geneediting

Scientists have demonstrated a new potential way to edit the genomes of bacteria in complex environments, by equipping viruses to hunt them down and insert the CRISPR gene-editing system.CRISPR is a tool that allows scientists to make precise cut-and-paste edits to the genomes of living cells. It’s made possible by an enzyme that snips out a section of DNA from the target and allows it to be replaced with something more beneficial. Using this powerful technology has not only allowed scientists to find new ways to treat…

Intellia Therapeutics Inc. reported encouraging early-stage study results for its Crispr gene-editing treatments, the latest sign that the pathbreaking technology could result in commercially available drugs in the coming years. Intellia said Friday that one of its treatments, code-named NTLA-2002, significantly reduced levels of a protein that causes periodic attacks of swelling in six patients with a rare genetic disease called hereditary angioedema, or HAE. In a separate study building on…

Until recently, CRISPR—the gene-editing technology that won scientists Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier the 2020 Nobel Prize in chemistry—sounded more like science fiction than medicine; lab-created molecular scissors are used to snip out problematic DNA sections in a patient’s cells to cure them of disease. But soon we could see regulators approve the very first treatment using this gene-editing technology in an effort to combat rare inherited blood disorders that affect millions across the globe.In a $900…