NEWS and OPINIONS

Breaking the Chains: How CRISPR Gene Therapy Gave Victoria Gray a New Life
by Molly Coddington - Technology Networks - Like many young girls in elementary school, Victoria Gray wanted to be a cheerleader, until she was told by her doctor that this simply wouldn’t be possible; the exertion placed on her body by the training regimen could have...

Detecting pancreatic cancer through changes in body composition and metabolism
by Marla Broadfoot, Ph.D. - Mayo Clinic - Pancreatic cancer is a formidable disease, often diagnosed too late for effective treatment. However, new research from Mayo Clinic represents a promising step toward identifying biological signals or biomarkers that may aid...

Cell donors are essential for new therapies. They need to be taken care of
By Priya Baraniak - STAT News - Cutting-edge FDA-approved therapies made from human cells are now being used to treat cancer, diabetes, and other diseases. Currently, most approved cell-based therapies use an individual’s own cells, but the next generation of these...

New study shows ‘dancing molecules’ can regenerate cartilage in 3 days
By Medical Xpress News - In November 2021, Northwestern University researchers introduced an injectable new therapy, which harnessed fast-moving "dancing molecules," to repair tissues and reverse paralysis after severe spinal cord injuries. Now, the same research...

DA Grants Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy Designation for AIC100 to Treat Thyroid Cancer
By Kennedy Ferruggia - Pharmacy Times - The FDA has granted regenerative medicine advanced therapy (RMAT) designation for AIC100 (Affylmmune Therapeutics), an ICAM-1 targeting and affinity-tuned LFA-1 binder chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy product...

Deciphering the journey from stem cells to neurons
By Riken Research News - RIKEN researchers have uncovered how gradual changes in gene-expression patterns drive a cell-fate switch in neural stem cells (NSCs) in mice1. All the major neuronal types of cells in the central nervous system are created through the...
Fighting leukaemia by targeting its stem cells
By University of Geneva - Acute myeloid leukaemia is one of the deadliest cancers. Leukaemic stem cells responsible for the disease are highly resistant to treatment. A team from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), University Hospital of Geneva (HUG), and Inserm has...

Gene variant slows form of inherited Alzheimer’s disease
By NIH Research Matters - Variations in certain genes can modify the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and other types of dementia. Some of the best understood variants to date are in a gene called APOE. This gene plays a role in the transport of cholesterol...

Don’t bring me down: Microgravity helping scientists advance medicines to the final frontier
By Josh Abbott - Bioprocess International - The International Space Station (ISS) presented a webinar Friday hosted by Patrick O’Neill, public affairs and outreach lead at the ISS. The webinar discussed the upcoming life science activities planned for the Northrop...

Purification technologies for induced pluripotent stem cell therapies
By Nature reviews Bioengineering The reprogramming of somatic cells into induced pluripotent stem cells using Yamanaka factors has revolutionized biomedical research. In the past few years, substantial advances have been made in differentiating them into a variety of...

Organs on Demand? University Lab Prints Its First ‘Voxel’ Building Blocks
By University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science - Lab Manager - A research team at the University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science has developed what it believes could be the template for the first building blocks for...

A CRISPR Tool for Tinkering with the Human Transcriptome
By Danielle Gerhard, PhD - The Scientist - ike the find-and-replace feature of a word processor, CRISPR-based engineering allows scientists to quickly and efficiently edit DNA sequences with base pair precision. Lauded as the great democratizer of gene editing, CRISPR...