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.

---

FOR TECHNOLOGY RELATED NEWS AND PRODUCT REVIEWS, CHECK OUT CLAPWAY TRENDS:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTCwx6CgWBI

UK Scientists Want to Edit Genes in Embryos

%Recently, we reported on a new #study from scientists who managed to sequence the first #octopus #genome, trying to map out the #cephalopod"s entire #DNA.% - http://clapway.com/2015/08/16/octopus-alien-more-like-humans-101/

Recently, we reported on a new study from scientists who managed to sequence the first octopus genome, trying to map out the cephalopod’s entire DNA. Sure, what they found was extraordinary and they proved that octopuses are very different from other creatures, but you are not prepared for what is coming.

The team of scientists published their impressive study, for the purpose of which they used the California two-spot octopus as their subject. Then, they combined forces with a group of researchers from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology in Japan and, together, they discovered the octopus’ strange genetics that made it the first intelligent creature on planet Earth, when it developed half a billion years ago.

DEFINE “INTELLIGENT”

Studies have found that octopuses are extremely intelligent since their behaviors can prove that they do not possess just a short-term memory, but a more complex, long-term one.

They know how to open jars in order to eat their prey, they solve puzzles, they can find their way out of a maze and they can use tools like coconuts in order to build a shelter. Their intelligence, though, seems like a necessity since parents do not learn young octopuses anything due to their little contact after their birth.

Some countries consider octopuses so intelligent that they ban them as experimental animals without anesthesia.

AND BECAUSE OCTOPUSES ARE A LOT LIKE HUMANS

Humans have 20,000 – 25,000 genes, while octopuses have 33,000 and, while uncovering the sequence, scientists discovered that some of them are similar to those found in humans and are responsible for their quick adaptation and learning.

Also, both humans and octopuses have a large brain, closed circulatory system, and their eyes are composed of an iris, retina, and lens. However, the most amazing discovery was the ability of the octopus to improve on its own genetic code, which is common in humans and other animals, but octopuses can even edit their own RNA. Trying to adjust to any condition an octopus can adapt its nerves in order to fight the extremely low temperature of the ocean. Octopuses can also taste their food due to a function of their sucker, making them selective with their dinner.

BUT WHAT IF THE OCTOPUS IS AN ALIEN?

Those who believe that octopuses come from aliens, rely on the similarities that these creatures have with humans since all the above are independently developed in another species different from our own mammal origins, and it may seem strange, but we will get an answer soon. After all, this project has given the world many possibilities and the process of breaking down the genome has only just begun, keeping us in suspense for what is about to come.

Is The Octopus An Alien, Or More Like Humans?

Gene Therapy Could Be the Key to Deafness - http://clapway.com/2015/07/09/gene-therapy-could-be-the-key-to-deafness798/

A study published in the Journal Science Translation Medicine has discussed the successful restoration of hearing in mice with genetic forms of deafness by using gene therapy. The research offers hope for children born with genes that cause profound hearing loss.

70 DIFFERENT GENES CAN RESULT IN DEAFNESS

This has opened the doors for researchers to try the same on humans. More than 70 different defective genes are known to result in deafness. The scientists in this study focused on one gene called the TCM1. It is responsible for between 4-8 percent of cases of deafness and plays a central role in hearing by coding for important inner ear protein.

HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL’S GENE THERAPY PROTOCOL ISN’T READY

Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School has said that their gene therapy protocol isn’t prepared for clinical trials. They need to tweak it a little in order to use it but there are sure that this could be used for therapeutic use in humans.

GENE THERAPY TESTED IN TWO TYPES OF MICE

The researchers tested gene therapy in two types of mutant mice. One type of mice had the TMC1 gene completely deleted and is the perfect model for the recessive TCM1 mutations in humans. Children who have two mutant copies of TCM1 have acute hearing loss from a young age, around two years old. This treatment was tested on two strains of mutant mice, representing different forms of TCM1-related deafness in humans. One mouse had no functioning TCM1 gene, and children with this kind of recessive genetic defect go deaf from a very young age.

The other strain, called Beethoven, had a less common form of TCM1 deafness caused by one copy of the paired genes not working. This “dominant” defect causes children to go deaf gradually from between the ages of 10 to 15.

In the recessive deafness, gene therapy with TCM1 restored the ability of sensory hairs to respond to sound producing a measurable electrical current and restored activity to the auditory part of the brainstem. In the dominant deafness model, gene therapy with a related gene, TCM2 was a success at the cellular and brain level and restored hearing partially, as proven in the startle test.

The researchers of this study have envisioned that deaf patients will have their genome sequenced and a precision medicine treatment injected into the ears to restore hearing. This form of therapy and restoration of hearing might be the replacement for the traditional cochlear implant.

Researchers restored the hearing of deaf mice by injecting a virus with the healthy gene into their inner ears. This gene therapy cure was successfully tested and could be offered to human patients in a little under five years.

---

 

Want to let go of that bad habit? Try the Pavlok shock bracelet!

Gene Therapy Could Be the Key to Deafness

Scientists Find Genetic Resistance to Climate Change in Coral Reefs - http://clapway.com/2015/06/26/scientists-find-genetic-resistance-to-climate-change876/

OTHER ORGANISMS’ EXTINCTIONS ARE EARLY WARNINGS FOR US

So we’ve all seen the dystopic apocalypse-fetish hollywood films depicting humanity migrating en masse to escape meteors underground, escape an ice age in Mexico, and escape zombies in…well, wherever. But how will the rest of Earth’s biosphere escape climate change? Hasn’t anyone thought of the coral reefs?

Scientists have theorized in a UN report on the progress of global effects that when it comes to the ineluctable force of global climate change, organisms like coral reefs, which support a vast ecosystem of other organisms, may be the most sensitive to rising temperatures. This is especially bad because their demise would doom a whole smorgasbord of other dependent plants and animals.

WHY GENETIC EXCHANGE IS A GOOD IDEA

But a group of scientists recently reported that reef-building corals could be rescued by exchanging their genes with heat-tolerant genotypes from latitudes where temperatures traditionally shift the highest. In their words, “Elevated thermal tolerance was associated with heritable differences in expression of oxidative, extracellular, transport, and mitochondrial functions that indicated a lack of prior stress.”

Translation: it turns out that corals with tolerance to great differences in temperature tend to have a rich mix of genetic variety, specifically from the lower latitudes, where the water has already been relatively warm for quite some time.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR THE FUTURE OF CORALS REEFS?

This is important because last year in a United Nations report it was found that the early warning signs of irrevocable climate change would appear in the mass extinction of warm water corals and the Arctic. These scientists also claimed the acidification of oceans by human pollution were other sources of growing threat to the corals. Since we now know that corals can inherit a resistance giving them a strong evolutionary advantage in the coming global crisis, other questions can be taken more seriously.

ANSWERS FOR BROADER DEBATES REGARDING THE CHANGING ENVIRONMENT

Now that we know that resistance to climate change has a strong genetic basis, we have more data with which to debate the pros and cons of relocating animals to warmer climates.

This will help us stave the forces of extinction for some species, surely, but many others, who may potentially bring diseases unknown to warmer climates, face uncertain futures. Seriousness aside, should the Coca-Cola Polar Bear meet the Californian? Shall the Chihuahua assuage the Husky?

---

 

 

Stop getting tangled up in headphone wires. Get the Rokit Boost SwageU wireless bluetooth headphones.

Scientists Find Genetic Resistance to Climate Change in Coral Reefs