How can we scientists find ways to keep doing our research during the COVID19 pandemic even if it has nothing to do with the coronavirus? Also, how should those of us involved in science communication talk about the outbreak? At a more basic level, how can scientists try not to go bonkers during this dark […]
Scientists try not to lose it with their labs shut by the pandemic Read More »
By Guillaume Levrier Human germline editing has been done before. It will be done again in the future, as it is relatively easy to perform. No mechanism with the de facto ability to prevent it from being organized has yet been designed, let alone implemented. But the fact that germline editing has, can, and will
What are your weekend reads? Many of us scientists read up on specific articles over the weekend that caught our eye during the last week or two. Here are some of my weekend reads plus some other stuff that just generally looked really interesting or unusual. The list includes both primary papers and news articles
Stem cell & other science weekend reads: arteries, diabetes, iffy metaphors, & more Read More »
By Anna Everette The title of this article is partially borrowed from a fascinating Lightning Presentation delivered by John Doench of Broad Institute at CRISPRcon this year. In his talk, Mr. Doench pointed out how we’ve been looking up to this promising technology for a while now, hoping it will deliver the anticipated results (see
The Hope of CRISPRcon: Year 2, Guest Post by Anna Everette Read More »
By Jeanne Loring “Mutation” and “cancer” are eye-catching words for a headline; add “stem cells” and there is a good chance that a lot of people will hear about it. These words have been liberally used in the press to describe the results of a recent publication: “Human pluripotent stem cells recurrently acquire and expand
Mutations in pluripotent stem cells: No, the sky is not falling Read More »
The first report of the use of CRISPR gene editing in normal human embryos was published today as a short paper from a team in China. There have been rumors for over a year that more CRISPR human embryo papers were coming including some using normal embryos. Here’s one and we can now expect more even
Paper on 1st use of CRISPR in normal human embryos: problems remain Read More »
The Future of Genomic Medicine conference last week down in La Jolla at Scripps was one of my favorite meetings ever. I wish I had time to have live blogged it more beyond the one post I did about some gene editing talks. Below I discuss 10 top takeaways from this great meeting that I’m planning to attend
10 takeaways from Future of Genomic Medicine meeting Read More »
What is the future of Genome Medicine? The meeting by that same name that I’m at down here in La Jolla is all about tackling this question and the line up of speakers today on the first day is amazing. I’m speaking about IPS cells as a basis for personalized medicine tomorrow morning so that’s exciting.
Live blogging Future of Genome Medicine: great talks by Feng Zhang & others Read More »
A new Cell paper from Juan Carlos Izpisua Berlmonte’s group has made headlines about anti-aging across the globe because it suggests that the four core induced pluripotent stem cell (IPSC) factors use by Shinya Yamanaka to make IPSC can reverse aging. I’ve pasted the graphical abstract from the paper below and done a quick journal club style
Quick journal club on IPSC anti-aging paper: cool, but outstanding questions Read More »
2020 Update: early NgAgo reports have been mostly discredited and there is doubt on its function as a gene-editing method. What could be better than CRISPR for gene editing? A new genetic modification technology called NgAgo has some researchers really excited. How does it compare to CRISPR? I’ll admit it that as a scientist who works on
Will new gene editing tech NgAgo challenge CRISPR? Read More »