What’s been going on in the life sciences world this week? Check out Week in Brief for an overview of the biggest news from the last seven days.
In an experiment in mice, researchers have successfully treated a rare childhood brain disease using prime editing. This precise method to correct mutations could mitigate symptoms and extend the lifespans of children with alternating hemiplegia of childhood, and provides a proof of concept for the treatment of other brain disorders.
New research has revealed that genetic testing of adults in the ICU leads to a significant number of new diagnoses, proving that genetic testing has benefits beyond pediatric applications in the critical care setting. The work also identified race disparities relating to access to genetic testing.
Scientists have developed two new methods to restart donor hearts for transplantation. One technique involves restarting children’s hearts outside of the body, which overcomes technical challenges currently associated with the revival of small organs, whilst the second technique involves freezing hearts within their donor. These methods could help to increase the number of available organs for those in need of transplants.
A study of over 58,000 mothers has revealed that sex at birth is not as random as previously believed. In fact, some women are genetically predisposed to have children of one sex; the impact of the genetic variants in question also appears to increase with age and number of previous pregnancies.
New work has shown that what was previously thought of as junk DNA may in fact play an important role in gene regulation. According to the study, ancient viral sequences embedded in the human genome can activate certain genes and may have shaped our evolution.
Two studies have reported on the health and wellbeing of eight babies in the UK who were conceived using a groundbreaking IVF technique that aims to avoid the possibility of mitochondrial disease. The children born as a result of this technique, which involves transferring the nucleus of a fertilized egg into a donor egg with healthy mitochondria, appear to be in good health.
Two dogs trained to assess the scent of sebum swabs were able to detect Parkinson’s disease with up to 98% accuracy, according to a new study. The dogs were able to identify the disease before symptoms showed in some individuals, leading to hope that this could form the basis of an early test for the condition.
Researchers have successfully grown hundreds of different kinds of nerve cells in the lab. This is an improvement on previous efforts, which have only produced a limited number of cell types, and could aid in more precise research into neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
A study of over 3 million individuals has shown that while having a close relative with a mental health disorder does increase lifetime risk of developing the same disorder, the vast majority of patients do not have a relative with the same condition.
Finally, a new online tool has been developed that contains gene expression data from thousands of tumour samples from the brain, spinal cord and nerves. The researchers involved in the work hope that the database can assist in the identification and development of new cancer treatments.
Check out last week’s Week in Brief here.
