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Sep 2, 2021

CRISPR just proved genes can self-heal in space for the first time ever

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

If in space, no one can hear you scream, then what happens when DNA silently breaks in microgravity? Spoiler alert: it heals itself.

This is what a CRISPR experiment that won the Genes in Space 6 contest — SYFY WIRE was at the recent launch of the Genes in Space 8 experiment to the ISS — found out. DNA damage or breakage can mean the potential for degenerative diseases such as cancer, but the fact that it can also self-repair (and in microgravity!) has enormous implications for medical treatments above and below Earth’s atmosphere.

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  1. samo kupnik says:

    Hello, Thank you for your intriguative informations wich sugests that gene therapy was only tasted because of aplication itself and not because of the use of it. If the genes heal itself from the earths stones, than you are treating thearpy and not genes? Only with appropriate microgravity we can unlock and change genes, and this needs lots of habits and work? Regards.