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An ancient RNA-guided system could simplify delivery of gene editing therapies By Corie Lok February 27, 2025 Breadcrumb Home An ancient RNA-guided system could simplify delivery of gene editing therapies The programmable proteins are compact, modular, and can be directed to modify DNA in human cells. Lisa Yang and Hock E.
A team of researchers at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard has engineered virus-like particles to deliver prime editors to cells in mice at a high enough efficiency to rescue a genetic disorder. Prime editing, described in 2019 by Liu’s group, can make longer and more diverse types of DNA changes than other types of editing.
When faced with a viral threat, bacterial cells developed an immune response by capturing and copying DNA fragments of viruses. This allowed bacteria to recognise subsequent attacks and cleave the viral DNA to stop the viral infection. It was also discovered that the Cas enzyme was responsible for DNA cleavage.
By Leah Eisenstadt June 28, 2023 Credit: Courtesy of the Zhang lab Cryo-EM map of a Fanzor protein in complex with ωRNA and its target DNA. They showed that Fanzor proteins use RNA as a guide to target DNA precisely, and that Fanzors can be reprogrammed to edit the genome of human cells. said Zhang.
Now researchers at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard have used cutting-edge continuous laboratory evolution and engineering methods to develop improved versions of the gene-editing tool. Reverse transcriptase proteins that copy RNA templates into strands of DNA are found naturally in all plant and animal cells and in many viruses.
The scientists found a surprising number and diversity of CRISPR systems, including ones that could make edits to DNA in human cells, others that can target RNA, and many with a variety of other functions. Zhang’s team showed that two of these systems could make short edits in the DNA of human cells.
Messenger RNAs with multiple “tails” could lead to more effective therapeutics By Corie Lok March 22, 2024 Breadcrumb Home Messenger RNAs with multiple “tails” could lead to more effective therapeutics Scientists have engineered long lasting mRNAs that increased therapeutic protein production in cells and animals.
Scientists from Northwestern Medicine have demonstrated that RNA interference could have a crucial role in the onset and development of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). sRNAs Cellular functions rely on numerous protein-coding and noncoding RNAs and the RNA-binding proteins associated with them, which form ribonucleoprotein complexes (RNPs).
At Alkermes , our interdisciplinary team of protein engineers, immunologists, pharmacologists, and analytical scientists is investigating the biology of several immunomodulatory cytokines including IL-12 and IL-18 to develop novel versions of these molecules with the goal of harnessing their therapeutic potential.
The reasons for this are multifaceted, including concerns over the safety of directly altering DNA sequences and subsequent regulatory restrictions that have arisen as a result. The epigenome (meaning ‘above the genome’) is a system of reversible marks regulating how the DNA is read, translated and used. What is epigenetic editing?
Unlike gene editing, this “epigenetic” editing does not modify the underlying DNA sequence, but it should switch the gene off permanently, which means that this could be a one-time treatment. They used an engineered adeno-associated virus (AAV) that crosses the blood-brain barrier after intravenous administration.
Scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMass), US, have collaborated to create a novel type of nanoparticle that can deliver messenger RNA that encodes for beneficial proteins to the lungs.
Remdesivir and other broad-spectrum antivirals work by jamming up RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp), an enzyme that nearly all RNA viruses use to replicate their genomes. Other efforts to build broad-spectrum antivirals have focused on another conserved feature of viruses: double-stranded RNA.
iPSC-derived lymphocytes, eg, T cells and natural killer (NK) cells, engineered to express targeting molecules such as chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) have shown clinical promise to treat haematological malignancies. We believe this lays the groundwork for engineering these kinds of myeloid cells to potentially target any cancer antigen.
Our overall mission at Arrakis is to expand the set of “druggable” targets for small-molecule medicines to include RNA. Today, we are pleased to announce that our article describing one such platform: “ PEARL-seq, A Photoaffinity Platform for the Analysis of Small Molecule-RNA Interactions ” was published in ACS Chemical Biology.
That’s because proteins are made, in the laboratory, using synthetic DNA and cells; and DNA is expensive. Our machine would make proteins without using any DNA or cells. All cells make proteins in two steps: DNA is transcribed into messenger RNA, which is then translated into protein.
After some time in that role and launching several products, I received a call from Bill Banyai and Bill Peck, or ‘The Bills’ as we call them, who were building a company around technology that creates DNA by ‘writing’ it on a silicon chip. Because I was put into the highest tier, I was automatically mapped to the engineering track.
And unlike traditional DNA sequencers, which parse genetic material by breaking it up into fragments and interpreting it chunk-by-chunk, a nanopore device unspools a long strand of DNA and reads it all at once. A scientist can isolate DNA and load up a flow cell in fifteen minutes. Nanopore devices work incredibly fast.
The other study was led by senior authors Xiao Wang , a Broad core institute member, a Merkin Institute Fellow, and an assistant professor of chemistry at MIT, and Jia Liu, an assistant professor of engineering at Harvard University. Related news Researchers map brain cell changes in Alzheimer’s disease Courtesy of the Chen and Macosko labs.
The use of engineered genetic materials in clinical trials is rapidly expanding, with potential applications for genetic vaccines, gene-modified cellular therapies, and gene therapies. A key part of the IBC’s evaluation is assessing the risks posed by the engineered genetic materials. Why Does the IBC Need to do a Risk Assessment?
DNA and RNA molecules are also built from exclusively right-handed nucleic acids. As Richard Dawkins said of biological wheels : “the engineering solution can be seen in plain view, yet [it is] unattainable in evolution because it lies [on] the other side of a deep valley.”
Kamal Nahas highlights the biological limits on cell division speed and explores how we might engineer cells to grow faster. However, they plod along as they clone plasmids—the loops of DNA that biologists use to manipulate and study organisms—because propagating them relies, in part, on the pace at which cells grow and divide.
But, regardless of which was first, they all operated with the same core data as their mechanism for understanding life: messenger RNA ( mRNA ). Some emerged from a “DNA is all you need” worldview, investing heavily in better long-read sequencing and chromatin accessibility data.
It also gave me a new appreciation for biology, and the incredible exactitude that one must have to engineer it — let alone engineer it successfully. of a Boeing 737 jet engine. If scientists wanted to engineer cells to divide faster, then, they should start with the ribosomes. Always free. Richly storied.
That’s because proteins are made, in the laboratory, using synthetic DNA and cells; and DNA is expensive. Our machine would make proteins without using any DNA or cells. All cells make proteins in two steps: DNA is transcribed into messenger RNA, which is then translated into protein.
Spectrum’s self-contained saliva collection kit provides critical sample consistency while suspending and neutralizing viral RNA transcripts completely inactivating the live virus. Qualified commercial RNA extraction chemistries include Perkin Elmer, Thermo Fisher, Roche, and Qiagen. ABOUT SPECTRUM SOLUTIONS AND SPECTRUM DNA.
Codon Digest is my weekly roundup of research, news, and industry highlights about engineered biology. This week: A way to measure a transgene’s expression in the brain using ultrasound, a DNA sequencing method that uses 1000x less reagents, and base editors get even smaller. Please send me your feedback. Thanks for reading.
Codon Digest is my weekly roundup of research, news, and industry highlights about engineered biology. This week: A way to measure a transgene’s expression in the brain using ultrasound, a DNA sequencing method that uses 1000x less reagents, and base editors get even smaller. Please send me your feedback. Thanks for reading.
This is Codon Digest, a weekly roundup of research papers, news articles, and industry highlights about engineered biology. But now, by studying DNA extracted from microbes in the blood of almost 10,000 healthy people, this paper shows that there is no such thing. Read Transcription factors bind to DNA and control gene expression.
Tissue engineering techniques using induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC), which are differentiated into cardiomyocytes, are being developed to create functional cardiac tissues from patient-derived cells. RNA-based therapies, including mRNA and RNA interference (RNAi), are being explored to modulate gene expression in heart cells.
Experiments performed with the bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae not only led to the discovery of DNA as the principal hereditary molecule but also yielded early tools for genetic engineering. The study of RNA tumor viruses revealed reverse transcriptase , an enzyme integral in studying RNA biology.
🧪 Papers AI + Bio Protein-specific signal peptides for mammalian vector engineering. Basic Science A trailing ribosome speeds up RNA polymerase at the expense of transcript fidelity via force and allostery. Biological Engineering Generation of functional oocytes from male mice in vitro. Metabolic Engineering.
Mapping mRNA through its life cycle within a cell By Corie Lok February 11, 2025 Breadcrumb Home Mapping mRNA through its life cycle within a cell Xiao Wangs studies of how and where RNA is translated could lead to the development of better RNA therapeutics and vaccines. I wasnt trained at MIT, and I had never lived in Boston before.
Together, Haining, Manguso , and Yates went on to found the Tumor Immunotherapy Discovery Engine ( TIDE ) at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard in 2017 with support from Calico as a collaborating partner. These cells also express the Cas9 protein, which helps disable the genes targeted by the guide RNAs.
Experiments at the Wuhan facility were done at the lowest two of the four standard biosafety levels, which were established at the dawn of recombinant DNA research in the 1970s. The Likely Predecessor of SARS-CoV-2 – From my Past Blog Posts I wrote 100+ DNA Science blog posts during the pandemic about the virus.
What are the key findings of Circio’s in vivo proof-of-concept for its circVec circular RNA platform technology compared to conventional mRNA-based expression with DNA vectors? Circular RNA (circRNA) has two major advantages versus mRNA in a vector-expression context. DNA vectors in mouse models?
They’ve just finished sequencing the patient’s genome, but they don’t have “DNA sorting” software. billion units of DNA code are transcribed into more than a hundred volumes, each a thousand pages long, in type so small as to be barely legible.” LEGO robot to make sucrose gradients.
They’ve just finished sequencing the patient’s genome, but they don’t have “DNA sorting” software. billion units of DNA code are transcribed into more than a hundred volumes, each a thousand pages long, in type so small as to be barely legible.” LEGO robot to make sucrose gradients.
"These findings reveal a completely unexpected and fascinating mechanism that explains the efficacy of the drug," Manguso, who is a principal investigator at MGH, a co-director of the Tumor Immunology Discovery Engine (TIDE) group, and a Cancer Program associate member at Broad, said.
Read more at Nature Biotechnology ( Similar paper at Nature Biomedical Engineering.) But now, their engineered brethren can live about 82 percent longer. But now, their engineered brethren can live about 82 percent longer. Engineered yeast live longer than their “normal” brethren. From Zhang et al.
Read more at Nature Biotechnology ( Similar paper at Nature Biomedical Engineering.) But now, their engineered brethren can live about 82 percent longer. But now, their engineered brethren can live about 82 percent longer. Engineered yeast live longer than their “normal” brethren. From Zhang et al.
Learn more COVID-19 portals and datasets Broad data scientists and software engineers have developed several portals and datasets to support COVID-19-related research. Learn more Genome Analysis Toolkit (GATK) Industry standard for identifying SNPs and indels in germline DNA- and RNA-seq data.
In the first real test of delivering a complex biomolecule to over a billion people, little has changed from how Genentech first approached manufacturing in the 1980s; Cells are genetically engineered and then grown in steel tanks. But this isn’t a problem with extracts.
LanzaTech announced a partnership with H&M Move to convert factory carbon emissions into fabrics using engineered microbes. Small snippets of double-stranded RNA were sprayed onto hot pepper plants to control a pest, called Frankliniella occidentalis. RNA may offer a safer form of pest control in the future. Shrock E.L.
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