Press monitoring
Researchers turn back the clock on human embryonic stem cells
14.12.2016 | Press monitoring
Johns Hopkins scientists report success in using a cocktail of cell-signaling chemicals to further wind back the biological clock of human embryonic stem cells (ESCs), giving the cells the same flexibility researchers have prized in mice ESCs. The investigators say the ability to reset the stem cells' developmental clock to an earlier stage...
Cow gene study shows why most clones fail
12.12.2016 | Press monitoring
It has been 20 years since Dolly the sheep was successfully cloned in Scotland, but cloning mammals remains a challenge. A new study by researchers from the U. S. and France of gene expression in developing clones now shows why most cloned embryos likely fail. Dolly was cloned using the technique of "somatic cell nuclear transfer," when a...
An anti-CRISPR for gene editing
9.12.2016 | Press monitoring
Researchers have discovered a way to program cells to inhibit CRISPR-Cas9 activity. "Anti-CRISPR" proteins had previously been isolated from viruses that infect bacteria, but now University of Toronto and University of Massachusetts Medical School scientists report three families of proteins that turn off CRISPR systems specifically used for...
Gene editing yields tomatoes that flower and ripen weeks earlier
7.12.2016 | Press monitoring
Using a simple and powerful genetic method to tweak genes native to two popular varieties of tomato plants, a team at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) has devised a rapid method to make them flower and produce ripe fruit more than 2 weeks faster than commercial breeders are currently able to do. This means more plantings per growing season...
Team releases gene edited human stem cell lines
5.12.2016 | Press monitoring
The Allen Institute for Cell Science has released the Allen Cell Collection: the first publicly available collection of gene edited, fluorescently tagged human induced pluripotent stem cells that target key cellular structures with unprecedented clarity. These powerful tools are a crucial first step toward visualizing the dynamic organization of...
UK’s first three-parent babies likely to be conceived in 2017
2.12.2016 | Press monitoring
Methods for replacing the abnormal mitochondria in their eggs might not always work, but are safer than existing techniques for selecting embryos and so should be allowed, says a key scientific report. The first ever use of mitochondrial replacement therapy to prevent children inheriting disease was in 2015. A US team carried out the procedure in...
New grasses neutralize toxic pollution from bombs, explosives, and munitions
30.11.2016 | Press monitoring
On military live fire training ranges, troops practice firing artillery shells, drop bombs on old tanks or derelict buildings and test the capacity of new weapons. But those explosives and munitions leave behind toxic compounds that have contaminated millions of acres of U.S. military bases—with an estimated cleanup bill ranging between $16...
OGD2 Pharma and University Hospital of Zurich start collaboration on Innovative Immunotherapy in Brain Cancer
29.11.2016 | Press monitoring
Nantes, France, 29 November 2016 - OGD2 Pharma SAS, a biotechnology company developing innovative anti-cancer therapies targeting a newly discovered antigen, the O-acetylated form of the GD2 ganglioside (OAcGD2), today announces the signature of a strategic collaboration agreement with a renowed research group specialized in glioblastoma...
A synthetic biological metabolic pathway fixes CO2 more efficiently than plants
28.11.2016 | Press monitoring
In future, greenhouse gas carbon dioxide could be removed from the atmosphere by deploying a new biological method. A team headed by Tobias Erb, Leader of a Research Group at the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology in Marburg, has developed a synthetic but completely biological metabolic pathway based on the model of photosynthesis...
Genetically engineered T cells render HIV\'s harpoon powerless
25.11.2016 | Press monitoring
When HIV attacks a T cell, it attaches itself to the cell's surface and launches a "harpoon" to create an opening to enter and infect the cells. To stop the invasion, researchers from the Penn Center for AIDS Research at the University of Pennsylvania and scientists from Sangamo BioSciences, Inc. have developed genetically engineered T cells...
