News by Subject Biology

Mount Sinai Scientists developed a novel way to barcode and track different CRISPRs by utilizing synthetic proteins built from combinations of smaller proteins, called epitopes. By being able to mark each CRISPR with a unique identifier, the protein barcodes, or Pro-Codes for short, enable hundreds of CRISPRs to be used together to knockout a multitude of genes.

In new studies conducted at UC San Francisco, a novel oxygen-delivery therapeutic restored the function of oxygen-starved heart tissue in an animal model of global hypoxia. Unlike its experimental predecessors, the new drug does not appear to cause systemic side effects or overcorrect with excessive blood oxygenation, which can itself be toxic. Instead, the new drug delivers its precious oxygen cargo only to the tissues that need it most.

Researchers developed a novel DNA influenza vaccine based on four micro-consensus antigenic regions selected to represent the diversity of seasonal H3N2 viruses across decades.

The potent combination of CRISPR/Cas9 and zebrafish as a model organism offers enormous potential for research into human diseases caused by point mutations. Three new articles published in Disease Models & Mechanisms use zebrafish to explore how advances in CRISPR/Cas9 optimisation offer a new level of accuracy and specificity previously out of reach for research into this type of human genetic disorder.

Research has shown that mistakes in 'proofreading' the genetic code of retinal cells is the cause of a form of inherited blindness, retinitis pigmentosa (RP) with splicing factor defects, which affects up to 2.5 million people worldwide.

In a new study that ultimately analyzed the genomes of nearly a quarter of a million men, a research team including UC San Francisco scientists has discovered that variants at a single site on Chromosome 6 are associated with a significantly higher risk of developing erectile dysfunction (ED).