Menu

Blog

Archive for the ‘genetics’ category: Page 471

Jan 4, 2017

Gene Editing Can Now Change An Entire Species Forever

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biotech/medical, genetics

In Brief CRISPR has opened up limitless avenues for genetic modification. From disease prevention to invasive species control, Jennifer Kahn discusses the discover, application, and implications of gene drives.

Jennifer Kahn, a science journalist for the New York Times, recently did a TED Talk in which she discussed the discovery, application, and implications of a CRISPR gene drive used to make mosquitoes resistant to malaria and other diseases like chikungunya, and Zika.

Continue reading “Gene Editing Can Now Change An Entire Species Forever” »

Jan 2, 2017

America’s refusal to embrace gene editing could start the next Cold War

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biotech/medical, cyborgs, employment, genetics, military, neuroscience, transhumanism

New version of this out: https://www.geneticliteracyproject.org/2017/01/02/americas-r…-cold-war/ #transhumanism #biohacking


Unlike other epic scientific advances…the immediate effect of genetic editing technology is not dangerous. Yet, it stands to be just as divisive to humans as the 70-year proliferation of nuclear weaponry.

The playing field of geopolitics is pretty simple: If China or another country vows to increase its children’s intelligence via genetic editing, and America chooses to remain “au naturel” because they insist that’s how God made them, a conflict species-deep will quickly arise.

Continue reading “America’s refusal to embrace gene editing could start the next Cold War” »

Dec 31, 2016

Genetic researchers discover ‘stop’ button for CRISPR gene editing tool

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biotech/medical, genetics

Researchers have discovered a technique that could block the effects of a powerful gene-editing tool to protect adjacent genes against accidental alteration. The breakthrough could be the beginning of a major step forward for genetic engineering.

Scientists at the University of California (UC) in San Francisco researchers have discovered how to switch off the effects of the CRISPR gene editing system. CRISPR has been a major advance for gene editing, but there are difficulties in limiting its effects on adjacent genes. So far this has militated against its use in research, most obviously, into the human genome.

Read more

Dec 30, 2016

Researchers Discover ‘Stop’ Button for CRISPR

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics

The gene-editing tool is powerful, and an antidote can help make it safer.

Read more

Dec 30, 2016

CRISPR Could Fix Blindness-Causing Mutation

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics

With cells from a patient’s own skin.

Read more

Dec 29, 2016

Model‐guided combinatorial optimization of complex synthetic gene networks

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biological, genetics

Constructing gene circuits that satisfy quantitative performance criteria has been a long‐standing challenge in synthetic biology. Here, we show a strategy for optimizing a complex three‐gene circuit, a novel proportional miRNA biosensor, using predictive modeling to initiate a search in the phase space of sensor genetic composition. We generate a library of sensor circuits using diverse genetic building blocks in order to access favorable parameter combinations and uncover specific genetic compositions with greatly improved dynamic range. The combination of high‐throughput screening data and the data obtained from detailed mechanistic interrogation of a small number of sensors was used to validate the model. The validated model facilitated further experimentation, including biosensor reprogramming and biosensor integration into larger networks, enabling in principle arbitrary logic with miRNA inputs using normal form circuits. The study reveals how model‐guided generation of genetic diversity followed by screening and model validation can be successfully applied to optimize performance of complex gene networks without extensive prior knowledge.

Read more

Dec 28, 2016

How machine learning Is revolutionizing the diagnosis of rare diseases

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics, mobile phones, robotics/AI

Well before the family came in to the Batson Children’s Specialty Clinic in Jackson, Mississippi, they knew something was wrong. Their child was born with multiple birth defects, and didn’t look like any of its kin. A couple of tests for genetic syndromes came back negative, but Omar Abdul-Rahman, Chief of Medical Genetics at the University of Mississippi, had a strong hunch that the child had Mowat-Wilson syndrome, a rare disease associated with challenging life-long symptoms like speech impediments and seizures.

So he pulled out one of his most prized physicians’ tools: his cell phone.

Using an app called Face2Gene, Abdul-Rahman snapped a quick photo of the child’s face. Within a matter of seconds, the app generated a list of potential diagnoses — and corroborated his hunch. “Sure enough, Mowat-Wilson syndrome came up on the list,” Abdul-Rahman recalls.

Continue reading “How machine learning Is revolutionizing the diagnosis of rare diseases” »

Dec 27, 2016

College Students Show How Easy It Is to Use Terrifying Genetic Engineering Technology

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biotech/medical, genetics, habitats

The gene drive is quickly becoming one of the most controversial technologies of our time. Its possibilities are at once spectacular and alarming: by using genetic engineering to override natural selection during reproduction, a gene drive could allow scientists to alter the genetic makeup of an entire species. This could be used to eliminate diseases and protect natural habitats —but could also go horribly wrong in the wrong hands.

Read more

Dec 26, 2016

New Mechanism of How Brain Networks Form Identified

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics, neuroscience, robotics/AI

Excellent read on the brain’s inhibitory circuits v. excitatory circuits when involving the processing of smells.


Summary: Inhibitory neurons form neural networks that become broader as they mature, a new study reports.

Source: Baylor College of Medicine.

Continue reading “New Mechanism of How Brain Networks Form Identified” »

Dec 25, 2016

How DNA Editing Could Change Life on Earth

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics

Rewriting the Code of Life

Through DNA editing, researchers hope to alter the genetic destiny of species and eliminate diseases.

Read more