genetics

Cancer-Fighting Cells Engineered Inside Patients’ Bodies Rather Than Laboratory for the First Time

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Cancer-Fighting Cells Engineered Inside Patients’ Bodies Rather Than Laboratory for the First Time

Histopathological image of multiple myoloma – credit, CC 3.0. via Wikimedia Commons In a pair of groundbreaking studies, scientists replicated a time-consuming, laboratory-based, cancer therapy within myeloma patients’ own bodies. If standardized, such an advancement would allow for one of the most successful non-chemo cancer treatments to be done both faster and cheaper. CAR T-cell … Read more

Genetic Mutation Could Pave the Way for Self-Fertilizing Cereal Crops and a Revolution in Agriculture

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Genetic Mutation Could Pave the Way for Self-Fertilizing Cereal Crops and a Revolution in Agriculture

Cphotos – via Unsplash+ Danish researchers have found a molecular switch that lets plants partner with nitrogen-fixing bacteria instead of fighting them, opening the way to self-fertilizing cereal crops like wheat and barley. Their new research highlights an important biological clue that could help reduce agriculture’s heavy reliance on artificial nitrogen fertilizer. Plants require nitrogen … Read more

Teens May Have Come Up with a New Way to Detect, Treat Lyme Disease Using CRISPR Gene Editing

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Teens May Have Come Up with a New Way to Detect, Treat Lyme Disease Using CRISPR Gene Editing

Tick species that spread Lyme disease – credit CDC From 60 Minutes comes the story of a Georgia science team that carried the Stars and Stripes to Europe for an international science competition and finished in the top ten by using genetic engineering to develop a superior testing and treatment method for Lyme disease. If … Read more

Patients Thought Untreatable with Rare Disease Dramatically Improve with Common Gene Therapy

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Patients Thought Untreatable with Rare Disease Dramatically Improve with Common Gene Therapy

A lumbar puncture – credit, BruceBlaus CC 3.0. via Wikimedia Commons A single-dose gene replacement therapy is found to transform the capabilities for movement in children over 2 years of age and teenagers with spinal muscular atrophy, according to research published in Nature Medicine. The effects allowed these minors who could sit but not stand … Read more

Boy with Rare Genetic Disorder Amazes Doctors After World-First Gene Therapy

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Boy with Rare Genetic Disorder Amazes Doctors After World-First Gene Therapy

Courtesy of Oliver Chu family The first child in history has successfully been treated with a new genetic therapy for an ultra-rare developmental defect called Hunter syndrome. Several years in the making, Oliver Chu became the first in the world to receive the stem cell-based treatment in February, and 3 months later seemed to be … Read more

Prostate Cancer Patients Offered Fresh Hope by Promising New Drug Combination

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Prostate Cancer Patients Offered Fresh Hope by Promising New Drug Combination

Prostate cancer cells by National Institutes of Health Men with advanced prostate cancer have been offered fresh hope thanks to a “promising” new drug combination. It could significantly delay the progression of a deadly form of the disease in patients with specific genetic mutations, say scientists at University College London following a major international trial. … Read more