The Age of Crispr Medicine Is Here

So far, only nine centers across the US are currently offering Casgevy, which may limit who gets access to it. Vertex says the number of participating sites will grow in the coming weeks and months. And despite the promise of a pain-free future, the grueling process of getting Casgevy may be a deterrent for some. […]

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The First Crispr Medicine Is Now Approved in the US

Casgevy uses the Nobel Prize-winning technology Crispr to modify patients’ cells so that they produce healthy hemoglobin instead. The Crispr system has two parts: a protein that cuts genetic material and a guide molecule that tells it where in the genome to make the cut. To do this, a patient’s stem cells are taken out […]

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Jennifer Doudna Believes Crispr Is for Everyone

It’s been a monumental year for Crispr, the molecular tool scientists use to edit genetic material. This November, the United Kingdom authorized the first medical treatment using Crispr gene editing, giving people with sickle cell disease new opportunities to receive a one-time therapy to prevent episodes of terrible pain. This week, the US Food and […]

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The First Crispr Medicine Just Got Approved

In sickle cell disease, abnormal hemoglobin makes a person’s blood cells hard and crescent-shaped. These misshapen cells clump together and block blood flow to organs, causing bouts of extreme pain. The cells then die off early, leaving a lack of healthy red blood cells, or anemia. Beta thalassemia also causes anemia because the body makes […]

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Crispr Pioneer Jennifer Doudna Has the Guts to Take On the Microbiome

OK, you’ve lost me. What do you mean by “bring in a molecule”? It literally just means allowing a molecule into a cell. And if that molecule is a gene editor, then it can edit genes. So we’re really at the early days of trying to figure out, for all the microbes in the human […]

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It’s Official: No More Crispr Babies—for Now

Last week in London, a small group of protestors braved it out in the rain in front of the Francis Crick Institute, where the Third International Summit on Human Genome Editing was taking place. The sparse congregation, from the group Stop Designer Babies, brandished signs urging “Never Again to Eugenics” and “NO HGM”(no human genetic modification). The […]

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The Crispr Baby Scientist Is Back. Here’s What He’s Doing Next

Some scientists and ethicists think He deserves a chance to prove that he’s capable of producing scientifically valid and ethically sound work. “His case is publicly known enough that the world will judge his credibility,” says Sheila Jasanoff, professor of science and technology studies at Harvard University. “I think anything he says will be treated […]

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This Personalized Crispr Therapy Is Designed to Attack Tumors

In a new step for Crispr, scientists have used the gene-editing tool to make personalized modifications to cancer patients’ immune cells to supercharge them against their tumors. In a small study published today in the journal Nature, a US team showed that the approach was feasible and safe, but was only successful in a handful […]

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A Bold Effort to Cure HIV—Using Crispr

Dornbusch thinks this strategy will spare patients from serious side effects or “off-target” edits—unintentional cuts elsewhere in the genome that could cause problems such as cancer. The regions targeted by the company’s Crispr therapy are also in a part of the genome that tends to stay the same even when HIV evolves. That’s important because […]

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There’s New Proof Crispr Can Edit Genes Inside Human Bodies

The Crispr components can’t naturally get into cells on their own, so Intellia uses a delivery system called lipid nanoparticles—essentially tiny fat bubbles—to ferry them to the liver. In Intellia’s trials, patients receive a one-time IV infusion of these Crispr-laden nanoparticles into the veins in their arms. Since blood passes through the liver, lipid nanoparticles […]

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