Breakthrough of the Year: CRISPR makes the cut

By John Travis It was conceived after a yogurt company in 2007 identified an unexpected defense mechanism that its bacteria use to fight off viruses. A birth announcement came in 2012, followed by crucial first steps in 2013 and a massive growth spurt last year....
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Heredity Is Nobody’s Fault. Until Now.

We are all unwitting players in a genetic lottery. Take a gene called APOE. It comes in three flavors – APOE2, APOE3 and APOE4. All three are considered normal human genes, but people who were dealt an APOE4 face three to five times the average...
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CRISPR gene editing timeline

A powerful gene editing technique that first evolved in bacteria has been used in everything from flies to human embryos…. You may have seen the headlines about CRISPR/Cas9, a powerful genetic technique that lets scientists “edit” genes. It’s been hailed as a miracle method that will...
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CRISPR Therapy in a Dish

Redirecting the gene-editing tool to modulate gene expression, researchers restore protein function in cells from a child with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. CRISPR is best known for its use in gene editing—slicing up base pairs to disable genes or correct genetic sequences. But by neutering the...
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