There's no organism on Earth that lives free of threat—including bacteria. Predatory viruses known as phages are among their most dire foes, infiltrating their cells to replicate and take over. Bacteria have evolved an ...
Cell & Microbiology
Nov 15, 2023
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34
Genome engineering may be the future of medicine, but it relies on evolutionary advances made billions of years ago in primordial bacteria, the original masters of gene editing.
Evolution
Sep 27, 2023
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39
Gene editing is a powerful method for both research and therapy. Since the advent of the Nobel Prize-winning CRISPR/Cas9 technology, a quick and accurate tool for genome editing discovered in 2012, scientists have been working ...
Biotechnology
May 11, 2023
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279
CRISPR claimed scientific fame for its ability to quickly and accurately edit genes. But, at the core, CRISPR systems are immune systems that help bacteria protect themselves from viruses by targeting and destroying viral ...
Biotechnology
Apr 27, 2023
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13
The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by the SARS CoV-2 virus, continues to threaten populations around the world, after killing over 1 million Americans. In recent weeks, XBB.1.5, the most transmissible variant to date, has started ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jan 10, 2023
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128
A team of researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tsinghua University and Peking University has determined the holoenzyme structure of monkeypox DNA using cryo-electron microscopy. In their paper published in the ...
A defense mechanism that human cells possess against viruses such as monkeypox, herpes simplex and human papillomavirus—all double-stranded DNA viruses—relies on proteins that patrol the cell, acting as sensors of the ...
Biotechnology
Nov 29, 2022
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39
Viral DNA in human genomes, embedded there from ancient infections, serves as antivirals that protect human cells against certain present-day viruses, according to new research.
Molecular & Computational biology
Oct 27, 2022
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300
Scientists at EPFL have determined how a protein that is critical in our first line of immune defense is regulated in the cell to prevent autoinflammatory diseases.
Cell & Microbiology
Oct 25, 2022
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33
A new variation of the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing system makes it easier to re-engineer massive quantities of cells for therapeutic applications. The approach, developed at Gladstone Institutes and UC San Francisco (UCSF), ...
Biotechnology
Aug 25, 2022
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