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Gene editing extends lifespan in mouse model of prion disease

Broad Institute

The treatment, which uses base editing to make a single-letter change in DNA, reduced levels of the disease-causing prion protein in the brain by as much as 60 percent. This has the potential to be a really promising strategy. In the future, the team hopes to make the base-editing cargo smaller, because dual AAVs can be costly to produce.

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A Visual Guide to Genome Editors

Codon

Certain CRISPR components can add short DNA sequences from the genomes of defeated viruses into the bacterium’s own genome, creating a type of protective “memory.” If the same virus invades the cell a second time, the gRNA’s spacer sequence will bind to the matching viral DNA sequence, then be cut by the Cas protein.

DNA
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Cable Bacteria are Living Batteries

Codon

A team of Aarhus scientists first discovered cable bacteria in a nearby lake in 2012. The cells also divide slowly — about once every 20 hours — and nobody has figured out a way to get DNA into them, in part because of their thick, cellular membranes. Cable bacteria only grow in mud and water with chemical gradients.

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Driving Toward Nanopores

Codon

And unlike traditional DNA sequencers, which parse genetic material by breaking it up into fragments and interpreting it chunk-by-chunk, a nanopore device unspools a long strand of DNA and reads it all at once. A scientist can isolate DNA and load up a flow cell in fifteen minutes. Nanopore devices work incredibly fast.

DNA
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The Biotech Startup Contraction Continues… And That’s A Good Thing

LifeSciVC

Beyond simply backing great science (separating the wheat from the chafe), setting a company up properly is critical, and early choices can get locked into the DNA of the company. Some continue to do so today, unfortunately, but there appears to be less of it happening. Second, great teams of truly experienced leaders are scarce.

DNA
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The science of ageing and restoring healthspan

Drug Target Review

Modifications to the epigenome, such as DNA hypermethylation, modify the expression of genes by increasing or decreasing their expression without altering the genes themselves. One way we are doing this at Life Biosciences is through partial epigenetic reprogramming. The epigenome drifts with age, leading to dysregulated gene expression.

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Gene-edited babies: Current techniques not safe, say experts

The Pharma Data

One example of current technology is CRISPR, a biological system for altering DNA discovered in 2012. CRISPR scans the genome looking for the right location, and then uses “molecular scissors” to snip through the faulty DNA. While effective in the lab, the process is less than perfect and can cut out too much DNA.

DNA