Within the last decade, scientists have adapted CRISPR systems from microbes into gene editing technology, a precise and programmable system for modifying DNA. Now, scientists at MIT’s McGovern Institute and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard have discovered a new class of programmable DNA modifying systems called OMEGAs (Obligate Mobile Element Guided Activity), which may naturally be involved in shuffling small bits of DNA throughout bacterial genomes.
These ancient DNA-cutting enzymes are guided to their targets by small pieces of RNA. While they originated in bacteria, they have now been engineered to work in human cells, suggesting they could be useful in the development of gene editing therapies, particularly as they are small (~30% the size of Cas9), making them easier to deliver to cells than bulkier enzymes. The discovery, reported in the journal Science, provides evidence that natural RNA-guided enzymes are among the most abundant proteins on earth, pointing toward a vast new area of biology that is poised to drive the next revolution in genome editing technology.
The research was led by McGovern investigator Feng Zhang, who is James and Patricia Poitras Professor of Neuroscience at MIT, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, and a core institute member of the Broad Institute. Zhang’s team has been exploring natural diversity in search of new molecular systems that can be rationally programmed.
Check out our second promo for #transvision #future Summit 2021 (#madrid Oct. 8 — 12), featuring the optional dinner/cocktails we are scheduling, and 2 full-day #tours of several #unescoworldheritage sites and historical places near Madrid: Segovia, Ávila, Monsaterio de El Escorial & Valley of the Fallen on Oct. 11 and Alcalá de Henares, Aranjuez & Toledo on Oct. 12. It’s going to be espectacular! You don’t wanna miss those, so get your tickets now! 😊 Get your tickets here -> www.TransVisionMadrid.com.
The event itself will be a lot of fun, so make sure to register to come to Madrid in person, or to watch it via streaming (at a reduced price). There will be talks about #longevity #artificialintelligence #cryonics and much much more.
Promo by Sergio Tarrero for Alianza Futurista as Diamond Sponsor of TransVision Future Summit 2021. Alianza Futurista will also provide live video production, streaming and post production services for this event.
Humanity Plus Humanity Plus Magazine Ilustre Colegio Oficial de Médicos de Madrid (ICOMEM) Alcor Life Extension Foundation Cryonics Institute Cryonics Institute Posthuman Network Posthuman Network Cryonics4U Longevity Conferences Longevity for All International Longevity Alliance U.S. Transhumanist Party Transhumanist Party Australia Transhumanist Party Australia Group Transhumanist UK Rational Transhumanism Singularity University Ray Kurzweil Ray Kurzweil Singularity Ray Kurzweil Singularity Ray Kurzweil’s Singularity Singularity Hub Singularity Network Transhumanismo Brasil SingularityNET Singularitarianism Foresight Institute Lifeboat Foundation Machine Intelligence Research Institute KrioRus The Hedonistic Imperative — Paradise Engineering Future of Life Institute Future of Humanity Institute (Oxford University) The Long Now Foundation Global Catastrophic Risk Institute CLUB DE SEGUIDORES DE JOSÉ LUIS CORDEIRO (OFICIAL) Aubrey de Grey Dr. Aubrey de Grey HashtagTeam 🤩
http://www.TransVisionMadrid.com.
Promo by Sergio M.L. Tarrero for Alianza Futurista, proud Diamond Sponsor of #TransVision Future Summit 2021.
Spain will host the next global future summit #TransVision on October 8 9 and 10 2021. Humanity+ will be the main international organizer of this international event. Afterwards, during October 11 and 12 we will continue with informal conversations while traveling to UNESCO World Heritage Sites around Madrid: Alcalá de Henares, Aranjuez, Ávila, El Escorial, Segovia y Toledo. Every night will finish with optional cocktails in beautiful places for networking and meeting the participants and speakers.
The topics covered will be very broad, from recent medical advances, to artificial intelligence and robotics. The first keynote speakers will be the world famous Ray Kurzweil and Aubrey de Grey. Additionally, #TransVision 2021 will feature other keynote presentations, such as those from futurist movement pioneers Max More, Natasha Vita-More, Ben Goertzel and Anders Sandberg, members of Humanity+ and other leading institutions.
#TransVision 2021 collaborates with leading organizations working on futurist concepts such as life extension, artificial intelligence, robotics, nanotechnology, space travel, human enhancement, blockchain and other future technologies and trends. The first #TransVision conference was held in 1998 in the Netherlands, and since there we have hosted 14 international summits in cities like Berlin, Brussels, Caracas, Chicago, Helsinki, London, Madrid, Milano, Paris, Stockholm and Toronto.
#TransVision 2021 will be hosted in the historic Madrid College of Medicine (Ilustre Colegio Oficial de Médicos de Madrid), and there will be live streaming for those who can’t come in person to beautiful Madrid.
Wageningen is one of a clutch of research institutions globally that hold patents on CRISPR, a technique that enables precise changes to be made to genomes, at specific locations. Other institutions — including the Broad Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the University of California, Berkeley, which have some of the largest portfolios of patents on the subject — also provide CRISPR tools and some intellectual property (IP) for free for non-profit use. But universities could do better to facilitate access to CRISPR technologies for research.
Universities hold the majority of CRISPR patents. They are in a strong position to ensure that the technology is widely shared for education and research.
An NYU-based research team created microscopic cells out of a polymer that can do active transport, a process all living cells do that is difficult to replicate.
Researchers have developed artificial cell-like structures using inorganic matter that autonomously ingest, process, and push out material—recreating an essential function of living cells.
Their article, published in Nature, provides a blueprint for creating “cell mimics,” with potential applications ranging from drug delivery to environmental science.
A fundamental function of living cells is their ability to harvest energy from the environment to pump molecules in and out of their systems. When energy is used to move these molecules from areas of lower concentration to areas of higher concentration, the process is called active transport. Active transport allows cells to take in necessary molecules like glucose or amino acids, store energy, and extract waste.
In fact, these antibodies could even fight off a virus engineered, on purpose, to be highly resistant to neutralization. This virus contained 20 mutations that are known to prevent SARS-CoV-2 antibodies from binding to it. Antibodies from people who were only vaccinated or only had prior COVID infections were essentially useless against this mutant virus. But antibodies in people with the “hybrid immunity” could neutralize it.
That’s how one scientist describes the findings of a series of studies looking at the antibodies created by individuals who were infected by the virus and then had an mRNA vaccine.
Nanoengineers at the University of California San Diego have developed COVID-19 vaccine candidates that can take the heat. Their key ingredients? Viruses from plants or bacteria.
The new fridge-free COVID-19 vaccines are still in the early stage of development. In mice, the vaccine candidates triggered high production of neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. If they prove to be safe and effective in people, the vaccines could be a big game changer for global distribution efforts, including those in rural areas or resource-poor communities.
“What’s exciting about our vaccine technology is that is thermally stable, so it could easily reach places where setting up ultra-low temperature freezers, or having trucks drive around with these freezers, is not going to be possible,” said Nicole Steinmetz, a professor of nanoengineering and the director of the Center for Nano-ImmunoEngineering at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering.
If you could cure genetic diseases by editing DNA sequences, would you?
GZERO Media #GZEROWorld
Berkeley scientist Jennifer Doudna won the 2020 Nobel Prize for her work on the revolutionary gene-editing technology known as CRISPR. It has the potential to cure genetic diseases like sickle cell anemia and hereditary blindness and may even be used to treat cancer and HIV. But when it comes to editing humanity, where do we draw the line?
Bioengineers have repurposed a “non-working” CRISPR system to make a smaller version of the genome engineering tool. Its diminutive size should make it easier to deliver into human cells, tissues and the body for gene therapy.
Researchers at Lund University have designed a new bioink which allows small human-sized airways to be 3D-bioprinted with the help of patient cells for the first time. The 3D-printed constructs are biocompatible and support new blood vessel growth into the transplanted material. This is an important first step towards 3D-printing organs.
Therefore, researchers are looking at ways to increase the amount of lungs available for transplantation. One approach is fabricating lungs in the lab by combining cells with a bioengineered scaffold.
