Turning poison into a source of energy

A research team lhas succeeded in genetically manipulating the microorganism T. kivui to metabolize carbon monoxide

13-Jun-2025 - Genetic changes can occur naturally through evolution or can be initiated with the help of genetic engineering. The bacterium Thermoanaerobacter kivui (T. kivui) was manipulated by a research team led by Stefan Pflügl from the Institute of Chemical, Environmental and Bioscience Engineering at TU ...

Gene-editing in spiders for the first time

Offspring produce red fluorescent silk fibres

12-May-2025 - The University of Bayreuth’s Biomaterials research group has, for the first time, successfully applied the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing tool to spiders. Following the genetic modification, the spiders produced red fluorescent silk. The findings of the study have been published in the journal ...

Engineering Smart Delivery for Gene Editors

Restoring Vision: New hope for genetic diseases and cancer therapies

11-Apr-2025 - A research team from Helmholtz Munich and the Technical University of Munich has developed an advanced delivery system that transports gene-editing tools based on the CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing system into living cells with significantly greater efficiency than before. Their technology, ENVLPE, ...

Refining the CRISPR scissors

Research team unveils novel anti-CRISPR protein mechanism for precise control of genome editing technologies

20-Feb-2025 - The CRISPR-Cas gene scissors offer a wide range of potential applications, from the treatment of genetic diseases to antiviral therapies and diagnostics. However, to safely harness their powers, scientists are searching for mechanisms that can regulate or inhibit the systems’ activity. Enter the ...

Developing a CRISPR therapy for muscular dystrophy

09-Jan-2025 - Researchers at the Experimental and Clinical Research Center in Berlin are developing a targeted treatment for muscular dystrophy with the help of gene-editing. Preclinical research led by the Spuler Lab published in “Nature Communications” now paves the way for first-in-human clinical ...

Colored nuclei reveal cellular key genes

Researchers show how disease-relevant genes can be identified more easily

02-Jan-2025 - The identification of genes involved in diseases is one of the major challenges of biomedical research. Researchers at the University of Bonn and the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) have developed a method that makes their identification much easier and faster: they light up genome sequences in ...

How the body’s natural killer cells could fight leukemia

Research into new therapies

20-Dec-2024 - Every year, some 13,000 people in Germany are diagnosed with leukemia. Despite intensive chemotherapy, around one in two of them die. Making matters worse is the fact that the therapies currently available have severe side effects and inhibit the formation of new healthy blood cells in ...

Activating the hidden pharmaceutical potential of bacteria

Researchers develop a new genetic method for the production of new active ingredients in bacteria

17-Dec-2024 - Microorganisms produce a wide variety of natural products that can be used as active ingredients to treat diseases such as infections or cancer. The blueprints for these molecules can be found in the microbes' genes, but often remain inactive under laboratory conditions. A team of researchers at ...

CRISPR-Cas technology: ETH researchers have uncovered a serious side effect

A molecule designed to make the process more efficient destroys parts of the genome

05-Dec-2024 - Genome editing with various CRISPR-Cas molecule complexes has progressed rapidly in recent years. Hundreds of labs around the world are now working to put these tools to clinical use and are continuously advancing them. CRISPR-Cas tools allow researchers to modify individual building blocks of ...

Using CRISPR to decipher whether gene variants lead to cancer

There are thousands of mutations in the human genome that are suspected of playing a role in cancer, but whose exact function has never been clarified

14-Nov-2024 - Researchers at ETH Zurich have combined two gene editing methods. This enables them to quickly investigate the significance of many genetic mutations involved in the development and treatment of cancer. In recent years, scientists have created a range of new methods based on CRISPR-Cas technology ...