After decades of intense scientific research into developing gene editing technologies, and more than a few setbacks, the field has produced a number of success stories in recent years, demonstrating that regulatory agencies...more
As gene editing techniques come to the fore in the UK and elsewhere, industry increasingly needs clarity on the breeder's exception to plant variety rights. Originally published on IAM media.com on May 2022....more
The domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris) has been the subject of many genetic studies, particularly since the dawning of the age of Whole Genome Sequencing in the late 20th Century. These studies have elucidated some...more
In a time of a global pandemic, with antivaxxer and anti-science sentiments running rife, and when combinations of fear, distrust, and paranoia are rampant, it is easy for important results from basic science to become fodder...more
Dengue Fever, Chikungunya, Zika, Yellow Fever – what do all these diseases have in common? They are caused by viruses that enter human bloodstreams via mosquito bites. The culprit that transmits these viruses is the Aedes...more
The wooly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) is an iconic animal, like the saber tooth tiger or dire wolf, from a time in human history when our position at the top of the global food chain was decidedly not assured (and being...more
M-E-A-T has become a complicated word. A variety of alternative meat products are on the market or in development. Plant-based meat substitutes are already commonplace in our grocery stores and restaurants. Some of these...more
The COVID-19 pandemic has spread throughout the globe, infecting more than 90 million people and causing almost two million deaths (see "Tracking coronavirus' global spread"). SARS-CoV-2 infection is the cause of the...more
The dire wolf (Canis dirus), prototype of the various wolves that were important members of the House Stark family of characters in Game of Thrones, was found uniquely in North America until its extinction in the late...more
Scientists at the University of California-San Francisco (UCSF) have developed a single test, Metagenomic Next-Generation Sequencing (mNGS), that can rapidly identify infectious microbes in body fluids, increasing the speed...more
This article provides a basic overview of the immune system and how its successful engagement is necessary to produce a commercial vaccine, with a specific focus on the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes the COVID-19 disease and...more
Lions (Panthera leo) once were a widely distributed group of terrestrial mammals, ranging during the Pleistocene (from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago) in Eurasia, Africa, and North America, with species that included the...more
Report on Research Compliance 16, no. 12 (December 2019) - An independent federal office should be established to address “substantiated claims of sexual misconduct,” investigators should disclose related findings against...more
The avocado, having gained popularity (at least in the U.S.) as a convenient (and delicious) vehicle for consuming otherwise not particularly healthful corn chips, has more recently been hailed as a "superfood" when consumed...more
It was recently reported that China had successfully cloned a 12-year old schnauzer — the most recent of over 20 dog breeds successfully cloned by the nation so far. "Doudou" the schnauzer was cloned through somatic cell...more
Introduction - Although much of the reporting around CRISPR tends to focus on its cleavage based ability to knock out or repair targeted sequences of DNA in a genome, particularly for human therapeutic or agricultural...more
An MIT group consisting of the CRISPR pioneer Feng Zhang and 18 of his colleagues recently published a paper in Science demonstrating a new platform for using CRISPR technology as a diagnostic tool for detecting nucleic...more
A contentious patent battle has continued to rage between the Broad Institute at Harvard/MIT and the University of California ("UC"). UC is challenging thirteen patents related to CRISPR gene editing technology that are...more