This week, read about research on the frontlines of genome editing, cancer therapeutics, and new tools for predicting transplant rejection. Check out how scientists are using the genome editing technology, CRISPR, to accelerate cancer research in mice and to repair a mutation that leads to a blood disorder in human cell lines. Then, find out how researchers are investigating possibilities for analyzing small pieces of DNA circulating in the bloodstream as a non-invasive tool to monitor how a cancer patient is responding to treatment or to predict rejection in patients who have received a heart transplant.
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A new way to model cancer
New gene-editing technique allows scientists to more rapidly study the role of mutations in tumor development.
By Anne Trafton, MIT News Office
August 6, 2014
CRISPR Corrects Blood Disorder Gene
Scientists use the genome-editing technique to fix a disease-causing mutation in human cell lines.
By Kerry Grens, The Scientist
August 5, 2014
Improving the detection of heart transplant rejection with DNA sequencing
By Elizabeth Burke, Genome Advance of the Month, National Human Genome Research Institute
August 1, 2014
Cancer biomarkers: Written in blood
DNA circulating in the bloodstream could guide cancer treatment — if researchers can work out how best to use it.
Ed Yong, Nature News
July 30, 2014
Inclusion on our list does not imply any endorsement from pgEd. Also, there are many wonderful resources that we will not be able to cite, and we apologize in advance for works that we have not included.
Image credit: “Bootstrap DNA by Charles Jencks, 2003” by mira66 (CC BY 2.0)