If it seems to you like dramatic cautionary tales about CRISPR accompanied by all sorts of media are coming at us more frequently, it’s not your imagination. In the latest yesterday, it was reported in a new paper led by Allan Bradley that CRISPR-Cas9 results in sometimes large-scale chromosomal lesions at or even away from the […]
Mulling over latest CRISPR tumult, this one from Nat Biot pub on DNA lesions Read More »
One of the reasons I’m a scientist is that I find biology fascinating and admittedly novel biomedical science can really catch my eye, but more recently as a somewhat grizzled researcher, I’ve become increasingly skeptical about some “sexy” research and media coverage of it. A small red flag went up for me as I was
Perspectives on uncritical NYT coverage of cardiac mitochondrial transplant trial Read More »
“If I’m going to the trouble of cloning myself, I want the clone to be a copy of me!” I’m imagining what someone might say if they were told that their expensive and ethically dubious personal cloning efforts produced a clone that was somebody else instead of them. Even if the clone was very similar
Surprising reason why human cloning may produce someone else Read More »
One of the highlights of Day 1 of #ISSCR2018 for me so far was the talk by Lorenz Studer (Co-Founder of BlueRock) on the use of human embryonic stem cell (HESC)-derived dopamine neurons for Parkinson’s Disease. Note that for this post and if I have time any others on this meeting, they are probably going
Lorenz Studer on Day 1 #ISSCR2018: HESC-based therapies for Parkinson’s Disease Read More »
Could potential associated cancer risks claw into CRISPR’s potential? The short answer from both previous and new data is that while CRISPR gene editing impacts the P53 pathway, which is involved in cancer along with having many other functions, this news is neither too surprising nor a fatal flaw, but some caution is warranted. CRISPR
Could Cancer Risk Claw CRISPR’s Potential? Some Balanced Perspectives Read More »
Where do things stand with IPS cell translational research? The newest development is that regulators in Japan just have given conditional approval to an Osaka University team to an induced pluripotent stem (IPS) cell-based study for ischemic heart disease. For years IPS cell-based products have been on-again off-again in active clinical study for macular degeneration, work
Japan conditionally approves new IPS cell-based heart study Read More »
If a picture is worth a thousand words, how about a Facebook video from a stem cell clinic? In my view it sure tells a story with some unusual twists. I wrote last week about this Facebook video by Kristin Comella, the leader of the publicly-traded stem cell clinic firm US Stem Cell, Inc. (USRM). As
Up your nose? OMG Facebook video moments from clinic sued by DOJ Read More »
One of the most famous living biological scientists, Sir Ian Wilmut, just announced that he has Parkinson’s Disease. I wish him the best in dealing with this illness. Wilmut is very well-known for having cloned the first mammal, Dolly the Sheep. This work followed on the earlier breakthrough by Sir John Gurdon of cloning the
Ian Wilmut, who cloned Dolly, opens up about his Parkinson’s Disease Read More »
Some in CRISPR-Cas9-land who are focused on potential future clinical applications are kind of rejoicing or at least sighing a breath of relief. This upbeat swing in the atmosphere (from investors especially) was sparked by retraction of that paper, the one initially reporting tons of supposed off-target CRISPR-Cas9 activity in mice, which turned out to be a “nothing
Analysis: human immunity to Cas9 bigger #CRISPR therapeutic hurdle than off-targets? Read More »
There’s much more to CRISPR-Cas9 than just gene editing and a new paper from the lab of Rudy Jaenisch in Cell highlights that in an exciting way. It reports epigenetic reversal of a Fragile X Syndrome phenotype in induced pluripotent stem cell (IPSC) neurons. Fragile X Syndrome is a neurological disorder in boys resulting from CGG repeat
Journal club: Jaenisch lab paper on epigenetic CRISPR-Cas9 rescue of Fragile X in a dish Read More »