Scientists in #Britain have requested licenses to edit #genes in human #embryos, in order to discover more about the earliest stage of human development. - http://clapway.com/2015/09/18/edit-genes-in-embryos123/

Scientists in Britain have requested licenses to edit genes in human embryos, in order to conduct a series of experiments to learn more about the earliest stages of human development.

Kathy Niakan, a stem cell scientist from the Francis Crick Institute in London, has requested permission to carry out experiments similar to those announced by Chinese scientists earlier this year. She declared in her application, made to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, that she had no intention of altering embryos genetically for the purpose of use in human reproduction.

Rather, donated embryos would be used for research purposes only with the ultimate goal of obtaining scientific understanding of the development of a healthy human embryo. This knowledge may improve embryo development post in-vitro fertilisation and may provide better clinical treatments for infertility.

This Also Makes ‘Designer Babies’ Possible

The technology, called CRISPR-Cas9, is currently under fire for the frailty of its ethics. It would essentially allow researchers to edit any gene, including those found in human embryos. At the moment, scientists are still debating about how the technology should be used and under what circumstances; while CRISPR-Cas9 enables scientists to find, change or replace genetic defects, it can also foster the creation of ‘designer’ babies. Consequently, British law currently bans the genome editing of embryos, though experiments may be conducted with an HFEA license.

Ethical Debate

Sarah Chan, from the Usher Institute for Population Health Sciences and Informatics at Edinburgh University, states that genome editing research undeniably has great scientific potential, and that UK scientists have the opportunity to make great contributions to the field. The scientific community, she goes on to state, should be reassured that these experiments will be carried out under very rigorous regulations that would ensure high scientific and ethical standards.

Niakan’s application has yet to be reviewed, but it is expected that she will obtain the license to carry out her research so long as embryos are destroyed within 14 days. She sustains that her research will be carried out for the sake of science and advancement alone.

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UK Scientists Want to Edit Genes in Embryos

Mini Brain From Skin Cells Sheds Light on Autism - http://clapway.com/2015/07/18/mini-brain-from-skin-cells-sheds-light-on-autism789/

Scientists looking to uncover the origins of autism have made a discovery by growing a group of miniature “proto-brains’ in a lab using reprogrammed skin cells to rewind the brain to the early days of development. This is a big step with such small “brains” and can potential lead to big discoveries in autism, which is a complex disorder.

The organoids that the scientists created are composed of embryonic brain cells that are smaller than one-tenth of an inch across. The scientists behind the research were able to watch an autistic brain that is in development. They found that the brain overproduces brain cells that are supposed to quiet the cacophony of neural activities in the brain.

THE RESULTS OF THE EXPERIMENT COMPARED TWO BRAINS

The results were compared to a normally developing brain and it showed that the brain development of a child who will develop autism has an imbalance of inhibitory and excitatory neurons. According to a Yale physician, this is the small, but powerful difference that could lead to the pinpointing of at least a little bit of the problems that lead to autism’s behavioral symptoms.

BEGINNING CELLS ARE MADE TO LOOK LIKE THOSE FROM EMBRYOS

Researchers used new laboratory methods that have been proven to make skin cells revert to a different form like those that are taken from embryos. They then nudged the resulting stem cells to begin the process of building a brain and then incubated the result for a month.

SCIENTISTS WERE ABLE TO FIND AND CORRECT A SINGLE GENE’S ABNORMAL PROGRESSION

When the researchers suppressed a single gene that is abnormally active in organoids created from patients with autism, they were able to fix the imbalance between neurons that quiet the cellular impulses, and those that increase them.

RESEARCH MEANS QUICK DIAGNOSIS AND FAST TREATMENT

This is a big step to a faster diagnosis and treatment of autism than before. It is possible that while a baby is still in utero, or shortly after birth, autism can be diagnosed and treated. The research and results from this study is making the focus on developing treatments more precise.

This research was published in the Cell journal.

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Mini Brain From Skin Cells Sheds Light on Autism