New Atlas

Biology Audio available

CRISPR breakthrough uses "hairpin lock" for more precise genetic engineering

Michael Irving April 16, 2019

The CRISPR gene-editing system is incredibly accurate, but it’s not unusual for it to be a little bit off target sometimes. Now, biomedical engineers at Duke University have created an RNA “lock” that can apparently make the system far more precise, and it works with all kinds of CRISPR variations.

The new hairpin lock – blue section at the top left – folds back on itself ...

Medical

A DNA "shredder" is the latest CRISPR gene-editing tool

Michael Irving April 9, 2019

CRISPR-Cas9 acts like a pair of molecular scissors and enables precise cut-and-paste DNA edits. But now, researchers have developed a new genetic tool that, they say, acts more like a motorized DNA “shredder.”

A new gene-editing enzyme called CRiSPR-Cas3 could function like a "DNA shredder"

Science Audio available

World's first gene-edited lizards are in the pink

Ben Coxworth April 4, 2019

Although they're commonly known as brown anoles, there are now four Anolis sagrei lizards at a University of Georgia lab that are actually pink. They're the result of the world's first successful attempt at producing a genetically modified reptile. The research could have implications for humans.

One of the four albino anoles, alongside a non-modified example

Biology Audio available

First computer-generated genome could lead to custom synthetic lifeforms

Michael Irving April 1, 2019

Scientists have created the first fully computer-generated genome of a living organism. Named Caulobacter ethensis-2.0, it was built by simplifying the natural code of Caulobacter crescentus. The team says this is a huge step towards creating completely synthetic life and medicinal DNA molecules.

Scientists have created the first computer-generated genome of a living organism

Health & Wellbeing Audio available

Therapeutic human protein grown in tobacco plants

Ben Coxworth February 26, 2019

Made by our kidneys, interleukin 37 is a protein that has powerful anti-inflammatory properties. It's produced in small quantities in the body, but if made externally in larger amounts, it could be used to treat many conditions. Scientists have now developed a way of producing it in tobacco plants.

Tony Jevnikar (left) and Shengwu Ma are affiliated with both Western University and the Lawson Health ...

Biology

Grasses found to cheat evolution by stealing genes from their neighbors

Michael Irving February 19, 2019

Plenty of students cheat on tests by copying off neighbors, and it turns out that grasses are doing the same thing. Scientists have found evidence that some species of grasses are stealing genes from their neighbors to help them adapt, effectively bypassing millions of years’ worth of evolution.

Researchers have found that a species of grass known as Alloteropsis semialata can steal genes from ...

Medical Audio available

Red-eyed mosquitoes engineered to break the chain of Zika virus transmission

Nick Lavars February 6, 2019

Scientists have now demonstrated a mosquito engineering technology that renders the biggest transmitter of the Zika virus largely immune to it, raising hopes of a new way to control the spread of it and other mosquito-borne diseases.

Genetically engineered mosquitoes developed by scientists in Australia

Medical Audio available

CRISPR-CasX could be the next small gene-editing enzyme

Michael Irving February 6, 2019

In the world of gene-editing, CRISPR and Cas9 usually go hand in hand, but that might not necessarily be the best pairing. Now, researchers at UC Berkeley have tested a new candidate, CasX, which seems to have a few advantages of its own.

The structure of the CasX enzyme (grey), which uses RNA (red) to target and cut DNA ...

Science Audio available

"Chicken bioreactors" lay medicinal eggs

Ben Coxworth January 28, 2019

Ordinarily, when scientists want to produce proteins for use in medicine, they have to utilize techniques that are costly and complex. Recently, however, Scottish researchers have created genetically-modified hens that simply lay eggs containing significant quantities of such proteins.

The hens have so far been used to produce two therapeutic proteins

Biology

CRISPR used to control which genes are passed down in mice

Michael Irving January 23, 2019

Humans have been tinkering with evolution for millennia, but new research might make the process a bit more direct. Biologists at the University of California San Diego have successfully used the CRISPR gene-editing tool to control genetic inheritance in mice for the first time.

Researchers have used CRISPR to control genetic inheritance in mice