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Sally joined a trial at Baylor College of Medicine using a therapy called CAR T. First, doctors removed some of Sally's T-cells, infection fighting white blood cells, and genetically modified them to recognize her sarcoma cancer as being enemy cells that should be destroyed. Millions of those new cells were then put back in Sally's body, ready to search out and destroy the cancer. Of 10 patients, three have stable disease and two, including Naser, have no evidence of cancer. Two CAR T therapies are already FDA approved for forms of leukemia and lymphoma. The next hurdle is proving it...

Applications include use by the military and helping people who are colour blind HUMANS could get the power to see in the dark after mice were injected with nanoparticles which gave them the ability to see infrared light. The rodents were given infrared night vision for 10 weeks after the injection, with only minor side effects, in an experiment conducted by Chinese and US scientists The team at the University of Science and Technology of China said they could modify a human’s vision to detect a wider spectrum of colours. Current infrared technology allows the user to see heat emitted...

Investigation by Chinese authorities finds He Jiankui broke national regulations in his controversial work on gene-edited babies. The scientist who announced last year that he had produced the world’s first gene-edited babies has been fired by his university. The decision, announced on 21 January by the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, in China’s Guandong province, follows a report of findings from an investigation into He’s work by provincial health authorities. A probe by the Guangdong health ministry found that He broke national regulations against using gene-editing for reproductive purposes, Chinese state media agency Xinhua reported on 21...

The tiny, immortal hydra is a freshwater animal that can regenerate an entirely new animal from just the tiniest sliver of its body. Usually, it does this perfectly: One foot, one long skinny body, and one tentacled head. But with a single genetic tweak, researchers can create monstrous hydras that sprout fully functional heads all over their bodies — appropriate for an animal named for an ancient Greek monster that had somewhere between six and nine heads. These many-headed hydras aren't just a trick of mad science. For the first time, researchers have figured out what keeps hydra head regeneration...

In a study published in the journal Nature on Wednesday, researchers from the University of British Columbia detail how they were able to coax stem cells into growing into human blood vessel "organoids," the term used for three-dimensional, lab-grown cellular systems that mimic the characteristics of organs or tissues. They then placed the lab-grown blood vessels in a petri dish designed to mimic a "diabetic environment." They found that the basement membrane thickened in a way that was "strikingly similar" to the thickening seen in patients with diabetes, according to researcher Reiner Wimmer. The researchers then went on the hunt...

AN AMBITIOUS pig farmer raising muscle-bound mutant porkers for the bacon market is selling their sperm on Facebook. The Cambodian-based breeder is flogging the semen - along with insemination kits - to others looking to move into the 'Frankenswine' market. Mutant ...one of the giant pigs greedily gobbles up his massive dinner at a farm in Cambodia ______________________________________________________________ Scientists in South Korea have been credited with originally genetically-engineering double-muscle hogs to avert a future pork shortage crisis. They carefully altered pig genes to create super-sized swines capable of producing more meat than usual breeds. Farmyard footage shows similar porky 'monsters'...

A daring effort is under way to create the first children whose DNA has been tailored using gene editing. When Chinese researchers first edited the genes of a human embryo in a lab dish in 2015, it sparked global outcry and pleas from scientists not to make a baby using the technology, at least for the present. It was the invention of a powerful gene-editing tool, CRISPR, which is cheap and easy to deploy, that made the birth of humans genetically modified in an in vitro fertilization (IVF) center a theoretical possibility. Now, it appears it may already be happening....

A GENETICALLY modified virus that kills cancer cells and destroys their hiding places has been developed by British scientists. It targets both cancer cells and healthy cells that are tricked into protecting the cancer from the immune system. Fibroblasts, the most common type of cell in connective tissues, are vital in the body's healing process, but they can get hijacked by cancer-associated fibroblasts or CAFs. These then help tumours grow, spread and evade therapy. The new treatment, a form of immunotherapy developed by Oxford University scientists, attacks carcinomas - the most ­common type of cancer. Currently, any therapy that kills...

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration signed a new contract on July 25 to acquire “fresh” human fetal tissue to transplant into “humanized mice” so that these mice will have a functioning “human immune system,” according to information published by the FDA and the General Services Administration. “The objective is to acquire Tissue for Humanized Mice,” said a June 13 FDA “presolicitation notice” for the contract. The contractor, the notice said, would “provide the human fetal tissue needed to continue the ongoing research being led by FDA. “Fresh human tissues are required,” said the notice, “for implantation into severely immune-compromised...

Last week was a momentous one for the future of genetically engineered foods, both in the U.S. and in Europe. On July 24, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the Impossible Burger, an all-veggie burger that "bleeds" and sizzles just like meat. The burger's star ingredient — a protein called heme that renders blood red and helps make meat a carnivore's delight — was granted GRAS (generally recognized as safe) status. In 2015, the FDA had required that the $400 million Silicon Valley startup, Impossible Foods, demonstrate that their heme, made by genetically modified yeast, was safe. But across...

Did you know that the tomato is a fruit? It actually is, you know. It certainly does not taste like one today. Though, it really used to. Tomatoes used to be sweet and delicious. That is, until the 1920’s in the United States. What in the world was going on then? All that damned “Progressivism” and trying to change America into a utopia ruled by a benevolent wealthy class. Nonsense. Oh, yes. They implemented the Federal income tax, and they banned alcohol and did all kinds of things (like giving the right to vote to woman) to turn the world...

For at least the last 10 million years every yeast cell of the sort used to make beer or bread has had 16 chromosomes. But now—thanks to CRISPR technology and some DNA tinkerers in China—there are living yeast with just one. Genome organizer: We humans have our genes arranged on 46 chromosomes, yeast use 16, and there’s even a fern plant with 1260 of them. That’s just the way it is. And no one is quite sure why. The big one: Do we really need so many chromosomes? That’s what Zhogjun Qin and colleagues at the Key Laboratory of Synthetic...

By now, the images of shelves full of perfect greens in hulking warehouses, stacked floor to ceiling in sterile environs and illuminated by high-powered LED lights, have become familiar. Food futurists and industry leaders say these high-tech vertical farming operations are the future of agriculture — able to operate anywhere, virtually invincible against pests, pathogens, and poor weather, and producing local, fresh, high-quality, lower-carbon food year-round. That future seemed one step closer to reality last year when San Francisco-based indoor farming startup Plenty, which grows a variety of salad and leafy greens hydroponically (without soil) and uses artificial lighting in...

Clinical trials are tentatively scheduled for 2020 at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center's new Center for Stem Cell and Organoid Medicine, where researchers are making miniature livers and pancreases, called organoids. Associate Director Takanori Takebe, MD, calls organoids a "complex recipe" of proteins, small molecules, amino acids and nutrients that enable him and his staff in the U.S. and Japan to make the organs using pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), or so-called "master cells." Takebe sees two roles for the manmade organs: drug testing and transplantation. "It's pretty much like science fiction, but we are trying to create the miniature version...

Golden Rice was declared safe for consumption by Canada recently. This has huge implications for the rest of the world, where Golden Rice can be vital resource in tackling vitamin A deficiency and malnutrition.Genetically modified (GM) crops are engineered to display traits that are otherwise absent or subdued in natural crops. For example, gene modification results in crops that are highly resistant to diseases and more accustomed to extreme weather conditions. Sometimes, these crops also contain increased nutritional value.Golden Rice, also known as Provitamin A Biofortified Rice Event GR2E, has strikingly higher levels of Provitamin A than other commercially available...

Josiah Zayner, 36, recently made headlines by becoming the first person to use the revolutionary gene-editing tool Crispr to try to change their own genes. Part way through a talk on genetic engineering, Zayner pulled out a syringe apparently containing DNA and other chemicals designed to trigger a genetic change in his cells associated with dramatically increased muscle mass. He injected the DIY gene therapy into his left arm, live-streaming the procedure on the internet. The former Nasa biochemist, based in California, has become a leading figure in the growing “biohacker” movement, which involves loose collectives of scientists, engineers, artists,...

Opponents of genetically modified (GM) crops raise a number of questions and objections to growing them and including them in the food supply. Although they cite scientific research to support their claims, a careful review of the literature suggests there is very little evidence to support any of the claims about harmful health effects of GM food. For this reason, combined with the many potential benefits, governments should not restrict the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs).Opponents place a great deal of emphasis on the fact that many GM crops have been engineered to be resistant to glyphosate, the active...

University of Arizona researchers developed a Trojan horse to prevent aflatoxin formation in corn, but they haven’t gotten funding to take it to the next development stage partly because it involves genetic engineering. --snip-- In the U.S., aflatoxin-free corn would a boon for both grain growers and livestock feeders. Contaminated corn shouldn’t be fed to dairy cows, beef cattle or swine. At high levels, aflatoxins can be fatal. At low levels, they can make animals sick and less productive. In Africa, a never-aflatoxin corn would save lives. Tropical weather is ideal for mold growth and aflatoxin infections in corn. Many...

Azure Farm, a Certified Organic farm in Central Oregon, is under threat from the local county government who wants to spray Azure's Certified Organic farm with herbicides like Roundup (Glyphosate). Here's what you can do to help. Contact Sherman County court via email at lhernandez@co.sherman.or.us or call Lauren at 541-565-3416 and express your concern. See azurestandard.com/healthy-living/info/azure-farm-moro/ for more details. Video explaining legal action being taken against the 18 year certified organic farm in Oregon... http://vimeo.com/216920516

Upon arrival, immigrant populations in Canada tend to present less allergies than their Canadian-born counterparts, but prevalence increases with time, a national study finds. However, exposing them to ethnic foods and cultural practices that they were accustomed to may help reduce allergies in this population, according to the researchers. “There is no definitive answer as to the cause(s) of the definitely noted increase in allergies in immigrant populations when they move to Western countries such as Canada. However, the pattern is real and needs to be analyzed”, says Dr. David Fischer, President of the Canadian Society of Allergy and Clinical...