Researchers from Harvard University have succesfully proved that CRISPR can work as a recorder of molecular events. Synthetic DNA molecules introduced in bacteria over a defined timespan were integrated by the CRISPR/Cas system in DNA arrays in the exact same order of introduction. The results, published in the journal Science, pave the way for using CRISPR to […]
A select group of researchers from top American universities gathered last month in an invitation-only meeting at Harvard to discuss the need of technology and an ethical framework for genome-scale engineering. The conclusions are now presented in a paper published in the journal Science, where they propose to start the Human Genome Project–Write (HGP-write). In this call […]
Researchers from the University of Toronto and the University of Otago have discovered five new proteins that block the bacterial CRISPR/Cas immune system. The anti-CRISPR proteins are encoded in genes belonging to bacteriophage sequences inserted in the bacterial genome. The new findings, published in the journal Nature Microbiology, enlarge the list of known anti-CRISPR systems. CRISPR/Cas is a bacterial immune […]
Researchers at the IBS Center for Genome Editing in South Korea have successfully created mutant mice using CRISPR/Cpf1. The alternative to the well-known CRISPR/Cas9 system can edit genomes with exquisite precision and is highly programmable. The findings -published in two papers that appeared this month in the journal Nature Biotechnology-, together with previously known advantages of Cpf1 over […]
Researchers from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in India have developed an innovative technique to cause DNA damage in a controlled manner. Short, intense pulses of laser light can be directed to a therapeutic target without damaging the surrounding area. The findings were published in the journal Scientific Reports. Radiotherapy is a treatment that uses […]
Scientists from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Holy Cross, and Brookhaven National Laboratory have discovered that the filaments present in the surface of Geobacter bacteria have conductive properties comparable to those of copper. The finding, published in the journal mBio, could accelerate the introduction of biological material in nanoscale electronical devices. In general, proteins are […]
Astrocytes, a kind nervous cells that do not conduct electrical signals, react to sensations. Thanks to tiny microscopes developed at the Salk Institute, researchers have discovered that these cells have more roles that previously thought. The new technology will help understand touch and pain phenomena in the spinal cord. The findings were published in the journal Nature […]
CRISPR/Cas9 co-discoverer Emmanuelle Charpentier and collaborators from Germany and Sweden have found that Cas nuclease Cpf1 cleaves DNA and RNA. Cpf1 cuts a precursor of crRNA to produce the mature form; it requires only one RNA strand to cleave the target DNA and is smaller that Cas9. The findings were published in the journal Nature. CRISPR/Cas systems have been […]
