Your missing links are here (11 September 2020)

Top Picks

• Kinetic profiling of Cas nucleases can help scientists to design safer and more efficient CRISPR experiments. Read about it in CRISPR Medicine News.
• In vivo CRISPR gene editing in memory CD8 T cells have been achieved for the first time by temporarily inhibiting the transcription factor p53 that otherwise precludes Cas9-mediated gene disruption in this cell type.

Research

• Cancer researchers in Germany have received ERC funding for single-cell CRISPR studies to unravel the biological effects of DNA circularisation and reintegration in an attempt to understand the role of extrachromosomal DNA in cancer development. See press release from Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin.
• Russian scientists have studied the CRISPR Type III system of extreme thermophilic bacteria and unraveled how they recognise and destroy invading bacteriophages.
• Efficient animal breeding often requires a surplus of a single sex. This has been achieved in a mouse model where CRISPR is used to generate all-male litters by creating a synthetic female-lethal bicomponent system.
• In case you missed it, researchers at McGill University, Canada use CRISPR to remove the gene that confers resistance to ionising radiation in glioblastoma.

Clinical Trials

• Caribou Biosciences has received FDA clearance to start Phase I clinical trials for its off-the-shelf allogenic anti-CD19 CAR-T therapy for patients with relapsed/refractory B cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The treatment uses CRISPR to deplete PD-1 from CAR-T cells.

Industry

• The market research firm Industry Research just published a comprehensive report analysing the global CRISPR business opportunities, including niche markets, potential risks and comprehensive competitive strategy analysis.
• Another global CRISPR market report from Kenneth Research takes a more research-oriented approach by breaking up the business opportunities into specific applications like genome editing, genetic engineering, gene library, CRISPR plasmid, human stem cells, genetically modified organism, and cell line engineering.
• Sherlock Biosciences, a CRISPR diagnostics company, has appointed Dr Martin Madaus as Chief Operations Officer. Dr Madaus has nearly 30 years of industry experience leading diagnostics companies across all stages of development through commercialisation.

COVID-19

• Read about howMammoth Biosciencesdeveloped its CRISPR-based COVID19 Diagnostic DETECTR. The story features CTO Janice Chen, who says: »We want to shift the paradigm of ‘I need to go to the doctor’s office for testing’ to the consumer’s home.«
• Learn more about next-generation diagnostics in this interview with Sherlock Biosciences CTO Will Blake and GlobalData medical analyst Brian Hicks.

Delivery

• A novel gene therapy delivery technology by PYC Therapeutics explores lipid nanoparticles for intracellular delivery of a range of gene therapy cargoes.
• Genetic engineering, no virus required. Companies are optimizing nonviral methods for delivering DNA and RNA gene-editing tools.

Education

• An educational tool kit the size of a lunch box contains everything the next generation of genetic scientists and technicians need to master the CRISPR gene-editing technology.

Conferences and Webinars

• An upcoming online and physical symposium New genome editing technologies for medicine and agriculture - implications for the society is taking place at Lund University on 13 October 2020.
• CRISPRcon 2020 is a series of 10 webinars covering five themes during September and October. The next webinar is scheduled for September 15 and is a panel discussion on how gene editing-focused approaches may exacerbate or address racial health disparities in the era of COVID-19.
• A previous panel discussion at CRISPRcon 2020 addressed how journalists are shaping society’s values and views on gene editing through their choices of what stories to tell, and how to frame them. Watch it on YouTube here.