RNA-Based, DNA Free Circuits For Gene TherapyOctober 1, 2015Gene therapy, for all its recent progress, seems a bit stuck on the idea of introducing, well, genes, meaning DNA sequences. But what about that other nucleic acid, RNA? RNA potentially has several advantages over DNA, including a much lower risk of genome integration and lower immunogenicity. In fact, we recently saw a transcription-free CRISPR-cas9 […]
New Reporter System Captures DNA Methylation in Real TimeOctober 1, 2015If a picture is worth a thousand words then surely a video must be worth more? So far, our knowledge about DNA methylation has been limited to a comic strip of static images at different stages. That may all be about to change with a new tool reported by the lab of Rudolf Jaenisch, which […]
Key Factors that Mend Broken HeartsSeptember 30, 2015Jimmy Ruffin once asked, “What becomes of the broken hearted?” and the answer is normally found on a barstool or at the bottom of an ice cream tub. But for those suffering from the much more visceral consequences of a heart attack, the therapeutic avenues down which they can travel are more limited and less […]
Cpf1 Takes CRISPR Bigger by Going SmallerSeptember 29, 2015Move over Cas9; here comes yet another CRISPR-associated player. The CRISPR pioneers in the lab of Feng Zhang at MIT continue to discover the power of CRISPR , bringing us a fancy new part for genome editing. Recently, they changed things up with a slimmer Cas9 from Staphylococcus pyogenes (spCas9) but now it seems they’ve found […]
Sorting the Old from the New – Cellular Barriers Keeps Stem Cells YoungSeptember 29, 2015Alongside smartphones, coffee shops, and bars, we all also need properly functioning stem cells to survive and prosper. Indeed, the stem cell theory of aging posits that the malfunctioning of stem cells in our later years, and not all that caffeine and alcohol, is the major cause of human aging. So how do we keep […]
