CRISPR-Display: For the lncRNA Enthusiast that has EverythingJuly 6, 2015From wall hung TVs to the latest wearable; displays have been a key technology differentiator for years. Now we’d like to introduce you to CRISPR-Display, one of the latest applications of CRISPR technology for the lncRNA lover that wants to elevate their functional game. Interest in lncRNAs continues to surge, but like other uncharted areas […]
Gene Editing Future Brightens with paCas9June 22, 2015We knew it was coming. No, not another Jurassic Park sequel. No, not another installment of Star Wars. More inevitable than the revival of the Terminator franchise: we now have photoactivatable CRISPR/Cas9. Yes, as surely as the sun rises, scientists have developed a way to use that light (or at least the blue part) to […]
MINimize Your Genome Engineering Efforts with CRISPR and Bxb1May 28, 2015CRISPR is for genome engineering what Mike Tyson was for boxing: simple, efficient and almost a guarantee to see a knockout in the first round. While in boxing a knockout typically results in an involuntary power nap of the opponent, the phenotype of a gene knockout is often not so clear-cut. Besides potential problems caused […]
None Shall Pass! Genome Editing Stops Heritable Diseases in Their TracksMay 4, 2015The scientific world is still reeling from the news of the first genome editing of human embryos to treat genetic disease, as we have reported previously here on Epigenie. Unfortunately, the paper suggested that this strategy may need huge improvement or may never be applicable. However, another recently published study, from the laboratory of Juan Carlos […]
Spray Your Way Free of Cystic Fibrosis with a Gene Editing Nasal SprayMay 1, 2015With allergy season around the corner, you might be turning to nasal sprays to relieve the symptoms. But now Marie Egan’s lab at Yale University have developed a very different type of nasal spray that helps overcome a disorder much more devastating: Cystic Fibrosis. Earlier attempts to correct the F508del CFTR mutation have been undertaken using CRISPRs in […]
Cas9 Gets an Illuminating Upgrade: Light-activatable Genome EditingApril 30, 2015While dead Cas9 (dCas9) has been coupled to optogenetic systems to enable on the fly effector domain action, the not so dead Cas9 has just gotten a very different form of light induction that works with genome editing. The designer genome editing system, developed by a talented team from the University of Pittsburgh and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, […]
CRISPR-Cas9 Gene Editing of Human Embryos: A Look at the ScienceApril 28, 2015Unless you were on Mars or in the middle of a Netflix binge, you couldn’t have missed the paper that has been hitting the headlines all over the world this week – the first example of the genetic modification of human embryos. The study led by Junjiu Huang (Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou) used CRISPR-Cas9 gene […]
CRISPR Goes Back to its Roots to Fight HIVApril 14, 2015All the cool techniques people are developing with CRISPR-Cas9 are great and all, but sometimes a repurposed natural genetic system just has to go back to its roots. If CRISPR was originally a virus defense system in bacteria, why not forget about all this genome engineering whatnot for a minute and just use it to […]
Cancer Therapy Gets a Little PersonalApril 14, 2015Just like snowflakes we are all unique (at least genetically speaking), and unfortunately for modern medicine so are our cancers. This individuality in cancers, even of the same type or subtype, means that there is no single cure-all. However, researchers, like those at the from Washington University in St. Louis and The University of Oklahoma, […]
The Little Blue Pill Gets an Optogenetic UpgradeApril 13, 2015While there’s no denying that optogenetics is one stimulating piece of biotechnology, the double entendre of optogenetics being a ‘turn on‘ has now become fact. The lab of Martin Fussenegger at ETH Zurich’s Department of Biosystems in Basel, Switzerland has developed a synthetic optogenetic technology that allows for the blue Viagra® pill to be skipped by a blue light that induces penile […]