The genome editor CRISPR cuts DNA with help from a guide RNA (green and red) and a Cas9 enzyme (outline) that latches onto a three-base sequence (yellow). KC ROEYER/UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY
You wouldn’t know it from the excitement generated by the revolutionary genome editing method known as CRISPR, but as practiced now, it is far from…
Continue reading Upgrade makes genome editor CRISPR more muscular, precise
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Protesters from several health advocacy groups gathered this morning in front of the Washington, D.C., offices of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Alex Morash/The National LGBTQ Task Force
Presidential budget requests are political documents, and the wrong word can send a confusing message—and trigger controversy. President Donald Trump’s administration appears to have kicked…
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Lab technician and Ebola survivor Sukato Mandzomba (front) worked with Peter Piot (back) in 1976 and again in 2016.
Forty years after the first documented Ebola outbreak, some of the survivors still have antibodies against the virus, a new study reveals. The find bolsters…
Continue reading Forty years later, Ebola survivors are still making antibodies to the lethal virus
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It had scandal written all over it. Disclosed emails revealed that a covert coalition lobbying for relaxed regulations around a genetic extinction technology, with help…
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Teens play foosball at a youth center run by the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation near Cape Town, South Africa. A new report says HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment programs often fail to reach boys. Photo: Jason Kane/PBS NewsHour
Friday is World AIDS Day, and pronouncements once again are making proud declarations of the many strides made against HIV in the past year. But…
Continue reading For World AIDS Day, an urgent call for more attention to men and boys
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LEMOORE, CALIFORNIA—“You should’ve been here yesterday.” That’s a repeated gag line in The Endless Summer, the classic 1966 documentary that follows two globetrotting surfers on a…
Continue reading A surfer and a scientist teamed up to create the perfect wave
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Eva Harris (far right) has led a dengue study in Nicaragua that for more than 12 years has regularly taken blood samples from children. Alejandro Belli/PLOS Pathogens
It’s a disease theory fit for a spy novel: Protective antibodies can turn double agent, teaming up with the dengue virus to make an infection…
Continue reading New evidence that dengue antibodies trigger life-threatening infections
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Variations of the CRISPR DNA editor can change one DNA base into another. Shaury Nash/Flickr (CC BY SA 2.0)
Since the start of the CRISPR craze 5 years ago, scientists have raced to invent ever-more-versatile or efficient variations of this powerful tool, which vastly…
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Dolutegravir HIV drug molecule.
For about $75, the governments in South Africa and Kenya will soon be able to treat an HIV-infected person for 1 year with a pill taken…
Continue reading New single-day pill for HIV treatment promises more bang for less buck
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