives and industries. Read to continue

[jcmarchi]

Understanding The ‘Wiring’ of The Human Genome - Technology Org

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/understanding-the-wiring-of-the-human-genome-technology-org/

Understanding The ‘Wiring’ of The Human Genome - Technology Org

If the human genome is like the blueprint for a house, a new study on the non-coding parts of DNA maps the wiring, connecting the lights to their switches.

Around 98.5% of human DNA is non-coding, meaning it isn’t copied to make proteins. A new study has connected many of these non-coding regions to the genes they affect and laid out guidelines for how researchers can continue this work going forward.

Genome – artistic impression. Illustration by Michael S. Helfenbein, Yale University

Understanding the non-coding portion of our DNA is critical for understanding the genetic components of disease, says Steven Reilly, an assistant professor of genetics at Yale School of Medicine who co-led the study.

“When we find mutations in DNA that are associated with some trait or disease, they’re often in these non-coding regions,” said Reilly. Understanding which genes these mutations impact is really critical.”

The study was published in Nature Methods.

For the study, Reilly and his colleagues set out to understand how non-coding regions of DNA known as “enhancers” and “promoters” are linked to genes. Promoters are bits of DNA just upstream of genes that control whether the genes are transcribed into mRNA, which will eventually be turned into protein. Molecules that activate genes bind to promoters to initiate the process. Enhancers are regions of DNA that act as additional control elements for promoters, instructing them where and when to turn on. However, they can be quite far away from the genes they control, making it hard to predict which genes that a mutation in an enhancer might impact.

Essentially, these genetic regulators help turn genes on and off.

The research is part of a 20-year-long project called the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements, or ENCODE, Consortium. The National Human Genome Research Institute funds it and includes over 30 institutions.

In earlier phases of the project, researchers mapped out where enhancers and promoters are located in the human genome. Reilly said the genome is something like a blueprint for a house; he said that discerning the location of enhancers and promoters would be like locating where the light switches are in a house. This study, he said, was about identifying the wiring plan for the house, to know which lights — or genes — those switches turned off and on, with promoters comparable to a regular light switch and enhancers more like a dimmer knob.

To do this, the researchers used CRISPR, a gene-targeting tool, to turn off small sections of DNA, one at a time, and then observed what happened to genes. Normally, CRISPR homes in on a specific DNA sequence and cuts it. Here, the researchers used a modified version tethered to a molecule that silenced nearby DNA rather than cutting it.

This, Reilly said, essentially allowed them to flick the light switches on and off.

And they did this with large parts of the genome, not just with what they suspected were enhancers or promoters.

“The good news was that the only things that seemed to do anything were the things we’d already mapped out as enhancers or promoters,” said Reilly. “So there weren’t some secret light switches we hadn’t known about. That confirms that when we’re looking at a DNA variation that might impact disease, the enhancers and promoter maps we have are the places to look.”

In a more surprising finding, the researchers discovered that individual enhancers could affect multiple genes. It was as if one light switch turned on several lights.

“We originally had tended to think that one enhancer was affecting one gene, but we found it was really common for one enhancer to impact many genes,” said Reilly. “That says that if you have a mutation in an enhancer that’s associated with a disease, you might need to be looking for several impacted genes, not just one.”

Together, the researchers performed these experiments on more than 540,000 sections of DNA.

Doing this work together and systematically allowed the group to find patterns and identify best practices that they likely wouldn’t have through separate experiments, Reilly said.

The group was collectively able to determine the best way to go about these particular CRISPR experiments, identifying which guides should be used to direct CRISPR and which analysis methods are most accurate. This will help other researchers do these types of experiments in their DNA regions of interest more effectively and more efficiently, said Reilly.

“Particularly if researchers are working with patient cell samples, which they may only have a certain amount of, they’ll want to use our guidelines to maximize their chances of linking enhancers to their target genes,” he said.

Additionally, the researchers found that when using this type of CRISPR screening, it matters which of the two DNA strands you target.

“Depending on which strand you target, you will get different results of how big of an effect the CRISPR-mediated DNA repression has on genes,” said Reilly. “Knowing these differences will allow researchers to design the right analysis methods.”

This particular finding wouldn’t have been possible without the large collaborative effort of this work, he added.

“We only saw this because we were analyzing hundreds of these experiments. You need to assemble really large datasets to see these patterns,” said Reilly. “This has been the theme of the human genome work from the beginning. The genome is huge. One person or one lab can’t tackle it all. And this work has been a cool example of how large-scale collaborations work and their necessity for this monumental task of understanding the human genome.”

The ENCODE Consortium, which was launched in 2003, is coming to an end with many of its main goals achieved. Going forward, Reilly aims to use the best practices that have come out of this work to do these types of analyses in more complicated systems. One goal is to better understand how many genes are involved in the development of disease or in conferring observable traits like height.

“We have a good sense of what DNA variants exist, but we don’t have a good sense of how those variants affect genes,” said Reilly. “This study gives us a roadmap to do those experiments better.”

Source: Yale University

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[rightnewshindi]

HIV News; एम्स्टर्डम यूनिवर्सिटी मेडिकल सेंटर के विशेषज्ञों का बड़ा दावा, क्रिस्प तकनीक से खत्म किया एचआईवी वायरस

HIV News; एम्स्टर्डम यूनिवर्सिटी मेडिकल सेंटर के विशेषज्ञों का बड़ा दावा, क्रिस्प तकनीक से खत्म किया एचआईवी वायरस

HIV Breakthrough: एम्स्टर्डम यूनिवर्सिटी मेडिकल सेंटर से जुड़े विशेषज्ञों ने दावा किया है कि उन्होंने लैब प्रयोगों के दौरान संक्रमित कोशिकाओं से एचआईवी को सफलतापूर्वक खत्म कर दिया है। उन्होंने जिस प्रक्रिया का उपयोग किया वह शब्द क्रिस्प है। क्रिस्प डीएनए स्ट्रैंड को काटने के लिए विशेष एंजाइमों का उपयोग करता है, यह उसी तरह काम करता है जिस तरह कैंची काम करती है। क्रिस्प से किया गया वायरस…

[reasonsforhope]

“In the latest CRISPR success story, a 13-year-old girl whose leukemia had not responded to other treatments now has no detectable cancer cells.

She received a dose of immune cells that were genetically edited to attack the leukemia, a method that’s been used with other cancers.

A form of cancer in the bone marrow tissue, leukemia is caused by mutated immune cells and is normally treated by killing all bone marrow cells in the patient’s body before receiving a transplant from a donor. If this falls, the Nobel Prize-winning CAR-T cell therapy can be used instead.

This was the case of Alyssa, a 13-year-old girl from the UK, who received a dose of common immune system weapons called T cells that had been modified to attack cancerous cells in her body. To avoid the extreme costs associated with this, the Great Ormond Street Hospital team at University College London further modified the donor T cells.

“This is quite remarkable, although it is still a preliminary result, which needs to be monitored and confirmed over the next few months,” said Robert Chiesa, one of the doctors treating Alyssa, in a statement released by Great Ormond Street Hospital.

While she has no detectable cancer now, it will take several years to determine whether she’s truly cancer-free.

This procedure was used before to save the life of a 1-year-old girl, Layla, also in the UK last year, and is now approved by the NHS as a treatment for people with leukemia arising from mutated B cells, another group of immune cells that can lead to the cancer.” -via Good News Network, 12/17/22

[gigisluigi]

This is such historic news that I can't believe it happened in my lifetime. Not one but two FDA-approved therapies for sickle cell anemia? That's huge. Even if they are not affordable (yet) and even if they only become stepping-stones (I hope) this is still a major step toward alleviating the pain of so many people who live with this hereditary disease.

I understand that in the USA it mostly affects African Americans but as anyone can imagine is also prevalent in Africa and Latinoamerica so is exciting to imagine the future. Just look at what LaRae Morning, a successful trial patient, said in an interview:

“I’m just like a regular person. I wake up and do a 5K. I lift weights. If I wanted to swim, I can swim. I’m still trying to know how far I can stretch it, like what are all the things I can do.”

Source:

Also, some resources, in case you are unfamiliar with the disease and want to learn more:

[innonurse]

AI could save breast cancer patients from having to undergo unnecessary treatments

- By InnoNurse Staff -

A new tool for predicting outcomes in invasive breast cancer is the first to combine cancerous and non-cancerous cell patterns.

Read more at Northwestern University

///

Other recent news and insights

In a $6 million seed round, Blackbird doubles down on Kiwi Health IT startup Carepatron (Startup Daily)

Aidoc announces a $30 million investment in an imaging AI foundation model (Aidoc/PRNewswire)

XtalPi and HKU's Advanced Biomedical Instrumentation Centre have signed a memorandum of understanding to accelerate deep tech commercialization (XtalPi Inc./PRNewswire)

A 'Cancer Shredding' technique powered by CRISPR opens up new avenues for treating the most common and lethal types of brain cancer (Gladstone Institutes)

[thewitfire]

Revolutionary CRISPR Discoveries and AI Ethics in the Spotlight

Revolutionary CRISPR Discoveries and AI Ethics in the Spotlight. #CRISPR #sciencenews

CRISPR Discoveries: The relentless pace of scientific advancement continues to unfold, promising transformative changes for our future. From gene editing to artificial intelligence, each discovery and development opens new doors while presenting unique challenges. This article focus into the latest groundbreaking CRISPR systems, the ethical dilemmas surrounding AI development, and the enigmatic…

[covenawhite66]

A study with prairie voles bred without receptors for oxytocin and showed the same monogamous mating, attachment, and parenting behaviors as regular voles. In addition, females without oxytocin receptors gave birth and produced milk, though in smaller quantities, than ordinary female voles.

Challenging studies in the 1990s using drugs that prevent oxytocin from binding to its receptor found that voles were unable to pair bond, giving rise to the idea that the hormone is essential to forming such attachments.

Prairie voles are among a small group of mammals that display long-term social attachment between mating partners. Many pharmacological studies show that signaling via the oxytocin receptor (Oxtr) is critical for the display of social monogamy in these animals. We used CRISPR mutagenesis to generate three different Oxtr-null mutant prairie vole lines