NEWS and OPINIONS
After groundbreaking CRISPR therapy, a homecoming
By Meghana Keshavan - Stat News - From my colleague Jason Mast: KJ Muldoon, the first infant treated with a personalized gene-editing drug, has been discharged from the hospital for the first time in his life, the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia announced Tuesday....
Natural molecule reverses age- and dementia-related cognitive decline
By Paul McClure - News Atlas - In a new study, researchers identified a molecule produced by a particular type of brain cell that reversed the cognitive decline seen in both healthy aging and dementia. It provides a deeper understanding of the aging process and a...
CAR T-Cell Therapy: New Advances Move On Past Setbacks
By Tiffany Yesavag - Genetic Bioengineering & Biotechnology News - Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy is an innovative cancer treatment that engineers a patient’s own T cells to target and destroy cancer cells. While the field has sparked significant...
Stem cell model replicates human amniotic sac development past two weeks
by The Francis Crick Institute - Phys.Org - Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute have developed a new stem cell model of the mature human amniotic sac, which replicates development of the tissues supporting the embryo from two to four weeks after fertilization....
Infant becomes world’s first patient to undergo personalized gene-editing treatment
By Jon LaPook - CBS NEWS - Philadelphia — Soon after KJ Muldoon was born in the summer of 2024, he was diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder that is fatal for about half the infants who are born with it. Until now, the only effective long-term treatment for the rare...
Biotech Tango dances away from preclinical work to extend cash runway, while Avalo lays out spending options
By Nick Paul Taylor - Fierce Biotech - Biotech bank balances were again in focus Monday morning, with Tango Therapeutics cutting preclinical work to stretch its cash runway and Avalo Therapeutics outlining options for preserving its money. Tango extended its cash...
Embryonic macrophages found to control blood stem cell numbers in bone marrow
by Kerstin Wagner, Leibniz - MedicalXpress.com - Scientists at the Leibniz Institute on Aging—Fritz Lipmann Institute (FLI) in Jena have discovered a previously unknown function of immune cells in the bone marrow. Embryonic macrophages—specialized phagocytes of the...
Federal appeals court sends CRISPR-Cas9 patent case back to patent office for reconsideration
By Robert Sanders - UC Berkley News - In a decision released today (May 12), the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C., ordered the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) to reconsider its 2022 interference...
The stem cell race for Parkinson’s disease: Recent studies show significant promise
By Willow Shah-Neville - LabBioTech - Parkinson’s disease is an extremely complex condition to treat. Although there are medications available that can help relieve symptoms, there are still no approved therapies that slow down the progression of the underlying...
New Cell Therapy For Resistant Hodgkins Patients
By Derek Lowe - Science - Here’s some more good news on the immuno-oncology front. Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is one of those cancer types whose prognosis is in the “A lot better than it used to be, but. . .” category. There are several varieties (with the “classic” form...
Cracking the code to scalable cell and gene therapy
by Drug Target Review - Cell and gene therapy (CGT) is advancing rapidly, offering new treatments for complex conditions such as cancer and genetic disorders. As these therapies evolve, the demand for more efficient and reliable methods of cell expansion – an...
Gene-edited stem cells aim to reverse rheumatoid arthritis
by Max G. Levy, PhD - Drug Discovery News - At the root of anything good or bad in the human immune system is a question about recognition. When the immune system functions correctly, it clocks unrecognized bacteria and viruses. When it misbehaves, immune cells...