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11:55 am | These guests basically utilize the beach at night as their own personal entertainment venue....

09:54 am | At the pinnacle of Longboat luxury properties stands the Ohana Estate priced at $19.9 million....

09:45 am | The building provides a base of operations for collaborating scientists from around the world....

01:05 am | Officer says video taping of the suspects apparently angered them, causing the incident to intensify....

01:00 am | Mr. Mayor, I think you are totally out of order. This has not been noticed, said Spoll....

12:55 am | There have been 46 commission races for seats in the five town districts since 2000. Of those, 72 percent, or 33 of them, having only a single...

12:51 am | Town Manager Dave Bullock found the next Public Works Director for Longboat Key close to home....

12:02 am | Rotary Club honors those who protect and serve our island as residents and families show support....

11:51 pm | More stringent ordinance enacted due to LBK having highest number of disorientations in area....

11:48 pm | The Unstoppable Wasp is about females in science working together for a common cause....

11:31 pm | There is no better place Ive run across where residents are as smart, rationally informed and care so much about where they live....

11:28 pm | Im not sure weve thought through the ramifications, said Commissioner Randy Clair....

11:25 pm | Mote Marine Laboratory documented the first three local sea turtle nests of 2017 two on Sunday, April 30, and one on Monday, May 1 in Venice,...

01:58 pm | The stakes could not be higher. The future look of the island, the evolution of property values and the protection of development rights all intersect. ...

01:54 pm | Mote tags 34 sharks in mission to understand habitat, patterns and populations....

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Proventil hfa ventolin hfa - Proventil inhaler dosage for adults - Longboat Key News

Recommendation and review posted by sam

The research studies carried out by John B. Gurdon (Anglo-Saxon) and Shinya Yamanaka (Japanese) were awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine. These two scientists are considered of being the fathers of cellular reprogramming. They have achieved to create cells that behave identically to embryonic cells, however, without having to destroy human embryos. The Swiss Academy declared that both Gurdon and Yamanaka have revolutionized the current knowledge of how cells and organisms are developed, which has led to the perfection of the absurd methods of diagnosis and therapy.

Jhon Bertrand Gurdon, professor of the Zoology Department of the University of Cambridge, admitted of feeling extremely honored for such a spectacular privilege.

Moreover, Shinya Yamanaka discovered the so called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS), which have the same proprieties of the embryonic ones and are able to turn into whatever other type of body cell. He asserted that he will continue to conduct research in order to contribute to society and medicine. For him that is a duty.

Yamanaka created four types of genes that supply cells with their pluripotentiality, in other words, the same capacity that embryonic stem cells have. If implanted in differentiated cells, for example of skin, they become pluripotent stem cells. The iPS supply a vast amount of plasticity just as embryonic stem cells do, however, without requiring the extermination or cloning of human embryos, since the initial cells can be obtained from the same patient. In this aspect, these cells have the same status as adult stem cells do, with the advantage of their versatility.

The dilema that has been stirred by the iPS is being resolved due to recent studies carried out by Leisuke Kaji (Universidad de Edimburgo) and Andreas Nagy (Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute of Mount Sinai Hospital of Toronto).

The created iPS perennially retain their pluripotentiality. There is still the need of research to be conducted concerning the control of the difference between these cells in order for them to create the tissue that is necessary for each case. As Kaji affirms in The Guardian, it is a step towards the practical use of reprogrammed cells in the field of medicine, which could eventually lead to eliminating the need of counting on human embryos as the main source of stem cells.

The Episcopal Subcommittee for the Family and Defense of Life of the Episcopal Conference, beliefs that no Catholic could support practices such as abortion, euthanasia or the production, freezing and/or manipulation of human embryos.

Clement Ferrer

Independent Forum of Opinion

http://indeforum.wordpress.com/

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The Gilmer Mirror - Hurray for Gurdon and Yamanaka Nobel Prize ... - Gilmer Mirror

Recommendation and review posted by simmons

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Words do not begin to explain how grateful we are for all their help and for giving us our little miracle that is slowly on its way. It is truly a blessing to be given the opportunity that these beautiful individuals have provided to our families and ourselves.

With Dr. Abae every step of the way was individualized and there was always ample time to ask talk; we are having twins.

I cried when I only had two embryos for transfer, but Dr. Abae said: Why are you crying? We ve got the best two embryos ever. He was right, my child is beautiful.

Originally posted here:
Fertility and Genetics - Affordable High Quality Fertility ...

Recommendation and review posted by simmons

Even while she was pregnant with her son Brendon, now 18, Lisa Pleasants knew there was a possibility he would be born with a rare genetic condition that could leave him legally blind.

Pleasants has two brothers and a cousin who were born with X-linked retinoschisis, which causes layers of the retina to separate. It is the leading cause of juvenile macular degeneration in males.

Brendon Pleasants is legally blind. He uses magnifiers, large-print books, a camera connected to a computer, a Galaxy S6 cell phone and an iPad to read. Without assistance, he can read the top two lines of an eye chart. But his vision is getting worse over time, he said.

A recent graduate of Mandarin High School, Brendan was an honor roll student who ran track and cross country and earned a black belt in karate.

His mom is founder of MOMS for Sight, a nonprofit working to fund research into and raise awareness about retinal degenerative diseases.

MOMS for Sights primary fundraiser is its annual Black Ties &Blindfolds gala. MOMS for Sight also participates in the Foundation Fighting Blindnesss annual Vision Walk and sells MOMS for Sight bracelets through the website http://www.momsforsight.org, where she also writes an occasional blog.

This year MOMS for Sight raised $18,000, part of $86,000 raised in Jacksonville for the Foundation Fighting Blindness.

Both Lisa and Brendon Pleasants see gene therapy as their hope for the future. His condition is caused by the lack of a certain protein. They have been excited about the research into gene therapy being done by William W. Hauswirth, a professor of ophthalmology at the University of Florida. Hauswirth is an innovator of delivery systems for sight-saving gene therapies that could provide the missing protein.

In April 2016, MOMS for Sight honored Shannon Boye, an assistant professor in University of Florida Department of Ophthalmology, who works with Hauswirth, with its MOMS for Sight Visionary award during the Black Tie &Blindfolds gala.

Last winter, Brendon was initially accepted into a gene therapy trial in Boston. But testing revealed that he had high pressure in his eyes, something hed never had before.

High eye pressure is a warning sign for glaucoma and Brendon had to leave the trial and return to Jacksonville to get laser treatment for his glaucoma.

In one of her MOMS for Sight blogs, Lisa Pleasants wrote about their disappointment at not starting the trial: This post is most likely the hardest one Ive ever written and it has taken me a few weeks to gather my emotions . We were absolutely crushed . The doctor in Boston told us, as he saw my tears forming, that everything happens for a reason and that we should be thankful we found this new issue early. I am thankful.

The Pleasant are hopeful Brendon will eventually get admitted to a trial. In the meantime, hes preparing to head to Orlando to attend the University of Central Florida, where he wants to study engineering.

His goal is to become an aerospace engineer. Hes been fascinated by the space program since he was a little boy.

When he was 4 years old, Lisa Pleasants said, he told me, I dont want to be on the rocket that goes into space. I want to build the rocket that goes into space.

At UCF, Brendon Pleasants will live in a dorm. Hes confident hell have no difficulties finding his way around campus. If he wants or needs to go somewhere off campus, he can call for an Uber or catch a ride with friends. Hes looking forward to the experience.

I like feeling independent, he said.

Charlie Patton: (904) 359-4413

See original here:
With a son who is legally blind, Lisa Pleasants works to raise funds for research - Florida Times-Union

Recommendation and review posted by simmons

The Sun Herald

Girl who threw first pitch aims to strike out disease affecting her 3-year-old sister The Sun Herald She threw the pitch, which was sponsored by the Sun Herald, hoping it would help strike out multiple sulfatase deficiency or MSD, a rare genetic disease affecting her sister, 3-year-old Willow Cannan. MSD affects ... While Willow will not make the trip ...

The rest is here:
Girl who threw first pitch aims to strike out disease affecting her 3-year-old sister - The Sun Herald

Recommendation and review posted by simmons

Testing for abnormal breast cancer genes such as BRCA1, BRCA2, and PALB2 is usually done on a blood or saliva sample taken in your doctors office and sent to a commercial laboratory or a research testing facility. Most people have it done by a commercial lab. During testing, the genes are separated from the rest of the DNA, and then they are scanned for abnormalities.

Often, the type of genetic testing that's done and the specific genes being tested dictate whether testing in a research setting is possible. Research labs tend to perform free and anonymous testing. But they may provide limited results or require multiple family members to participate. In addition, test results may not be available for many months or years, and sometimes they're not available at all.

In the United States, several laboratories perform commercial BRCA1, BRCA2, and PALB2 testing, including Myriad Genetic Laboratories, Ambry Genetics, and GeneDx. They report results within 2 to 4 weeks. Abnormalities in other genes have also been associated with breast cancer risk. BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations are the most common cause of hereditary breast cancer. Right now, PALB2 and other breast cancer gene abnormalities appear to be a less common cause of breast cancer, although testing for many of these genes is now also available. People choosing to undergo genetic testing may choose to be tested for only the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes or to have multiple breast cancer-related genes tested together through a panel test. The cost of testing ranges from approximately $300 to $5,000, depending on whether you are being tested for only a specific area(s) of a gene known to be abnormal or if hundreds of areas are being examined within multiple genes.

Because different types of genetic abnormalities are detected by different test methodologies, it is important to be aware of the technical test type being performed. Gene sequencing detects the majority of genetic mutations. However, this test method cannot detect large mutations or genetic rearrangements that may occur within the genes. Therefore, testing the genes for large-scale mutations is also recommended. Most laboratories offering testing will perform both types of tests at the same time. If your testing was done in the past, it is possible screening for large-scale mutations was not performed. Inquire with the physician or genetic counselor who ordered testing to confirm what types of testing were completed and whether you may be eligible for any additional testing.

Find out if your insurance plan will cover genetic testing many insurance plans do. The 2008 Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) protects against discrimination by health insurance plans based on an individuals genetic information. However, if you're still concerned about your privacy, you may pay for the testing yourself and submit your blood sample under a code number or an assumed name. If you opt for the latter, choose a name you can remember easily and stick to it. In addition, GINA does not extend to life insurance, so securing life insurance coverage prior to genetic testing is suggested.

In 1988, the U.S. Congress passed the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) to ensure quality standards and the accuracy and reliability of results across all testing laboratories (except research). Genetic testing should be performed by a CLIA-approved facility.

Original post:
Genetic Testing Facilities and Cost - Breastcancer.org

Recommendation and review posted by simmons

BBC News

Chief medical officer calls for gene testing revolution - BBC News BBC News Cancer patients should be routinely offered DNA tests to help select the best treatments for them, according to England's chief medical officer. Prof Dame Sally ... Gene testing could revolutionise cancer treatment - ITV NewsITV News Everything you need to know about the Government plan for genetic testing to treat cancer patientsBT.com Call for revolutionary DNA cancer care on NHSSky News Telegraph.co.uk -Daily Mail -Financial Times all 25 news articles »

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Chief medical officer calls for gene testing revolution - BBC News - BBC News

Recommendation and review posted by simmons

Cancer patients should have routine access to genetic testing to improve diagnosis and treatment, according to Englands chief medical officer.

Despite the UK being a world leader in genomic medicine its full potential is still not being realised, Professor Dame Sally Davies said in a new report.

This timely report from the chief medical officer showcases just how much is now possible in genomics research and care within the NHS. - Sir Harpal Kumar, Cancer Research UK

Davies urged clinicians and the Government to work together and make wider use of new genetic techniques in an attempt to improve cancer survival rates.

Genetic testing can pinpoint the faults in DNA that have led to a cancer forming. Different cancers have different faults, and these determine which treatments may or may not work.

Such testing could lead to patients being diagnosed faster and receiving more targeted or precise treatments.

Davies said that the age of precision medicine is now and that the NHS must act quickly to remain world class.

This technology has the potential to change medicine forever but we need all NHS staff, patients and the public to recognise and embrace its huge potential. said Davies.

Sir Harpal Kumar, Cancer Research UKs chief executive, agreed, saying that it would be a disservice to patients if the UK were slow to respond to innovations in this area.

The report recommends that within 5 years training should be available to current and future clinicians and that all patients should be being offered genomic tests just as readily as theyre given MRI scans today.

Davies also called for research and international collaboration to be prioritised, along with investment in research and services so that patients across the country have equal access.

However the report recognises potential challenges such as data protection issues and attitudes of clinicians and the public.

This timely report from the chief medical officer showcases just how much is now possible in genomics research and care within the NHS, added Sir Kumar.

Cancer Research UK is determined to streamline research, to find the right clinical trial for cancer patients and to ensure laboratory discoveries benefit patients.

And the design of clinical trials are starting to change. A number of trials are underway, like Cancer Research UKs National Lung Matrix Trial with AstraZeneca and Pfizer, where patients with a certain type of lung cancer are assigned a specific treatment based on the genetic makeup of their cancer.

However, Sir Harpal Kumar stressed that to bring the reports vision to life the Government, the NHS, regulators and research funders need to act together.

See original here:
Greater access to genetic testing needed for cancer diagnosis and treatment - Cancer Research UK

Recommendation and review posted by sam

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DuPont Pioneer announced it has secured exclusive rights to CRISPR-cas technology for all agricultural uses and applications in plants. CRISPR is one of the newest ways to edit biological genomes.

DuPont Pioneer Vice-President Neal Gutterson says,We see CRISPR-Cas technology as an advancement in plant breeding which can enable a new era in crop improvement. This licensing agreement with ERS is a piece of DuPont Pioneers strategy to position our business as a leader in the application of CRISPR-Cas in agriculture."

The licensing agreement is with ERS Genomics and already DuPont has 60 patents or patent applications for CRISPR bacteria identification and immunization, as well as gene editing technology.

Pioneer says it wants to use CRISPR to develop better environmental resiliency, productivity, and sustainability.

In another statement DuPont promises open and transparent communications and appropriate, science-based regulatory oversight for its work with CRISPR.

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Seed Company Secures CRISPR Rights | whotv.com - whotv.com

Recommendation and review posted by simmons

CRISPR-Cas3 is a subtype of the CRISPR-Cas system, a widely adopted molecular tool for precision gene editing in biomedical research. Aspects of its mechanism of action, however, particularly how it searches for its DNA targets, were unclear, and concerns about unintended off-target effects have raised questions about the safety of CRISPR-Cas for treating human diseases.

Harvard Medical School and Cornell University scientists have nowgenerated near-atomic resolution snapshots of CRISPR that reveal key steps in its mechanism of action. The findings, published in Cell on June 29, provide the structural data necessary for efforts to improve the efficiency and accuracy of CRISPR for biomedical applications.

Through cryo-electron microscopy, the researchers describe for the first time the exact chain of events as the CRISPR complex loads target DNA and prepares it for cutting by the Cas3 enzyme. These structures reveal a process with multiple layers of error detectiona molecular redundancy that prevents unintended genomic damage, the researchers say.

High-resolution details of these structures shed light on ways to ensure accuracy and avert off-target effects when using CRISPR for gene editing.

To solve problems of specificity, we need to understand every step of CRISPR complex formation, said Maofu Liao, assistant professor of cell biology at Harvard Medical School and co-senior author of the study. Our study now shows the precise mechanism for how invading DNA is captured by CRISPR, from initial recognition of target DNA and through a process of conformational changes that make DNA accessible for final cleavage by Cas3.

Discovered less than a decade ago, CRISPR-Cas is an adaptive defense mechanism that bacteria use to fend off viral invaders. This process involves bacteria capturing snippets of viral DNA, which are then integrated into its genome and which produce short RNA sequences known as crRNA (CRISPR RNA). These crRNA snippets are used to spot enemy presence.

Acting like a barcode, crRNA is loaded onto members of the CRISPR family of enzymes, which perform the function of sentries that roam the bacteria and monitor for foreign code. If these riboprotein complexes encounter genetic material that matches its crRNA, they chop up that DNA to render it harmless. CRISPR-Cas subtypes, notably Cas9, can be programmed with synthetic RNA in order to cut genomes at precise locations, allowing researchers to edit genes with unprecedented ease.

To better understand how CRISPR-Cas functions, Liao partnered with Ailong Ke of Cornell University. Their teams focused on type 1 CRISPR, the most common subtype in bacteria, which utilizes a riboprotein complex known as CRISPR Cascade for DNA capture and the enzyme Cas3 for cutting foreign DNA.

Through a combination of biochemical techniques and cryo-electron microscopy, they reconstituted stable Cascade in different functional states, and further generated snapshots of Cascade as it captured and processed DNA at a resolution of up to 3.3 angstromsor roughly three times the diameter of a carbon atom.

In CRISPR-Cas3, crRNA is loaded onto CRISPR Cascade, which searches for a very short DNA sequence known as PAM that indicates the presence of foreign viral DNA.

Liao, Ke and their colleagues discovered that as Cascade detects PAM, it bends DNA at a sharp angle, forcing a small portion of the DNA to unwind. This allows an 11-nucleotide stretch of crRNA to bind with one strand of target DNA, forming a seed bubble.

The seed bubble acts as a fail-safe mechanism to check whether the target DNA matches the crRNA. If they match correctly, the bubble is enlarged and the remainder of the crRNA binds with its corresponding target DNA, forming what is known as an R-loop structure.

Once the R-loop is completely formed, the CRISPR Cascade complex undergoes a conformational change that locks the DNA into place. It also creates a bulge in the second, non-target strand of DNA, which is run through a separate location on the Cascade complex.

Only when a full R-loop state is formed does the Cas3 enzyme bind and cut the DNA at the bulge created in the non-target DNA strand.

The findings reveal an elaborate redundancy to ensure precision and avoid mistakenly chopping up the bacterias own DNA.

To apply CRISPR in human medicine, we must be sure the system is accurate and that it does not target the wrong genes, said Ke, who is co-senior author of the study. Our argument is that the CRISPR-Cas3 subtype has evolved to be a precise system that carries the potential to be a more accurate system to use for gene editing. If there is mistargeting, we know how to manipulate the system because we know the steps involved and where we might need to intervene.

Structures of CRISPR Cascade without target DNA and in its post-R-loop conformational states have been described, but this study is the first to reveal the full sequence of events from seed bubble formation to R-loop formation at high resolution.

In contrast to the scalpel-like Cas9, CRISPR-Cas3 acts like a shredder that chews DNA up beyond repair. While CRISPR-Cas3 has, thus far, limited utility for precision gene editing, it is being developed as a tool to combat antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria. A better understanding of its mechanisms may broaden the range of potential applications for CRISPR-Cas3.

In addition, all CRISPR-Cas subtypes utilize some version of an R-loop formation to detect and prepare target DNA for cleavage. The improved structural understanding of this process can now enable researchers to work toward modifying multiple types of CRISPR-Cas systems to improve their accuracy and reduce the chance of off-target effects in biomedical applications.

Scientists hypothesized that these states existed but they were lacking the visual proof of their existence, said co-first author Min Luo, postdoctoral fellow in the Liao lab at HMS. The main obstacles came from stable biochemical reconstitution of these states and high-resolution structural visualization. Now, seeing really is believing.

Weve found that these steps must occur in a precise order, Luo said. Evolutionarily, this mechanism is very stringent and has triple redundancy, to ensure that this complex degrades only invading DNA.

Read the rest here:

Bringing CRISPR into Focus - Bioscience Technology

Recommendation and review posted by sam

Recent debate over the safety of CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing following a study that suggested it can cause hundreds of unexpected mutations [1]left me puzzled. The research (see BioNews 903), published in Nature Methods and carried out in three living mice, could indeed be criticized for the lack of stringent controls and technical errors. In addition, a number of sloppy mistakes suggested a misinterpretation of the data and therefore incorrect conclusions [2]. It is hard to believe the assertion that CRISPR-Cas9 editing caused so many mutations. And it is also hard to believe how such sloppiness passed the scrutiny of one of the most highly-ranked scientific journals.

In defence of the authors, they did the right thing they used whole-genome sequencing to assess possible effects of CRISPR-Cas9-mediated genome editing in their experimental system. What they found - from their point of view - was quite alarming, and by publishing the study they wanted to make the data available to the public and warn the scientific community.

The puzzling part to me is the reaction of the companies Intellia Therapeutics and Editas Medicine and their calls for the paper to be retracted on the grounds of flawed design and interpretation (see BioNews 905). Intellia is working on permanently editing disease-associated genes in the human body with a single treatment course, whereas Editas Medicine is dedicated to treating patients with genetically defined diseases. The base technology used by both companies is CRISPR-Cas9.

Why did they get so upset? The notion that CRISPR-Cas9-mediated genome editing may not be flawless brought down the share values of the companies. If they are so cocksure that the technology is flawless, the companies must have proof of that from their own pipelines. Instead just launching an attack to put minds of the investors at peace, they could make available a few examples of whole-genome sequencing data sets before and after CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing from their own work. This would show (I assume) that the technology is indeed in their hands very precise and, therefore, safe.

Failure to do that, makes me question whether they do whole-genome sequencing before and after CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing. I cannot help but ask the question, what is their quality control?

How they can even think about developing clinical products without demonstrating that there are no unwanted genome alterations following genome editing? Regulatory bodies, concerned about patient safety, would never approve clinical studies without such proofs. Thus, naturally, the companies' shares have ended up plunging.

Such an approach is standard in other fields of emerging therapies. If you, for example, work in cellular therapy with pluripotent stem cells, either human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) or human iPSs (induced pluripotent stem) cells, you would have to demonstrate the efficiency of your differentiation protocol by showing that not a single cell remained in a pluripotent state afterwards (which can lead to teratoma formation) - even though the probability of this happening is very low. The field has been struggling for years with the challenge of validating a hESC/hiPSC-derived cell dose for the absence of pluripotent stem cells.

And whole-genome sequencing is a part of the quality control in hiPSC-based clinical trials due to the fear that the reprogramming of somatic cells into hiPSC might cause mutations - even when the method used to reprogram the cells in the first place does not involve integrating DNA into the genome. Hence the possibility of introducing mutations due to reprogramming is almost zero.[3]

With CRISPR-Cas9, we are dealing with a genome editing technology and a remote possibility of unwanted genome alterations cannot be neglected. The whole genome sequencing before and after the editing should be a paradigm of quality control for any serious research study, not only clinical work.

And cost should not be an issue. According to the US National Human Genome Research Institute, the price of generating a high-quality 'draft' whole human genome sequence had fallen below US$1,500 [4] by the end of 2015, whereas the cost of a whole-exome sequence was generally below US$1,000. With such low costs, using this method for quality control should be a no-brainer for any CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing research study, not only for clinical applications.

How about CRISPR-Cas9-mediated genome editing in human embryos? The UK's HFEA (Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority) last year granted a research licence for this (see BioNews 837) and, therefore, the same rules should apply as for any other research study. The complexity of the system and number of cells available would determine quality control. How investigators who have the licence granted will tackle the issue, remains to be seen.

See more here:

Safety matters can we be sure that CRISPR-Cas9 is not producing unwanted genetic alterations? - BioNews

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Stem cell therapy: the next wave in regenerative medicine?

All it involved was a quick injection no different, really, than a flu shot.

A few weeks later, Bill Ambrose realized hed become significantly less reliant on taking Aleve for knee pain, and he was re-learning how to walk without shuffling his feet.

Surgery, it turned out, might not be necessary after all.

Last November, Ambrose scheduled knee surgery to alleviate discomfort in his knees caused by what orthopedic doctors called true bone-on-bone at the joint. But for one reason or another, he kept missing pre-surgery and the surgery never happened.

The next month, Ambrose met with Dr. Bill Nolan, of Cherry Street Health Group, to discuss advertising space in the Danvers Herald.

For the purpose of full disclosure, Ambrose is an employee of Gatehouse Media Company, and he works in the advertising department for Wicked Local, the local branch of GHM newspapers.

After Nolans ads ran inthe Jan. 5issue of the Herald, Ambrose said he reached out to Nolan again. This time, for himself.

Nolans practice offered a solution to his knee pain an alternative to knee surgery he had never considered before: stem cell therapy.

Essentially, the solutionCherry StreetHealth Group offered was an injection of amniotic fluid into Ambrose's knee joint. The stem cells and other growth factorsin the fluid would allow for the regeneration of the cartilage at the joint.

I became interested so I decided to go ahead with it, Ambrose said.

He brought in scans to show Nolan, who said, contrary to what orthopedic doctors had told him, he didnt have true bone on bone. There was still a small space between the bones.

I decided to have one leg done and my knee started getting much better, he said.

Satisfied with the results of the first injection, Ambrose decided to get his left knee done in April.

I still experience some pain in [the left knee], but I get up in the morning and theres very little pain at all, he said in an interview a few weeks following the appointment.

The stem cell option

In the U.S., there are three ways that stem cells are used, Nolan said. Theyre either taken from bone marrow, fat cells, or the amniotic membrane of a healthy c-section from a consenting woman.

When stem cellsare injected into the body,they're expected to increase space at the joint, rebuild cartilage, and ultimately, provide more stability in the joint. As many as 570 businesses across the country advertise some kind of stem cell therapy, according to a 2016 paper.

Stem cell therapy is not necessarily a new discovery, but it is relatively recent in the world of regenerative medicine.Stem cells were first used as much as century ago, first for eye procedures and as filler for the spinal cord, according to Regenexx, which claims to have pioneered orthopedic stem cell treatments in 2005.

Adult stem cells are retrieved directly from the patient, either frombone marrow or fat cells,and concentrated beforeits reinjectedinto the patient's site of pain.

In the case of amniotic fluid therapy,amniotic fluid, which contains stem cells and other growth factors, is injected into the site. These cellshave been shown to "expand extensively" and show "high renewal capacity,"according to research published in the National Library of Medicine.

We know that as you age, your stem cell count decreases,Nolan said, explaining the benefit of using cells from the amniotic membrane. We know that when we get it from the amniotic membrane, theres a large amount of stem cells that are present. From the amniotic membrane, there are no antibodies or antigens, so its safe for anyone to get.

At Cherry Street Health Group, theproduct usedis produced by General Surgical and distributed by RegenOMedix, according to Nolan.The product, which is called ReGen Anu RHEO, is American Tissue Bank approved and FDA cleared.

RHEO is marketed as "a human tissue allograft derived from placental tissue; amniotic membrane and amniotic fluid."Its a"powerful combination" of amniotic fluid and mesencymal stem cells, which are known to differentiate into a variety of cell types, according to RegenOMedix.It also contains growth factor proteins andis "rich" in other necessary components for tissue regeneration.

The product is non-steroidal and comes with no side effects, and the company says no adverse events have been recorded using the product.

Nolan said stem cell therapy has been offered as a treatmentat Cherry Street since 2016.

Across the U.S., there are as many as 56 businesses marketing some form of amniotic stem cellsto its consumers, according to the same paper.

At Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, for example, orthopedic surgeon Adam Yanke enrolled one of his patients into an experimental amniotic cell therapy treatment program. The woman, a 65-year-old suffering from osteoarthritis in both knees, told reporters the injections were "by far the most effective pain treatment" she had tried, and so farthat relief has lasted up to a year.

But while the use of amniotic fluid therapyas a regenerative medicine is becoming increasingly popular throughout the U.S.,the use of amniotic stemcellsdoesn't comewithout concern from some within the community.

Dr. Chris Centeno, who specializes in regenerative medicine andthe clinical use of adult stem cells, has blogged numerous times for Regenexx on the "scam" of using amniotic stem cells most recently in sharply worded post on May 22.

"Regrettably, we have an epidemic on our hands that began when sales reps began telling medical providers thattheir dead amniotic and cord tissues had loads of live cells on it," he wrote.

Nolan said he was familiar with Centeno's posts.

"A lot of the stem cell stuff is new," he said. "Some of the products out there ... They were doing testing on them and not finding cells."

Cherry Street Health Group has treatedabout 50patients with this form of regenerative medicine and had significant success, according to Nolan. Although Nolan owns the health group on Cherry Street in Danvers, the stem cell treatments are provided under the medical practice of Dr. Pat Scanlan.

Weve had really, really amazing success, Nolan said. Weve had over 95 percent success of all the patients weve had in the office. Its been a game changer from a practice standpoint.

The "worst thing" that could happen is there might not be any regeneration, he explained.

"You might get pain relief, but no regeneration," Nolan said. "But from what weve seen, there have been no negative side effects."

At Cherry Street, knees are the most commonly treated joints, followed by hips, shoulders and the lower back. The cervical spine is the least common.

"I hesitated on the surgery, and I'm gladI did," Ambrose said. "Even if[the stem cells]don't do any more than what they've done, its been well worth it."

Patients who do present with true bone on bone, however, are not candidates for this form of therapy, Nolan said.

The cost comparison

At Cherry Street Health Group, the cost of the injection comes toroughly $4,000 per knee, a cost that isn't covered by insurance. By comparison, health-care providers often charge insurers more than $18,000 for knee replacement surgeries in the Boston area, according to a report by the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.

The report, however, doesn't account for what the patient actually pays.

Nolan said when other factors of post-op are considered time off of work, rehabilitation time and cost the out-of-pocketcost for surgery compared to stem cell treatment is comparable.

"When you really boil it down, it can be the same or, in a lot of cases, a savings," he said.

Ambrose said it "boggles his mind" that more people don't choose this treatment over surgery.

"Why would you spend $40,000 on a car and not want to spend $4,000 on a knee?," he said."Its crazy. Yes, its out of pocket. So what? We buy a lot of stuff we dont need, and then for something like this, something that people, if they do it, theyll be glad they did it. Its just hard to convince them to do it."

In arecent report in STAT news, a health news start up of the Boston Globe, a study of orthopedic procedures in the U.S. suggested an estimated one-third of knee replacement surgeries are inappropriate. More than 640,000 of these surgeries are performed each year, making for a $10 billion dollar industry in knee surgery.

The study said that evidence isn't limited to just knee surgeries.

"There's a lot that needs to change when we look at health care in general,"Nolan said. "It's really no surprise that something like doing this regenerative medicine is going to take time for it to really take off."

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it will provide regenexx, a regenerative stem cells procedure to treat orthopedic and sports injuries (Attn.Editors: The following press release comes to you under an arrangement with NewsVoir. PTI takes no editorial responsibility for the same).

It will provide Regenexx, a regenerative stem cells procedure to treat orthopedic and sports injuries

Mumbai, Maharashtra, India (NewsVoir)July 5, 2017-- Regenexx, the world's most advanced stem cell procedures for treating orthopedic conditions and sports injuries has entered in Mumbai. This is there second branch in Asia. It would offer two stem cell procedures using imaging and interventional orthopaedic techniques to non-surgically repair and regenerate.The first one is a same-day procedure where stem cells are harvested, isolated and re-implanted on the same day. The second one is blood-derived plasma-rich platelet procedure. They would help athletes and non-athletes overcome early, mild, moderate ortho problems in a way that is devoid of surgery.

Regenexx is the most advanced stem cell and platelet procedures for treating orthopedic injuries, arthritis and other degenerative conditions. These procedures offer non-surgical alternatives to commonly occurring musculoskeletal conditions. Patented Regenexx procedures use precise injections of your own stem cells or blood platelets to help your body's ability to heal damaged muscles, tendons, ligaments, cartilage, spinal disc and bone. Regenexx Stem Cell Therapy and Platelet Procedures, avoid the need for invasive surgery, in turn eliminating any complications that are typically seen with surgeries.

On this occasion Dr. Venkatesh Movva, MD, Regenexx India says, "The only option till now was total knee replacement. Now with this technology we can heal and regenerate the lost tissues like cartilage, meniscus and ligaments to reverse the arthritis and in turn avoid any major surgery. Patients return to their loved activities in no time. We could also treat conditions like lower back pain, hip arthritis, bulging discs, ankle and shoulder rotator cuff tears with stem cells orthopedics procedure. Majority of these are lifestyle related conditions,"

Regenexx procedures are image guided needle based procedures, so the downtime for recovery is minimal or none. These are truly ambulatory procedures without the need for hospitalization. The procedure process involves harvesting bone marrow stem cells, using our sophisticated lab process to separate cells and precise image guided injections into the target joints in an outpatient setting. Dr. Apurv Mahalle, MGIMS, says, "Regenexx procedures are out-patient procedues and that patients can walk out of the treatment the same day. Physiotherapy team at Regenexx will help patients make the necessary changes to their physical movements so that the procedures are effective." There is no alternative for arthritis patients but to wait until the joint is bad enough for a replacement and then go through a surgery. Regenexx procedures are going to help these patients get back to the normal routine without the necessity of a replacement surgery.

About Dr. Venkatesh Movva

Dr. Movva has fellowship trained in Sports Medicine & is board certified in pain management. He incorporates his unique training into a minimally invasive non-surgical approach in his practice, providing various cutting-edge treatments. Dr. Venkateshss Movva has introduced the world's most advanced Regenerative orthopedic stem cell and platelet procedures known as Regenexx. Training Experience:

University of Oklahoma

O Clinical Base at Eastern Oklahoma Orthopedic Center Team Physician

O Tulsa University Basketball and Football Team NCAA I Team Physician

O Oral Roberts University Basketball,Soccer, Volleybal Track and Field Teams NCAA I

Team Physician

O Northeastern State University Football Team NCAA II

Board Certification:

American Board of Pain Medicine (ABPM) American Academy of Pain Medicine (AAPM) American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM)

Memberships:

American Medical Association (AMA)

Amercan Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM) American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) National Acedemy of Sports Medicine (NASM) Amercan Board of Sports Medicine (ABPM) American Academy of Pain Medicine (AAPM) About Regenexx

Regenexx is based out of Colarado, U.S.A is a group of doctors working towards the development of non-surgical procedures for treating orthopaedic injuries, arthritis, meniscus tears and other degenerative conditions. These procedures have been in development for over a decade and Dr. Venkatesh Movva one of the initial group of Regenexx doctor's has been contributing to the research and development of these procedures. Over 40,000 procedures have been performed using Regenexx regenerative science since 2006.

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Women not only live longer than men, they also appear to be in more robust health. A new hypothesis offers a reason why: it's in their genes.

Women are known to have a lower incidence of cancer men have a two- to five-fold greater risk of developing the disease. Women are also better able to survive trauma, and, according to some reports, don't get as seriously ill from bacterial and viral infections.

In a new paper, researchers from Ghent University in Belgium argue these sex-specific health disparities may be due, at least in part, to tiny pieces of genetic material called microRNAs. The main function of microRNAs in cells is to turn off, or "silence," specific genes. The researchers say microRNAs located on the female X chromosome may give women an immune system advantage over males.

While the researchers' idea is certainly debatable, the paper "raises awareness of how little we consider the influence of sex on immune responses," said Eleanor Fish, a professor of immunology at the University of Toronto in Canada, who was not involved in the work.

Often, researchers who conduct medical studies on people do not analyze their data by sex, and sometimes they don't report the sex of patients at all. Hopefully this will change, Fish said, so that every time a study is done, sex differences are considered, she said.

XX and XY

In humans, sex is genetic: Females have two X chromosomes, while males have one X and one Y. However, in females, one X chromosome in each cell in the body is randomly shut off, or inactivated, while the embryo is developing.

But X inactivation is not a perfect process, and sometimes genes on the X chromosome escape inactivation. In this case, a female ends up with two active copies of a particular gene.

Here is where the researchers think the microRNAs come in. The X chromosome contains 10 percent of all microRNAs in the human genome. The Y chromosome has none. Some of the microRNAs on the X chromosome are thought to be involved in immune system function and cancer development.

If a microRNA did something "good," like help control cell growth, having two copies of that microRNA might provide females with extra protection against cancer. The same would be true for microRNAs that played a role in immune function.

As a real-life example, septic patients (who have widespread bacterial infections) have low levels of a particular microRNA found on the X chromosome, the researchers said.Thus, this particular microRNA may offer some protection against sepsis.

The researchers said they need to do more work to support their theory. For example, it's not known whether microRNAs on the X chromosome "escape" inactivation, they said.

Other factors

The X chromosome is known to contain a number of genes related to health, Fish said, and adding microRNAs to the mix would suggest that the X chromosome is even more important in terms of health differences between men and women.

However, the X chromosome is far from the only reason for the strong immune response in females, Fish said. Hormonal differences and a number of other factors probably play a role, she said.

Researchers have only recently turned their attention to mircoRNAs, and there is likely an incredible amount of information we can learn from them, Fish said.

The paper is published today (Sept. 27) in the journal BioEssays.

Pass it on: Women's seemingly superior immune systems might come from having more microRNAs in their cells than men.

This story was provided by MyHealthNewsDaily, a sister site to LiveScience. Follow MyHealthNewsDaily staff writer Rachael Rettner on Twitter @RachaelRettner. Like us on Facebook.

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Four months after federal officials declared manatees are no longer endangered, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has announced that it's now reviewing the endangered status of the Florida panther.

The panther, Florida's state animal, has been on the endangered list since the list was first drawn up in 1967.

Federal rules require the agency to review the status of each endangered or threatened species every five years, and it's time for that routine review, explained Larry Williams, South Florida field supervisor for the Fish and Wildlife Service.

But at least one aspect of the review won't be routine at all.

"One of the most interesting things we're going to review is the taxonomy," Williams said Monday.

Questions have been raised for years about whether the Florida panther is really a distinct sub-species of the pumas found out West, and thus deserving of legal protection.

The questions took a different turn after 1995, when state officials tried an unprecedented experiment to save the panther from inbreeding and genetic defects by bringing in eight female mountain lions from Texas to breed with them.

The cross-breeding saved the panthers, and sparked a baby boom. The panther population, estimated to number no more than 20 to 30 in the mid-1990s, now is estimated at around 200.

But there are Floridians who do not believe the scientists who say the animals now prowling the South Florida wilderness are still Florida panthers. Meanwhile others insist that even if they are, they aren't anything special and probably should be managed by allowing hunting.

In 2000, Williams noted, a team of four scientists led by an expert named Melanie Culver published a paper that said genetics show that all the pumas in North America are one species, period. Because pumas are fairly common, that would mean panthers might no longer be considered endangered.

"Obviously, people who want (endangered species) restrictions lifted have latched onto that," said Elizabeth Fleming of the Defenders of Wildlife Florida office in St. Petersburg.

But she said other experts disagree with the findings of the Culver study. She contended there are physical differences, such as the shape of the skull and the thickness of the fur, that mark the Florida panther as distinct.

The fact that this review is being done by an agency under the Trump Administration, though, makes Fleming concerned.

When it comes to environmental issues, she said, "everything undertaken by the Trump Administration gives me pause."

Williams refused to speculate on whether the five-year review could lead to a decision to change the panthers' status similar to the decision his agency made about manatees. In March, the Fish and Wildlife Service announced it was downgrading manatees from endangered to merely threatened. The controversial move was opposed by most of the people who submitted comments in writing and in public hearings, as well as scientists invited to review it.

As with the manatee, the Fish and Wildlife Service is asking the public for information about panthers. The deadline for submitting comments is Aug. 29.

Last year brought a mix of bad and good news for panthers, which for decades had been largely isolated to habitat south of the Caloosahatchee River near Fort Myers. Occasionally male panthers would cross the river looking for mates that didn't exist. Last year, for the first time ever, biologists spotted females and kittens north of the river, proving the animals were expanding their range.

But last year was also the year that drivers set a record for running over the big cats on the state's highways.

In 2012, a new record for road kills was set with 19. Two years later, in 2014, that record was broken and a new one established at 25 kills. In 2015, that record was shattered when 30 were killed. Then came 2016, with 32 run over on the highways.

The total number of panther deaths, 42 from road kills and other causes, tied 2015.

Panthers, sometimes known among Florida's settlers as "lions" and "catamounts," were a terror of the early frontier for attacks on livestock and pets. By 1981, though, schoolchildren had picked the panther as the state animal choosing it over the alligator, the manatee, the Key deer and a few others that got write-in votes, such as the dolphin and the baboon.

They've proven so popular that the cats have become the mascot for dozens of schools, the namesake of the National Hockey League team in South Florida and a figure on tens of thousands of specialty license plates, sold to cover the costs for the state wildlife commission's panther research.

The wide-ranging predators have lost habitat in South Florida not just to suburban sprawl, but also to the creation of Florida Gulf Coast University and the town of Ave Maria. But Williams said the discovery of breeding cats north of the Caloosahatchee shows they now have much more potential habitat available to them than ever before.

Senior news researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report. Contact Craig Pittman at craig@tampabay.com. Follow @craigtimes.

Federal officials to review endangered status of Florida panther 07/03/17 [Last modified: Tuesday, July 4, 2017 12:25am] Photo reprints | Article reprints

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The gene-editing tool known as CRISPR is fast becoming known for its potential to treat disease by snipping genetic mutations from DNA.

But genomic tools like CRISPR also have other possible capabilities, such as the ability to screen people for the presence of viruses, like dengue and Zika, as well as debilitating diseases like Parkinson's.

"I think the public perception of CRISPR is very focused on the idea of using gene editing clinically to cure disease. This is no doubt an exciting possibility, but this is only one small piece," said Neville Sanjana, of the New York Genome Center and an assistant professor of biology, neuroscience and physiology at New York University. [10 Amazing Things Scientists Just Did with CRISPR]

"With CRISPR, I think you'll see many applications in synthetic biology," like sensors for pathogens, Sanjana told Live Science.

At its core, CRISPR is a natural defense system that evolved in single-celled microorganisms to fight against invading viruses. The fight is an all-out war. Scientist estimate that for every cell on Earth, there are about 10 viruses, all launching relentless missions to replicate themselves by inserting their DNA into the machinery in cells.

Bacteria use an arsenal to fight back, including CRISPR, which is an array of short, repeated sequences of DNA that are separated by spacers that have unique sequences.Bacteria use it when they are infected with a virus. As the virus's genetic bits replicate inside the bacteria, CRISPR steps in, guiding the bacterial defenses toward the foreign material.

The protein in CRISPR cuts up the intruder, but also collects a short DNA sequence from the invader, which the protein inserts it into the bacteria's CRISPR as a spacer. Each time a virus invades and is destroyed, a new spacer gets added to the CRISPR.

In a sense, the spacers in CRISPR are an account of the bacteria's battlefield wins, like kill marks in the stock of a rifle barrel. But the spacers provide another function.

When a virus that was previously defeated tries to invade, the bacteria recognizes it and sets about chopping the invader up into tiny bits. And when the bacteria itself multiplies, it passes it's defense system on to its daughter cells.

"It turns out you can actually leverage these properties to potentially develop a very sensitive diagnostic device" that could detect small amounts of molecules from viruses in human blood, such as Zika virus, said biochemist and CRISPR expert Sam Sternberg, the group leader of Technology Development at Berkeley, California-based Caribou Biosciences Inc., which is advancing new applications for CRISPR-based technologies. [5 Amazing Technologies That Are Revolutionizing Biotech]

One of the most recent CRISPR advances in this area is a tool called SHERLOCK (which stands for Specific High Sensitivity Enzymatic Reporter UnLOCKing). In April 2017, a team of researchers led by bioengineer James Collins and CRISPR pioneer Feng Zhang of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard reported in Science that they had programmed a CRISPR molecule to seek out strains of Zika and dengue viruses in blood serum, urine and saliva and cut them up.

The researchers programmed the CRISPR molecules to release a fluorescent signal when they were chopping away at the viruses, so that the presence of the virus could be detected. SHERLOCK was so sensitive, it was able to distinguish the American strain of Zika from the African strain and differentiate one strain of dengue from another one.

Collins and his team were able to see the presence of the viruses even in extremely low concentrations, as low as two molecules in a quintillion.

In a separate test, SHERLOCK was able to detect two different strains of the antibiotic-resistant superbug Klebsiella pneumoniae. [6 Superbugs to Watch Out For]

Then, in June 2017, a team at the University of Central Florida reported in the journal Scientific Reports that they had used a CRISPR system to detect the presence of Parkinson's disease. This disorder of the central nervous system causes malfunction and death of nerve cells in the brain, and gets worse over time, causing tremors and problems with movement. The disease affects about 1 million people in the United States, according to the Parkinson's Disease Foundation.

Although the cause is unknown, the amount of a protein called alpha-synuclein, normally found in the brain, rises in people who develop the disease. The researchers used CRISPR to edit the gene that makes the alpha-synuclein protein so that the protein would fluoresce. The larger the amount of the protein, the stronger the fluorescent signal.

The scientists said they think they could use this technique to test out new drugs to treat Parkinson's disease.

"If we take one of these modified cells and treat it with a particular drug, if it doesn't produce light anymore, then this means the drug is a potential treatment for this disease," study co-author Sambuddha Basu, a postdoctoral researcher at Central Florida,said in a statement.

It's still the very early days for these and other CRISPR-related biological tools, and because of the diversity of the immune systems in bacteria, it's quite possible that other tools remain to be discovered, Sternberg said.

"I think it's a really nice example of yet another basic science discovery that has led to a potential breakthrough technology," he said.

Originally published on Live Science.

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Could CRISPR Sniff Out Viruses? - Live Science

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With CRISPR being one of the most significant discoveries in genome engineering history, many scientists are now turning towards it as a basic foundation of their research. In response, companies are developing new technologies and products designed to help these very scientists become more effective in their research. One such company is Silicon Valley entity Synthego.

Founded by engineers, Paul and Michael Dabrowski, Synthego has risen from an unknown startup to one of the leading providers of genome engineering solutions today. Having both worked at Elon Musks SpaceX, the Dabrowski brothers seemed like an unlikely pair to create a biotech company focused on CRISPR genome engineering. However, it is their knowledge and experience of precision engineering and automation that has become a key differentiator.

In 2015, Synthego brought on biotech industry veteran Ted Tisch as Chief Operating Officer. In the following years, Ted helped build Synthegos product development, manufacturing and commercial operations, and formally launch the company in 2016.

Eight of the worlds 10 largest biopharma companies are already working with Synthego. Out of the top 25 biology universities in the world, 24 are using its products, and even CRISPR pioneer Jennifer Doudnas interest was sparked she is now an investor in the company.

We caught up with Tisch to talk about how CRISPR is revolutionizing the biotech field and the role Synthego is playing in all of this.

With genetic engineering as a key scientific research area, more and more researchers are using it as a foundation of their studies (source: Shutterstock)

PCR and next-generation sequencing (NGS) have been the two breakthrough technologies of the past 25 years. I call them core platform technologies, because they have been built up and expanded over time. These technologies took 10 to 15 years to reach wide adoption because researchers had to adjust to a technology that was very expensive. This consequently limited the adoption rate.

The cool thing about CRISPR is that it requires only a few pieces of equipment for it to work, so anyone can do it. I have not observed a technology lift like this in the market and this is why I believe that CRISPR will be the third platform technology in life science. Synthego aims to revolutionize CRISPR in two ways: Firstly, it automates the laboratory workflow, and secondly, it focuses on simplifying the workflow.

Biological workflows are extremely complex, as they include many complicated steps, which can lead to errors and wrong assumptions. This is a downward spiral, as many researchers rely on the work of others and subsequently, mistakes might be replicated in other labs. One of the biggest challenges with fast moving technologies is that people start publishing quickly with poor results; Synthego is trying to keep the industry safe from the dissemination of poor results by providing high-quality effective products and ultimately performing the basic research steps themselves.

Synthego is working to revolutionize genetic engineering by offering high-quality synthetic gRNA and a next-generation Design Tool (Source: Shutterstock)

Synthego produces synthetic guide RNA (gRNA) and a next-generation Design Tool. Imagine synthetic gRNA like a shuttle that escorts the enzyme Cas9 to a specific target gene where the Cas9 can cut the DNA. Poor quality gRNA products can lead to off-target events, meaning that the enzyme cuts the wrong part of the DNA strand. Synthegos gRNA has a high on-target efficiency, allowing researchers to work more quickly. Subsequently, there is an increased percentage of edited cells, making research experiments much easier.

The other product is a CRISPR Design Tool, which was launched in May. Synthego developed a software tool that identifies the target gRNA sequence with the highest on-target percentage while reducing off-target events. Researchers can go online, look up over 100,000 genomes and within seconds the tool will present the sequence of the gRNA. Its like shopping on Amazon: users can order it directly online and a receive their product a couple of days later.

The Design Tool coupled with the synthesized gRNA really simplifies the workflow in the lab.

Synthegos main goal is to automate and simplify the laboratory workflow, in order to minimize errors and maximize research success (source: Shutterstock)

There has been a great resonance from the industry. Worldwide, academic institutions and commercial organizations in about 33 countries are working with Synthego. To date, 24 of the 25 top life science universities in the world, and 8 of the worlds 10 largest biopharmaceutical companies are using our technologies.

Following the US, Europe represents one of our largest areas of interest. We have customers in most of the major Western European countries, including the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain and the Netherlands. For example, Synthego is working closely with the University of Oxford in the UK, and in Germany, the University of Freiburg.

Well, the first but good problem were facing is that Synthego has a huge customer demand. Helped by the fact that we received series B funding in January, we are now focusing on upscaling our capacities and on the development of new products and solutions.

An automated workflow brings many advantages with it. In the case of CRISPR, off-target events are minimized, whilst on-target events increase dramatically (source: Shutterstock)

One major challenge is to get people to move away from outdated processes. Scientists are notoriously dogmatic and careful about adapting new technologies. However, many researchers are exploring new ways of using genome editing in their processes, whether its therapies, improving the performance of their cell lines, or the development of their drug products. As our products help to deliver good and quick results, we have a high adoption rate.

As a small company that is trying to make noise in a big industry, we have to focus on quality, innovation and quick execution. Our competition are the large multimillion dollar life sciences companies. But these large life science suppliers have tried to address genome editing with old technologies or processes, making their products more expensive, slow to be delivered, and often unclean.

In the near term, we see further simplifying and improving the research workflow by providing easy-to-use kits and tools.

Our long-term strategy is to offer biology as a service. Imagine a scientist who wants to run thousands of experiments, but is lacking the time, budget, or infrastructure. As Synthego continues to develop its platform, any scientist will be able to insert his experimental parameters online via a computer, and Synthego will run the experiment and deliver the results.

Our goal is to make biology research accessible for all scientists worldwide.

Images vianoeldelmar, TarikVision, ibreakstock, science photo, Bloomicon/Shutterstock.com

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China's State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) has granted the University of California a patent on CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing technology in the country.

The SIPO patent granted to University of California Berkeley, University of Vienna and researcher Professor Emanuelle Charpentier, will allow them to license CRISPR technologies to firms and researchers in China. It will also allow Professor Charpentier's company CRISPR Therapeutics and that of Professor Jennifer Doudna at Berkeley - Intellia Therapeutics, to market any CRISPR-based therapies they develop in future in the country.

'SIPO's decision further expands our IP portfolio, and is further global recognition that Jennifer Doudna, Emmanuelle Charpentier and their team are the pioneers in the application of CRISPR/Cas9 in all cell types,' said Intellia Therapeutics Chief Executive Officer and President, Dr Nessan Bermingham.

CRISPR intellectual property rights are the subject of an ongoing dispute in the USA between the University of California who were first to file and hold a general patent, and the Broad Institute, whose use of CRISPR in eukaryotic cells was determined to be separately patentable. The University of California argue that Professor Doudna and Professor Charpentier's team were the first to invent the technique, and has since filed an appeal for patent rights to uses of CRISPR in all cell types.

'China is following the lead of the EU and UK in saying that Doudna and Charpentier were the first to invent the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technology,' said University of California Berkeley spokesperson, Robert Sanders, according to The Daily Californian. 'We are arguing that the US Patent and Trademark Office should also recognize Doudna and Charpentier were the first to invent the technology.'

The Broad Institute may yet be granted its own patents in China, as patent applications from the Broad Institute are still being considered by SIPO. 'In China, patents are subject to invalidation proceedings after they are issued,' Lee McGuire, the chief communications officer for the Broad Institute told The Daily Californian.

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China sides with Berkeley on CRISPR patent - BioNews

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In BriefScientists have developed a tool that can test an entiregenome against a CRISPR molecule to predict potential errors andinteractions. This will allow doctors to ensure treatments aresafer and more effective. Editing The Editor

The CRISPR gene-editing tool is already in use by scientists all over the world who are racing to cure deadly diseases by editing the genomes of patients. However, as human trials for various treatments are slated to begin, we still face the hurdle of ensuring that any errors in CRISPR edits wont causing problems. Scientists from The University of Texas at Austin may have come up with a possible solution. Theyve developedsomething that works like a predictive editor for CRISPR: a method for anticipating and catching the tools mistakes as it works, thereby allowing for the editing ofdisease-causing errors out of genomes.Click to View Full Infographic

Scientists have already learned how to use CRISPR to edit errors in almost any genome and its these errors that can cause a wide range of diseases. Many forms of cancer, Huntingtons disease, and even HIV can be targeted usingCRISPR. That being said, itsnot a perfect solution. Just as the autocorrect on your smartphone can cause you to send an unintentional and embarrassing text message, CRISPR can correct something that was actually right the consequences of which can make it adangerous mistake. One that actually causes a disease as opposed to an embarrassing social gaffe.

The researchers developed a method for quickly testing a CRISPR molecule against a persons entire genome, rather than onlythe target area,in order topredict other segments of DNA the tool might accidentally interact with. This new technique functions like an early warning system, giving doctors a chance to more closely tailor gene therapies to specific patients, while ensuring they are effective andsafe.

If were going to use CRISPR to improve peoples health, we need to make sure we minimize collateral damage, and this work shows a way to do that,Stephen Jones, UT Austin postdoctoral researcher and co-lead author of the study, told the UT News.

This research will also allow scientists to improve their own predictive skills when it comes to CRISPR molecule behaviors even without genome testing. This is because the work is actually revealing the rule book CRISPR molecules follow when they choose targets.

One CRISPR molecule the team tested, Cascade, targets DNA sequences but pays less attention to every third letterin the sequence. So if it were looking for the word shirt and instead found the word short, it might be fine with that, Jones said, explaining the significance of the quirk to the UT News.

As researchers master these rules, they will be able to develop better predictive models for CRISPR therapies. This will make the technique faster and cheaper, which will in turn render personalized gene therapies more accessible to more patients. Most important of all, it will also help make theentire process far safer.

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This New Gene-Editing Technique Can Spot CRISPR's Mistakes - Futurism

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The 15 kilometer cross-country ski race at the 1964 Winter Olympics should have been a close race. But in fact Finlands Eero Mntyranta streaked over the line fully 40 seconds ahead of his closest competitor.

His secret? He was born with a mutation of the EPOR gene, which regulates the production of the erythropoietin protein. In turn this determines the production of red blood cells, which are crucial for physical endurance.

Disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong achieved the same outcome by taking erythropoietin as a drug. But in future if indeed it has not already started athletes may go straight to the root of the matter and mutate their own EPOR gene, to give themselves the same advantage that Mntyranta was born with. How could this possibly be detected?

That athletes will turn to gene editing is, in my view, a certainty. We have the tools to manipulate genes and we know at least some of the genes that code for the sort of physical attributes that athletes crave. Here is a picture of the Belgian bull.

This double muscled specimen has a natural mutation of the gene that codes for the protein myostatin and the result is uninhibited muscle growth. For farmers that means lots of lean meat. But for weight lifters it could be a short cut to an Olympic medal.

A crack in creation

This is just one of the ethical dilemmas unleashed by our newfound ability to edit the genome. As I described last week Jennifer Doudna of UC Berkeley is credited with the discovery of CRISPR, the technique that has made gene editing considerably faster, cheaper, more accurate and accessible, and today I want to tell you a little more about her new book A Crack in Creation.

Much of it covers the voyage of the discovery of CRISPR the hypotheses, the laboratory tests, the international conferences, the chance meetings between researchers and the occasional flashes of inspiration. The book also tells us exactly how CRISPR works.

You may have to read this several times before getting your head around it but essentially CRISPR was adapted from the method that bacteria use to identify and cut the DNA of viruses that are trying to attack them a pair of designer molecular scissors that homes in on a specific twenty-letter DNA sequence and cuts apart both strands of the double helix..

Today we are able to use CRISPR to disable target genes and to add new stretches of DNA. One of the impressive aspects of Doudnas book is her confidence in these techniques.

Scientists tend to be circumspect, but not here. Scientists have succeeded in bringing this primordial process (of the evolution of life) fully under human control. Using powerful biotechnology tools to tinker with DNA inside living cells, scientists can now manipulate and rationally modify the genetic code that defines every species on the planet. And using CRISPR an organisms entire DNA content has become almost as editable as a piece of text.

That is not to say that CRISPR can achieve anything. Many traits are the result of numerous genetic interactions and may be too complicated to affect. And CRISPR is not perfect. DNA does not always get altered as desired, and there are off-target effects that hit other areas of the genome.

Then there is the challenge of delivering the CRISPR mechanism into cells. This is hard enough when the cells are in the laboratory but even harder when the cells are still inside the human body. We are finding ways of making gene editing more accurate, but a certain amount of inaccuracy may not matter anyway.

Most medical treatments have some unforeseen consequences and the judgement is not whether they are perfect but whether the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

We must though draw an important distinction between the editing of germline cells and of somatic cells. Germline cells contain DNA that is handed down to the next generation. Somatic cells (sometimes called adult cells) are all the others.

Suppose that I have muscular dystrophy, a disease that can be tracked down to specific genetic mutations. If CRISPR is used to correct these mutations then there may be off-target effects that could affect the function of my cells and body in unwelcome ways. But this is my problem alone.

However if in trying to correct a specific gene in germline cells there are off-target effects then these will be passed on. This, it seems to me, is highly problematical.

And yet Doudna believes that germline editing is something that we should accept, arguing that since our genes are constantly and randomly changing as our cells divide and copy, a few extra CRISPR-induced changes wont make much difference.

What this tech can do

What can this new power over the living world do for mankind? First, it can enable us to understand it. The best way to find the function of a gene is to disable it and see the result.

Once we discover the genetic mutation responsible for, say, Huntingdons or cancer we can create cells or laboratory mice with this same mutation as use them as models upon which to test potential therapies. Already we have numerous examples of the potential of gene editing.

In human medicine CRISPR has already been used to develop potential cures for diseases including cystic fibrosis, sickle cell disease, muscular dystrophy, HIV/AIDS and even Alzheimers. Tests have been conducted on laboratory cells and animals and, in some pioneering cases, in humans.

CRISPR is critical to cancer immunotherapy, which sees immune cells engineered to recognize cancer cells. Elsewhere we have made barley that is resistant to powdery mildew, tomatoes that do not rot as soon as they are picked, mosquitoes that are unable to transmit malaria, ultra-muscular police dogs and cows with no horns. On the horizon are pigs that can serve as donors of human organs and even woolly mammoths and unicorns.

This all sounds great and yet Doudna is worried. The availability of CRISPR means that it could fall into villainous hands. She is worried that the same ignorant outcry that has hampered the progress of GM crops could impede the progress of gene editing. And she concedes that CRISPR is forcing us to confront difficult, perhaps unanswerable questions, many of which boil down to conundrums about the relationship between humans and nature.

But mankind has for ever tried to conquer nature and Doudna clearly believes that gene editing is in many ways superior to techniques we have used in the past. In the realm of agriculture historic practice has been to bombard plants with chemicals or radiation in order to cause random genetic changes.

When this has thrown up a plant with superior traits then we have bred from it. Is it not better to identify the desired trait, work out its genetic cause and then deliberately engineer the gene? And if we have hunted the great auk to extinction, should we not use genetic engineering to bring it back?

The most pressing debate concerns germline editing. When allied to established practices like In Vitro Fertilization and pre-implantation testing it is highly likely that we will be able to ensure that babies do not carry the genetic mutations that in some cases virtually guarantee a life of suffering.

Of course these same techniques could be used to create designer babies and yet Doudna favours their approval. I dont believe theres an ethical defence for banning germline modification outright, nor do I think we can justifiably prevent parents from using CRISPR to improve their chances of having a healthy, genetically related child, so long as the methods are safe and offered in an equitable manner.

If we have the tools to prevent suffering, surely we should use them. Doudna argues that some existing practices like PGD (pre-implantation genetic diagnosis) that allow parents to choose the sex of their baby or abort those with Downs syndrome are already facilitating forms of designer baby and that ultimately matters of conception are best left to parental choice.

Finally Doudna dismisses the argument that germline editing should be banned because it unnatural. As she points out natural evolution has not been entirely benign and, in the world of medicine the line between natural and unnatural blurs to the point of disappearing.In my mind the distinction between natural and unnatural is a false dichotomy, and if it prevents us from alleviating human suffering, its also a dangerous one.

So this book is both a description of the extraordinary possibilities of gene editing but also, if indeed the horse has not already bolted, a plea for its acceptance. We should, Doudna believes, be bold and brave. Few technologies are inherently good or bad; what matters is how we use them and in the case of CRISPR it has incredible potential to improve our world.

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CRISPR-Cas3 is a subtype of the CRISPR-Cas system, a widely adopted molecular tool for precision gene editing in biomedical research. Aspects of its mechanism of action, however, particularly how it searches for its DNA targets, were unclear, and concerns about unintended off-target effects have raised questions about the safety of CRISPR-Cas for treating human diseases.

Harvard Medical School and Cornell University scientists have now generated near-atomic resolution snapshots of CRISPR that reveal key steps in its mechanism of action. The findings, published in Cell on June 29, provide the structural data necessary for efforts to improve the efficiency and accuracy of CRISPR for biomedical applications.

Through cryo-electron microscopy, the researchers describe for the first time the exact chain of events as the CRISPR complex loads target DNA and prepares it for cutting by the Cas3 enzyme. These structures reveal a process with multiple layers of error detectiona molecular redundancy that prevents unintended genomic damage, the researchers say.

High-resolution details of these structures shed light on ways to ensure accuracy and avert off-target effects when using CRISPR for gene editing.

To solve problems of specificity, we need to understand every step of CRISPR complex formation, said Maofu Liao, assistant professor of cell biology at Harvard Medical School and co-senior author of the study. Our study now shows the precise mechanism for how invading DNA is captured by CRISPR, from initial recognition of target DNA and through a process of conformational changes that make DNA accessible for final cleavage by Cas3.

Target search

Discovered less than a decade ago, CRISPR-Cas is an adaptive defense mechanism that bacteria use to fend off viral invaders. This process involves bacteria capturing snippets of viral DNA, which are then integrated into its genome and which produce short RNA sequences known as crRNA (CRISPR RNA). These crRNA snippets are used to spot enemy presence.

Acting like a barcode, crRNA is loaded onto members of the CRISPR family of enzymes, which perform the function of sentries that roam the bacteria and monitor for foreign code. If these riboprotein complexes encounter genetic material that matches its crRNA, they chop up that DNA to render it harmless. CRISPR-Cas subtypes, notably Cas9, can be programmed with synthetic RNA in order to cut genomes at precise locations, allowing researchers to edit genes with unprecedented ease.

To better understand how CRISPR-Cas functions, Liao partnered with Ailong Ke of Cornell University. Their teams focused on type 1 CRISPR, the most common subtype in bacteria, which utilizes a riboprotein complex known as CRISPR Cascade for DNA capture and the enzyme Cas3 for cutting foreign DNA.

Through a combination of biochemical techniques and cryo-electron microscopy, they reconstituted stable Cascade in different functional states, and further generated snapshots of Cascade as it captured and processed DNA at a resolution of up to 3.3 angstromsor roughly three times the diameter of a carbon atom.

Seeing is believing

In CRISPR-Cas3, crRNA is loaded onto CRISPR Cascade, which searches for a very short DNA sequence known as PAM that indicates the presence of foreign viral DNA.

Liao, Ke and their colleagues discovered that as Cascade detects PAM, it bends DNA at a sharp angle, forcing a small portion of the DNA to unwind. This allows an 11-nucleotide stretch of crRNA to bind with one strand of target DNA, forming a seed bubble.

The seed bubble acts as a fail-safe mechanism to check whether the target DNA matches the crRNA. If they match correctly, the bubble is enlarged and the remainder of the crRNA binds with its corresponding target DNA, forming what is known as an R-loop structure.

Once the R-loop is completely formed, the CRISPR Cascade complex undergoes a conformational change that locks the DNA into place. It also creates a bulge in the second, non-target strand of DNA, which is run through a separate location on the Cascade complex.

Only when a full R-loop state is formed does the Cas3 enzyme bind and cut the DNA at the bulge created in the non-target DNA strand.

The findings reveal an elaborate redundancy to ensure precision and avoid mistakenly chopping up the bacterias own DNA.

To apply CRISPR in human medicine, we must be sure the system is accurate and that it does not target the wrong genes, said Ke, who is co-senior author of the study. Our argument is that the CRISPR-Cas3 subtype has evolved to be a precise system that carries the potential to be a more accurate system to use for gene editing. If there is mistargeting, we know how to manipulate the system because we know the steps involved and where we might need to intervene.

Setting the sights

Structures of CRISPR Cascade without target DNA and in its post-R-loop conformational states have been described, but this study is the first to reveal the full sequence of events from seed bubble formation to R-loop formation at high resolution.

In contrast to the scalpel-like Cas9, CRISPR-Cas3 acts like a shredder that chews DNA up beyond repair. While CRISPR-Cas3 has, thus far, limited utility for precision gene editing, it is being developed as a tool to combat antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria. A better understanding of its mechanisms may broaden the range of potential applications for CRISPR-Cas3.

In addition, all CRISPR-Cas subtypes utilize some version of an R-loop formation to detect and prepare target DNA for cleavage. The improved structural understanding of this process can now enable researchers to work toward modifying multiple types of CRISPR-Cas systems to improve their accuracy and reduce the chance of off-target effects in biomedical applications.

Scientists hypothesized that these states existed but they were lacking the visual proof of their existence, said co-first author Min Luo, postdoctoral fellow in the Liao lab at HMS. The main obstacles came from stable biochemical reconstitution of these states and high-resolution structural visualization. Now, seeing really is believing.

Weve found that these steps must occur in a precise order, Luo said. Evolutionarily, this mechanism is very stringent and has triple redundancy, to ensure that this complex degrades only invading DNA.

This article has been republished frommaterialsprovided by Harvard Medical School. Note: material may have been edited for length and content. For further information, please contact the cited source.

Reference

Xiao, Y., Luo, M., Hayes, R. P., Kim, J., Ng, S., Ding, F., . . . Ke, A. (2017). Structure Basis for Directional R-loop Formation and Substrate Handover Mechanisms in Type I CRISPR-Cas System. Cell, 170(1). doi:10.1016/j.cell.2017.06.012

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CRISPR Mechanism of Action Imaged Near-atomic Resolution - Technology Networks

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Jennifer Doudna: Experiments fail. To have people around that get along with each other is super important. Photograph: Bryan Derballa/Kintzing.com

Jennifer Doudna, 53, is an American biochemist based at the University of California, Berkeley. Together with the French microbiologist Emmanuelle Charpentier, she led the discovery of the revolutionary gene-editing tool, Crispr. The technology has the potential to eradicate previously incurable diseases, but also poses ethical questions about the possible unintended consequences of overwriting the human genome.

Were you nerdy as a child? What got youhooked on science? Yes, I was nerdy. My father was a professor of American literature in Hawaii and he loved books. One day I came home from school and he haddropped a copy of The Double Helixon the bed, by Jim Watson. Onerainy afternoon I read it and Iwasjust stunned. I was blown awaythat you could do experiments about what a molecule looks like. I was probably 12 or 13. I think that wasthebeginning ofstarting to think,Wow, that could be an amazingthing to work on.

Youve spent most of your career uncovering the structure of RNA and never set out to create a tool to copy andpaste human genes. How did you endup working on Crispr? I think you can put scientists into two buckets. One is the type who dives very deeply into one topic for their whole career and they know it better than anybody else in the world. Then theresthe other bucket, where I wouldput myself, where its like youre at a buffet table and you see an interesting thing here and do it for a while, and that connects you to another interesting thing and you take a bit of that. Thats how I came to be working on Crispr it was a total side-project.

But when you first started your collaboration with Emmanuelle Charpentier, did you have a hunch youwere on to something special? We met at a conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and took a walk around the old town together. She was so passionate, her excitement was very infectious. I still remember walking down this street with her and she said: Well Im really glad you want to work with us on the mysterious [Cas9 the enzyme that snips DNA at the chosen location in the editing process]. It was this kind of electrifying moment. Even then I just had this gut feeling that this was something really interesting.

I would have loved to continue working with Emmanuelle. Im not blaming her: she had her reasons and I respect her

How important is personal chemistry inscience collaborations? Its essential. Working in a lab is analogous to being in a high-school play: youre rehearsing long hours, itscrowded, there are stressful things that come up. Its the same thing in science. Things never work as you think they will, experiments fail and so to have people around that really get along with each other is super important. Many collaborations dont work out, usually just because peoples interests arent aligned or people dont really like working together.

The real frenzy around your work started in 2012, when you showed that Crispr-Cas9 could be used to slice up DNA at any site [of the DNA molecule] you wanted. Did you realise this was abig deal gradually orimmediately? It wasnt a gradual realisation, it was one of those OMG moments where you look at each other and say holy moly. This was something we hadnt thought about before, but now we could see how it worked, we could see it would be such a fantastic way to do gene editing.

After you demonstrated Crispr could edit bacterial DNA, two rival labs (Harvard and the Broad Institute) got there first in human cells. How come they beat you to it? They were absolutely set up to do that kind of experiment. They had all the tools, the cells growing, everything was there. For us, they were hard experiments to do because its not thekind of science we do. What speaksto the ease of the system was that a lab like mine could even do it.

The Broad Institute won the latest round of an ongoing legal battle over patent rights they claim that it wasnt obvious that Crispr could be used to edit human cells too. Where do you stand? People have asked me over and over again: Did you know it was going to work? But until you do an experiment you dont know thats science. Ive been lambasted for this in the media, but I have to be true to who I am as a scientist. We certainly had a hypothesisand it certainly seemed likea very good guess that it would.

Theres the patent dispute and you and Emmanuelle Charpentier also ended up pursuing rival projects to commercialise the technology. Are you all still friends? If theres a sadness to me about all of this and a lot of its been wonderful and really exciting its that I wouldve loved to continue working with Emmanuelle, scientifically. For multiple reasons that wasnt desirable to her. Im not blaming her at all she had her reasons and I respect her a lot.

The media loves to drive wedges, but we are very cordial. I was just with her in Spain and she was telling me about the challenges [of building her new lab in Berlin]. I hope on her side, certainly on my side, we respect each others work and in the end were all init together.

In your book you describe a nightmare youhad involving Hitler wearing a pig mask, asking to learn more about your amazing technology. Do you still have anxiety dreams about where Crispr mightleave the human race? I had the Hitler dream and Ive had a couple of other very scary dreams, almost like nightmares, which is quite unusual for an adult. Not so much lately, but in the first couple of years after I published my work, the field was moving so fast. I had this incredible feeling that the science was getting out way ahead of any considerations about ethics, societal implications and whether we should be worrying about random people in various parts of the world using this for nefarious purposes.

In 2015, you called for a moratorium on the clinical use of gene editing. Where do you stand on using Crispr to edit embryos these days? It shouldnt be used clinically today, but in the future possibly. Thats a big change for me. At first, I just thought why would you ever do it? Then I started to hear from people with genetic diseases in their family this is now happening every day for me. Alot of them send me pictures of their children. There was one that Icant stop thinking about, just sent to me in the last 10 days or so. A mother who told me that her infant son was diagnosed with a neurodegenerative disease, caused by a sporadic rare mutation. She sent me a picture of thislittle boy. He was this adorable little baby, he was bald, in his little carrier and so cute. I have a son and myheart just broke.

What would you do as a mother? You see your child and hes beautiful, hes perfect and you know hes going to suffer from this horrible disease and theres nothing you can do about it. Its horrible. Getting exposed to that, getting to know some of these people, its not abstract any more, its very personal. And you think, if there were away to help these people, we should do it. It would be wrong not to.

Are people going to start saying I want a child thats 6ft 5in with blue eyes and so on? Do we really want to go there?

What about the spectre of designerbabies? A lot of it will come down to whether the technology is safe and effective, are there alternatives that would be equally effective that we should consider, and what are the broader societal implications of allowing gene editing? Are people going to start saying I want a child thats 6ft 5in and has blue eyes and so on? Do we really want to go there? Would you do things that are not medically necessary but are just nice-to-haves, for some people?Its a hard question. There area lot of grey areas.

Are you worried about cuts to science funding, including to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) budget? I am very concerned. Science funding is not a political football but in fact a down payment on discovery, the seed money to fund a critical step toward ending Alzheimers or curing cancer.

Researchers currently working on projects aimed at improving numerous aspects of our agriculture, environment and health may be forced to abandon their work. The outcome is that people will not receive the medical treatments they need, our struggle to feed our exploding population will deepen, and our efforts to manage climate change will collapse.

Over the long term, the very role of fundamental science as a means to better our society may come into question. History and all evidence points to the fact that when we inspire and support our scientific community we advance our way of life and thrive.

Were you disturbed when Trump tweeted, If U.C. Berkeley does not allow free speech and practices violence on innocent people with a different point of view NO FEDERAL FUNDS? in response to a planned alt-right speaker being cancelled due to violent protests on campus? Yes. It was a confusing tweet since the university was clearly committed to ensuring that the event would proceed safely and first amendment rights were supported. Few expected the awful actions of a few to be met with a willingness from the highest office to deprive more than 38,000 students access to an education.

Youve spoken at Davos, shared the $3m2015 Breakthrough prize, been listedamong the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine. Areyou still motivated about heading intothe lab these days? Yesterday I was getting ready to go to a fancy dinner. I was in a cocktail gown and had my makeup on and my hair done, but I wanted to talk to a postdoc in my lab about an experiment he was doing, so I texted him saying can we Skype? It was 8am in California, I was over here [in the UK] in my full evening gown, talking abouttheexperiment.Thats how nerdy I am.

A Crack in Creation: The New Power to Control Evolution by Jennifer Doudna and Sam Sternberg is published by The Bodley Head (20). To order a copy for 17 go to bookshop.theguardian.com or call 0330 333 6846. Free UK p&p over 10, online orders only. Phone orders min p&p of 1.99

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Jennifer Doudna: 'I have to be true to who I am as a scientist ... - The Guardian

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The UK Governments chief medical adviser has unveiled plans where genome-based personalised medicine could open up for cancer patients within five years.

The genomics dream outlined by Professor Dame Sally Davies would see millions of patients having all their DNA tested as genome sequencing becomes as routine as MRI or CT scans.

Here is everything you need to know about the human genome and the proposed genetic testing to help treat cancer patients:

A genome is the genetic material of an organism.

In humans, it is made up of 23 chromosome pairs. Every persons genome contains 3.2 billion letters of genetic code, amounting to two terabytes of data.

Within the genome are 20,000 genes stretches of DNA that provide the software for making proteins.

Other parts of the genome act as dimmer switches regulating the activity of genes.

Having access to this genetic blueprint can make a huge difference to the diagnosis and treatment of someone with cancer or a rare disease.

In the case of cancer, tumour cells develop a different genome to normal cells. Comparing a patients normal and cancerous DNA can provide valuable clues about the best form of treatment.

However, this information is not set in stone. Cancers evolve rapidly and alter their DNA, which can make them resistant to treatments.

Genome testing at regular intervals can help clinicians keep up in the arms race with cancer and guide ongoing therapy.

It can also help distinguish between aggressive and deadly cancers and slow-growing tumours that may never threaten a patients life.

For adults and children with one of the 7,000 recognised rare diseases, genome testing could lead to far speedier and more effective treatment.

About 3.5 million individuals in the UK has a rare disease, many of them children under the age of five.

Currently having a rare disease identified involves multiple tests and several consultations.

The average patient sees five different doctors and is misdiagnosed three times before the nature of their illness is finally known. Reaching the end of this journey takes four years on average.

By reading a patients DNA rather than relying on the observation of often subtle symptoms, genomics testing can allow much faster diagnosis of rare diseases.

Currently, genetic testing of NHS patients in England is conducted through 25 regional laboratories and a plethora of smaller ones operating along the lines of a cottage industry, according to Dame Sally.

Her chief recommendation is to centralise all the labs and establish a national network providing equal access to the tests across the country.

Within government, a new national genomics board would be set up, chaired by a minister, to oversee the expansion and development of genomic services taking into account new advances within the rapidly evolving technology.

Her report calls for a simplified two-stage consent system and make it easier for patients to get involved in research studies and clinical trials.

Speaking at a news briefing in London, Dame Sally said she hoped to see the new system fully operational within five years.

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Ronan is the editor of Life Insurance International. You can reach him at ronan.mccaughey@verdict.co.uk

Would you share your genetic test results with a life or health insurer if it meant a cheaper policy in return?

Its an issue increasingly on the minds of insurers because access to genetic data would allow them to offer more personalised policies, potentially lower costs and assess policyholder risk much better.

And lets not forget, life and health insurers already have access to significant data on consumers medical history, as well as their lifestyle and activity patterns generated by wearable technology and fitness trackers.

Ross Campbell, life and health chief underwriter, research & development at Gen Re, recently wrote for Life Insurance International explaining that genomics, the field of molecular biology focused on mapping the genome, is at the forefront of a technological revolution in bio-medicine and healthcare.

So far, Campbell says the UK insurance industry has voluntarily agreed not to use much of the data that is available.

He explains that when introduced the moratorium acknowledged contemporary concerns that DNA sequencing would allow abnormal patterns in specific genes to be recognised and potentially misused by insurers.

Campbell says:

We now understand medical predictability can only rarely, such as Huntingtons Disease, be based on DNA alone, other risk factors may be more important as an example the combination effect of genes, nutrition, and exercise. But while exercise is linked with genetics, the relationship is too fragile for the results of direct-to-consumer genetic tests to be useful in making lifestyle recommendations.

He adds: Our collective understanding of genomics and its potential relevance to risk assessments has also improved significantly in recent years, and it offers the opportunity for insurers to do things better with individuals consent.

In October 2016 life reinsurer, Gen Re, said its survey of attitudes to genetic testing found that most people are open to being tested for genetic conditions, believing that it will help them to manage their health better.

Many indicated they would have a genetic test if it would give them a better understanding of any health risks they might face, mostly to allow early medical intervention.

Some wanted to understand what risks they might pass along to their children, while others would have a test if there was a good reason such as family history or existing illness.

Those who didnt want to be tested were reluctant about being burdened with knowledge about diseases about which they believe they could do nothing; they felt a test was unlikely to be useful in the absence of a clinical problem or history of genetic conditions in their relatives.

In the UK, at least, it is highly unlikely that life insurers will start using genetic data to set the level of cover anytime soon.

But rapid strides being made by the industry to digitalise and embrace data analytics means its not a question of if, but rather when, life and health insurers lobby the government and public to use genetic testing.

Decoding peoples DNA will be the next frontier for insurance.

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DNA insurance: Why genetic testing could revolutionise the industry - Verdict

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We are a society obsessed with information. Were constantly connected, click-click-clicking to access a steady stream of news, data, and social-media updates. Curiosity is a powerful motivator, but theres one area in which our thirst for knowledge has been inconsistent: genetic testing.

DNA tests have become du jour in the past decade. Technological advances and access to genomic testing translates into the ability to see whats beneath the hood of our chromosomal cars. Weve become obsessed with ancestry tests like 23andMe and finding out our babies sexes before theyre born, but we often shy away when it comes to more serious curiosities. Even though you can now easily find out if you carry the genetic mutations or changes for recessive diseases like spinal muscular atrophy, we often dont test for these genetic glitches because we just dont want to know. But its important that we find out.

Theres no doubt that genetics is complicated, and maybe its that lack of certainty that deters some people from diving into their DNA. Genetic disease can be confusing, with some mutations definitely resulting in disease and others leading only to increased risk. Some genetic diseases require that both parents have a mutation in order to stand a chance of having an affected child; others can be triggered by just one parent possessing a mutation. Its a bit of a crapshoot.

With so many diseases and conditions transmitted in different ways and identifiable at different stages of pregnancy, its no wonder that some women choose to forego prenatal testing at all; adopting a head-in-the-sand approach can be easier to cope with than grappling with the uncertainties raised by a DNA test.

But when it comes to prenatal testing, information is always a good thing. Knowing ahead of time about a condition can allow parents to set up a support network of family and friends and connect with other parents who have a child with a similar diagnosis. They can learn more about the condition with which their fetus has been diagnosed, seek out medical specialists ahead of time, and choose to deliver at a hospital that has the appropriate level of care for a baby with special needs.

Being surprised by an unexpected diagnosis on the day of delivery turns what should have been a joyous day into a day marked by confusion and fear.I interviewed scores of mothers for my book, The Gene Machine: How Genetic Technologies Are Changing the Way We Have KidsAnd the Kids We Have. In speaking with numerous women who didnt know while pregnant that they would give birth to children with special needs, Ive heard a common theme. Moms say that being surprised by an unexpected diagnosis on the day of delivery turned what should have been a joyous daythe birth of their childinto a day marked by confusion and fear. They wish they would have been aware of their childs diagnosis so that they could have come to terms with it before giving birth. That awareness could have allowed them to educate themselves and to prepare mentally and emotionally. It could have given them a jumpstart on processing and resolving the inevitable feelings of loss that come with learning that the baby youd hoped for is not the baby you have.

Pregnancy is not a perfect science; things can and do go awry. Worldwide, an astounding 8 million babies6% of birthsare born with a birth defect, many of which can be traced to genetics.

But even when the baby you give birth to may not be the perfect baby you expected, arming yourself with information ahead of time can make a big difference in how you process the experience of having a child with special needs. In 1987, Sesame Street writer Emily Perl Kingsley wrote about reconciling reality with expectations after the birth of her son, Jason, who was born in 1974 with Down syndrome.

When youre going to have a baby, its like planning a fabulous vacation trip to Italy. You buy a bunch of guidebooks and make wonderful plans. After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, Welcome to Holland. Holland?!? you say. What do you mean Holland? I signed up for Italy! Im supposed to be in Italy. All my life Ive dreamed of going to Italy.

Some women decline genetic testing because they say that even if they receive a concerning diagnosis, they wouldnt alter the course of their pregnancy anyway. But thats rarely the case. As one genetic counselor told me, shes never had a couple do absolutely nothing upon learning that their fetus has a health issue. When people say they wouldnt do anything differently, she said, thats simply not true. Do anything differently is often code for abortion, yet ending a pregnancy is just one option upon receiving concerning genetic-test results. Many parents decide to continue an affected pregnancy.

Other women turn down the offer of genetic testing either because theyre overwhelmed by its complexity or because they mistakenly think theyre in the clear because they have no family history of genetic conditions. But family history, while useful, is a poor predictor of potential problems.

Consider autosomal recessive diseases such as cystic fibrosis, which affects one in 2,500 white babies. (Its less common in African American and Asian populations). If both parents carry the same genetic mutation, their children have only a 25% chance of developing the disease. Compare this with autosomal dominant mutations such as BRCA, often called the breast cancer gene. If either parent has a BRCA mutation, theres a 50% chance of passing that same genetic change to a child. Then there are conditions such as Down syndrome, which arent typically inherited and instead occur randomly around the time of conception.

Just because no one in your family suffers from a recessive disease doesnt mean youre not a carrier of it. Think back to those autosomal recessive diseases such as cystic fibrosis that occur only if both parents carry a mutation. Each pregnancy conceived by these carrier couples only has a 25% chance of developing the diseasethat means theres a 75% chance that any child will be disease-free. A mutation for one of these diseases could be unknowingly passed down for generations before two partners with the same mutation find one another and make a baby that has the unfortunate luck to inherit both problematic mutations.

We are no longer living in an era in which women have no choice but to remain in the dark about the health of their unborn children. All parents stand to benefit from knowing about potential problems ahead of time, which allows them to be proactive and take charge. Genetic testing before and during pregnancy can empower parents to make the decisions that are right for them, whether the itinerary of parenting leads them to Italy, Holland, or somewhere in between.

Learn how to write for Quartz Ideas. We welcome your comments at ideas@qz.com.

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The real reason why all women should get their DNA tested - Quartz

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