Your missing links are here (28 October 2019)

Top picks

• The new Prime Editing prototype gene editing method explained by Emma Yasinski at The Scientist. Combining CRISPR-Cas9 and base-editing David Liu and colleagues at the Broad Institute cuts only one strand of DNA to gain better precision and similar efficiency as CRISPR-Cas9 solo. Also here and here.
• Russian ‘CRISPR-baby’ scientist has started work. David Cyranoski, Nature News, reports that biologist Denis Rebrikov's controversial 'CRISPR-baby' plans have taken a turn from making HIV resistant babies to repair the gene linked to deafness, called GJB2. And here. And meet a deaf woman who considers collaborating with Rebrikov to have hearing 'CRISPR-babies'.
• Promising new gene therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy using dystrophin's distant cousin utrophin
• Geneticists retract study suggesting the chinese 'CRISPR-babies' might die early
• Dynamic genomes - feature on how genes are born de novo from barren stretches of the genome.

Visionaries

• Bill Gates og NIH invests in CRISPR gene therapy for the poor
• NIH director, Francis S. Collins, lays out inspirational vision for the future of medical science
• Jennifer Doudna on the gene-editing revolution

Industry

• Bluebird Bio gets green light from European health regulators for manufacturing blood disease gene therapy
• 100 infants treated for spinal muscular atrophy with first commercialised gene therapy
• Novo Nordisk enters haemophilia gene therapy collaboration with Bluebird Bio

Uh ah wow

• Amazing scientific visualization - 3D digital video tour for learning about biology and medicine
• More visuals - I just love Nikon’s Small World Competition 'showcasing the beauty and complexity of life as seen through the light microscope'. Image Credit: Teresa Zgoda & Teresa Kugler, winning entry Nikon Small World Competition 2019
• Oh, finally there's the tiny Greta beetle, and the rat-mobile (VIDEO)