Bioscience News - GEG Tech top picks

Within the defense mechanism of bacteria, the so-called type III variants of the CRISPR gene produce small signal molecules. With the help of these small molecules, bacteria trigger a complex contingency plan that ensures that a virus can be fought optimally and on a broad front. Researchers have studied how this works and have discovered that the small signal molecules bind, among others, to a protein called CalpL, which thus becomes an active "protease". Proteases are enzymes that cleave proteins and thus function as protein scissors. Proteases are also used in the human immune system to transmit information at high speed. Finally, the researchers also found the target of their newly discovered protein scissors. It cuts a small protein molecule called CalpT, which acts as a safety lock for CalpS, a third protein molecule. CalpS is a very well-guarded protein that is released by the whole mechanism. It will drive the transcription machinery to specific genes, switching the bacteria's metabolism to defense. With the discovery of this complicated signaling cascade, the researchers have now uncovered a whole new aspect of CRISPR systems. The study was published in the renowned scientific journal "Nature". 

Berkeley’s Jennifer Doudna and her colleague from the Max Planck Institute Emmanuelle Charpentier head to court on December 6th to face off against MIT’s Feng Zhang and present their argument before three US Patent and Trademark Office judges on why they, not Zhang, deserve the to own the patent that potentially holds the key to eradicating all inherited diseases.

Agriculture giant Monsanto has licensed CRISPR-Cas9 genome-editing technology from the Broad Institute for use in seed development, the company announced a step that will likely accelerate and simplify the creation of crops that are resistant to drought or have consumer-pleasing properties such as soybean oil with fats as healthy as those in olive oil.

But the deal comes with restrictions that speak to the startling power of CRISPR, as well as widespread public anxiety about genetically modified crops: Monsanto cannot use it for gene drive, the controversial technique that can spread a trait through an entire population, with unknown consequences.

A group of biotech veterans have debuted today a new company, Homology Medicine, with a bold claim that their underlying science is a better version of the gene editing methods, such as CRISPR-Cas9, that have captured the attention of patients, doctors, and scientists looking to treat desperate diseases.

UCR graduate researcher Cory Schwartz and professor of chemical and environmental engineering Ian Wheeldon have expanded the way yeast can be manipulated through the Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats gene editing system (CRISPR-CAS9). With this new system, biofuels, adhesives and fragrances can be mass produced at a cheaper cost.

The new generation CRISPR technology allows the restoration of the retinal and visual function after gene therapy in the treatment of a wide range of inherited ocular diseases. Using a mouse model with Leber Congenital Amaurosis (LCA) due to a clinically relevant pathogenic mutation in the Rpe65 gene, the team from the University of California at Irvine has successfully demonstrated the therapeutic potential of base editing for the treatment of LCA and by extension other blinding hereditary diseases. The researchers overcame some of the obstacles to the CRISPR-Cas9 system, such as unpredictable off-target mutations and low editing efficiency, by using cytosine and adenine base editors. The use of these editors allowed them to correct point mutations in a precise and predictable manner while minimizing unintentional mutations that could cause undesirable side effects. The basic editing treatment restored retinal and visual function in LCA mice to near normal levels. These results are extremely encouraging and represent a major step forward in the development of treatments for inherited retinal diseases.

She’s still Jenny from the block, but now Jennifer Lopez is also the executive producer of a new drama called C.R.I.S.P.R., The Hollywood Reporter writes. Each episode of the new J Lo–produced show, slated to air on NBC, will investigate a criminal bio-attack based on the CRISPR gene-editing technique, from a genetic assassination attempt on the president to the framing of an unborn child for murder.

Lexington, Mass.-based Homology Medicines launched today with a $43.5 million Series A preferred stock financing. 

Homology Medicines will focus on a new gene editing technology, which the founders claim are a better version of CRISPR-Cas9. None of the company’s work has been published, although one of the company’s investors indicates it will publish findings soon.

The anti-GMO activist says, “ Selective breeding is natural, and splicing DNA from one organism to another is so, not?"

The rotifer’s DNA repair mechanism works in a similar way to groundbreaking CRISPR gene editing technology — it gets rid of the bad and replaces with the good.

So it’s all a matter of perspective. A rotifer would probably find genetic manipulation through sex to be wholly unnatural, and a little gross. Borrowing foreign DNA to incorporate into its own? That, it can get behind.