Category Archives: Genetic Engineering

About the opportunity

The Centre for Advanced Food Engineering (CAF) at the University of Sydney is looking for a researcher to drive an industry sponsored research in the field of cellular agriculture. We are looking for an outstanding, motivated and independent synthetic biologist to develop a novel bio-technological platform for the production of protein and cellularized edible scaffolds. The researcher will join a multidisciplinary research team and be mentored by national and international researchers with expertise in the fields of bio-engineering, genetic engineering and tissue engineering. This is an opportunity to develop many aspects of their academic career, engage with industry partners in the field of bioengineering and strengthen national and international collaborations in the emerging field of cellular agriculture.

About you

The University values courage and creativity; openness and engagement; inclusion and diversity; and respect and integrity. As such, we see the importance of recruiting talent aligned to these values and are looking for a Research Associate who has:

We are ideally looking for a candidate with experience with LC-MS, particularly lipidomics as well as experience with elemental analysis and macronutrients profiling.

To apply for this role, please address the following points in a cover letter that you attach to your application:

To keep our community safe, please be aware of our COVID safety precautions which form our conditions of entry for all staff, students and visitors coming to campus.

Sponsorship / work rights for Australia

Please note: Visa sponsorship is not available for this position.

Pre-employment checks

Your employment is conditional upon the completion of all role required pre-employment or background checks in terms satisfactory to the University. Similarly, your ongoing employment is conditional upon the satisfactory maintenance of all relevant clearances and background check requirements. If you do not meet these conditions, the University may take any necessary step, including the termination of your employment.

EEO statement

At the University of Sydney, our shared values include diversity and inclusion and we strive to be a place where everyone can thrive. We are committed to creating a University community which reflects the wider community that we serve. We deliver on this commitment through our people and culture programs, as well as key strategies to increase participation and support the careers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People, women, people living with a disability, people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, and those who identify as LGBTIQ. We welcome applications from candidates from all backgrounds.

How to apply

Applications (including a cover letter, CV, and any additional supporting documentation) can be submitted via the Apply button at the top of the page.

If you are a current employee of the University or a contingent worker with access to Workday, please login into your Workday account and navigate to the Career icon on your Dashboard. Click on USYD Find Jobs and apply.

For a confidential discussion about the role, or if you require reasonable adjustment or support filling out this application, please contact Linden Joseph or Rebecca Astar, Recruitment Operations, at recruitment.sea@sydney.edu.au. For specific enquiries about the position please contact Peter Valtchev peter.valtchev@sydney.edu.au.

The University of Sydney

The University reserves the right not to proceed with any appointment.

Applications Close

Sunday 10 April 2022 11:59 PM

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Research Associate in Synthetic Biology job with UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY | 286245 - Times Higher Education

IND submission for lead program CNTY-101 on track for mid 2022; Phase 1 ELiPSE-1 trial of CNTY-101 in relapsed/refractory lymphoma expected to commence after IND submission

Entered into a strategic collaboration with Bristol Myers Squibbto develop iPSC-derived allogeneic cell therapies

Ended 2021 with cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities of $358.8M; Cash runway into 2025, including proceeds received from Bristol Myers Squibb in connection with the Collaboration Agreement

PHILADELPHIA, March 17, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Century Therapeutics, Inc., (NASDAQ: IPSC), an innovative biotechnology company developing induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived cell therapies in immuno-oncology, today reported financial results and business highlights for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2021.

Throughout 2021, we continued to make steady progress in developing our comprehensive, next-generation iPSC-based cell therapy platform, executed on our powerful discovery engine, and we believe we are positioned to transition to a clinical stage company in 2022. With this foundation in place, we are on track to advance multiple product candidates to the clinic over the next three years, said Lalo Flores, Chief Executive Officer, Century Therapeutics. Additionally, we look forward to continuing our partnership in the years ahead with Bristol Myers Squibb, a global leader in oncology and hematology, to further expand our pipeline of iPSC-derived cell therapy products for treating hematological and solid tumor malignancies. We are committed to maximizing the potential utility of our platform technology and look forward to what we expect to be a very productive year ahead.

Business Highlights

Entered into a collaboration and license agreement with Bristol Myers Squibb in January 2022 to develop and commercialize up to four iPSC-derived, engineered natural killer cell (iNK) and / or T cell (iT) programs for hematologic malignancies and solid tumors. Under the terms of the agreement, Century received a $100 million upfront payment and Bristol Myers Squibb made a $50 million equity investment in Century Therapeutics common stock. The agreement provides for future program initiation fees and development, regulatory, and commercial milestone payments totaling more than $3 billion plus royalties on product sales.Announced that, subject to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) acceptance of its Investigational New Drug (IND) application, the Company plans to initiate a Phase 1 trial, ELiPSE-1, to assess CNTY-101 in patients with relapsed/refractory aggressive lymphoma or indolent lymphoma after at least two prior lines of therapy, including patients who have received prior CAR T cell therapy. In vivo data

demonstrated strong antitumor activity against human lymphoma cell lines with CNTY-101.Announced plans to focus its initial T cell development program on cells. Data

suggest that CAR-iT cells provide an opportunity to deliver allogeneic T cell therapies without risk for graft-versus-host disease. CNTY-102 will be a CAR- iT candidate targeting CD19, and a second antigen for relapsed/refractory B cell lymphoma and other B cell malignancies. Added to the NASDAQ Biotechnology Index (NASDAQ: NBI) in December 2021.

Upcoming Milestones

Current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) manufacturing facility expected to be operational in 2022.CNTY-101 IND filing remains on track for mid-2022. Subject to U.S. FDA acceptance of its IND application, the Company plans to initiate the Phase 1 ELiPSE-1 trial of CNTY-101 in relapsed/refractory lymphoma in 2022.Expect to submit an IND for CNTY-103 in 2023. CNTY-103 is Centurys first solid tumor candidate for glioblastoma.

Fourth Quarter and Year-end 2021 Financial Results

Cash Position:Cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities were $358.8 million as of December 31, 2021, as compared to $76.8 million as of December 31, 2020. Net cash used in operations was $89.0 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2021, compared to $41.3 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2020.Research and Development (R&D) expenses: R&D expenses were $75.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, compared to $39.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. The increase in R&D expenses was primarily due to an increase in personnel expenses related to increased headcount to expand the Companys R&D capabilities, costs for preclinical studies, costs for laboratory supplies, and facility costs.General and Administrative (G&A) expenses: G&A expenses were $19.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, compared to $9.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. The increase was primarily due to an increase in personnel related expense due to an increase in employee headcount and an increase in the Companys professional fees as a result of expanded operations to support its infrastructure as well as additional costs to operate as a public company.Net loss: Net loss was $95.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, compared to $53.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2020.

Financial Guidance

The Company expects full year GAAP Operating Expenses to be between $155 million and $165 million including non-cash stock-based compensation expense of $10 million to $15 million. The Company expects its cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities, including proceeds from the Bristol Myers Squibb collaboration agreement, will support operations into 2025.

About Century Therapeutics

Century Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: IPSC) is harnessing the power of adult stem cells to develop curative cell therapy products for cancer that we believe will allow us to overcome the limitations of first-generation cell therapies. Our genetically engineered, iPSC-derived iNK and iT cell product candidates are designed to specifically target hematologic and solid tumor cancers. We are leveraging our expertise in cellular reprogramming, genetic engineering, and manufacturing to develop therapies with the potential to overcome many of the challenges inherent to cell therapy and provide a significant advantage over existing cell therapy technologies.We believe our commitment to developing off-the-shelf cell therapies will expand patient access and provide an unparalleled opportunity to advance the course of cancer care. For more information on Century Therapeutics please visit https://www.centurytx.com/.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of, and made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of, The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements contained in this press release, other than statements of historical facts or statements that relate to present facts or current conditions, including but not limited to, statements regarding our cash and financial resources, our clinical development plans, the development of our U.S. manufacturing facility, and our financial guidance are forward-looking statements. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause our actual results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as may, might, will, should, expect, plan, aim, seek, anticipate, could, intend, target, project, contemplate, believe, estimate, predict, forecast, potential or continue or the negative of these terms or other similar expressions. The forward-looking statements in this presentation are only predictions. We have based these forward-looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends that we believe may affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions, some of which cannot be predicted or quantified and some of which are beyond our control, including, among others: our ability to successfully advance our current and future product candidates through development activities, preclinical studies, and clinical trials; our reliance on the maintenance of certain key collaborative relationships for the manufacturing and development of our product candidates; the timing, scope and likelihood of regulatory filings and approvals, including final regulatory approval of our product candidates; the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business and operations; the performance of third parties in connection with the development of our product candidates, including third parties conducting our future clinical trials as well as third-party suppliers and manufacturers; our ability to successfully commercialize our product candidates and develop sales and marketing capabilities, if our product candidates are approved; and our ability to maintain and successfully enforce adequate intellectual property protection. These and other risks and uncertainties are described more fully in the Risk Factors section of our most recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and available at http://www.sec.gov. You should not rely on these forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. The events and circumstances reflected in our forward-looking statements may not be achieved or occur, and actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Moreover, we operate in a dynamic industry and economy. New risk factors and uncertainties may emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for management to predict all risk factors and uncertainties that we may face. Except as required by applicable law, we do not plan to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements contained herein, whether as a result of any new information, future events, changed circumstances or otherwise.

For More Information:

Company: Elizabeth Krutoholow investor.relations@centurytx.com

Investors: Melissa Forst/Maghan Meyers century@argotpartners.com

Media: Joshua R. Mansbach century@argotpartners.com

More:
Century Therapeutics Reports Fourth Quarter and Year-end 2021 Financial Results and Provides ... - The Bakersfield Californian

Even at the best of times, farming can be a tough business.

Yet as the world grapples with the impacts of Russias invasion of Ukraine, it has actually become pretty frightening times for farmers, says Hertfordshire-based farmer Stephen Roberts.

Food security has been an unfashionable topic for a long time, he adds. But now, we really cannot allow anyone to take their eye off the importance of an island nation being able to feed itself and we need to be looking at any technology that can make us more resource-efficient in farming.

Robotics, says Roberts, is one such technology, or it could be genetic engineering and genetic modification.

British farmers are searching for options to stave off the likelihood of a food crisis which has been exemplified by the Russian presidents invasion of the breadbasket of Europe, such as technology-led solutions including genetic modification (GM).

The latter is an area experts are increasingly pointing to, as the full out over Russias attack on Ukraine filters through. Already the industry was under pressure from labour shortages, after Covid led to hosts of fruit-pickers and butchers leaving Britain.

Roberts farm, which grows cereals and keeps cattle and lamb, has so far avoided the worst of the pain from Putins war - farming organically to reduce reliance on fertilisers such as ammonium nitrate. Yet his peers are struggling.

There's ammonium nitrate nearly tripling in price. Farmers are being quoted prices for diesel which have doubled within the space of 10 days, according to Roberts, with some already pulling back on planting crops such as potatoes to keep costs down.

Read the original:
War forces farmers to think again about GM crops - The Telegraph

Fluidic force microscopy (FluidFM) combines atomic force microscopy (AFM) with micro-channeled probes connected to a pressure controller that enables force-sensitive nanopipette experiments under aqueous conditions.

Image Credit:FabrikaSimf/Shutterstock.com

FluidFM offers unique advantages in simultaneous three-dimensional manipulation and mechanical measurements of a wide range of materials at the micro- and nanoscale, including biological specimens, semiconductors, polymers, and colloidal nanoparticles.

AFM is a widely used characterization technique in material science, electronics, biomedical research, and many other research fields. Since its invention in 1986 by Gerd Binnig, Calvin Quate, and Christoph Gerber, the AFM technique has undergone many improvements and became a widely-used surface imaging tool.

The technique evolved from scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), which is restricted to the characterization of electrically conductive materials only. In contrast, AFM allows obtaining atomic-resolved images of a wide variety of materials by scanning an ultra-sharp probe attached to a flexible cantilever over the sample surface.

The deflection of the cantilever is monitored by a laser beam reflected from the cantilever surface, thus enabling quantification of the variation of the interaction forces between the probe and the sample surface.

A topographic image of the sample surface with a sub-nanometer resolution is acquired by correlating the cantilever deflection versus the position of the scanning probe over the sample. At the same time, the technique allows obtaining quantitative information about the sample's mechanical properties.

After becoming a surface-imaging tool of choice for semiconductors and materials science, AFM has increasingly been used in biological research for the characterization of cell organelles, quantification of protein-protein and DNA-protein interactions, cell adhesion forces, and electromechanical properties of live cells.

Owing to its compatibility with aqueous environments, AFM is considered one of the best non-invasive methods for studying biological samples in real-time under physiological conditions.

Over the past three decades, the AFM technique has undergone many improvements that broadened the scope of its application, including nanoscale lithography, along with electrical and magnetic characterization of specimens. One such advancement is the FluidFM, which combines conventional AFM with micro-channeled probes for local liquid dispensing via a nanofluidic circuit. The technology was initially developed in 2009 in the group of Prof. Tomaso Zambelli at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zrich (ETH Zrich, Switzerland) and later improved and commercialized by the spin-off company Cytosurge.

FluidFM technique relies on using a new type of cantilever with a hollow tip and integrated micro-channel in its interior, allowing to control femtoliter volumes of liquid with nanometer spatial precision and picoNewton force resolution. This approach enables isolation and injection of single cells, force-controlled patch clamping of live cells, and manipulation of micro- and nanoscale objects.

By positioning the FluidFM probe onto an individual cell and applying an underpressure in the fluidic channel, the cell can be tightly attached to the aperture of the probe's tip and picked up from the substrate. By reversing the pressure, the cell can be placed onto the desired spot.

With FluidFM-based single-cell manipulations, the researchers were able to transfer cells to targeted areas to study cell behavior or remove unwanted cells to facilitate the formation of cell colonies.

The ability to manipulate individual live cells proved crucial for single-cell force spectroscopy experiments (where cell-substrate or cell-cell interaction are characterized). In addition, the FluidFM technique enabled single-cell electrophysiology by simultaneously measuring the mechanical response of the cell and the ionic current recording in patch-clamp experiments.

Since its discovery and development as a gene-editing technology, CRISPR has revolutionized biomedical research by offering a versatile gene engineering tool suitable for a broad range of organisms and applications, such as curing genetic disease, creating drought-resistant crops, and de-extinction projects.

The method requires the precise delivery of multiple guide RNA molecules into the target cells, which is far from trivial when using traditional transfection methods (where cell viability might be hindered by stress and toxicity).

Cytosurge developed a highly-automated genetic manipulation solution called FluidFM OMNIUM that can gently and precisely deliver the necessary compounds directly into the nucleus of any cell. This ensures that all the reagents have the optimum stoichiometry to maximize efficiency and eliminate cell stress.

Compared to conventional cell line development strategies, where obtaining stable monoclonal cell lines requires 12 to 14 weeks, the FluidFM technique can pick and nano-inject, and clone a single cell in less than three weeks from the transfection until the clones have been characterized.

The FluidFM OMNIUM system enables researchers to target the nuclei of a few dozen individual cells by a simple point-and-click approach, leading to an automatic injection into the selected cells at a rate of around five cells per minute. In parallel with all the different guide RNAs and protein complexes, a fluorescent marker was co-injected in the treated cells to monitor the injection process and identify the treated cells.

After 24 hours, the targeted cells were found and isolated by using the FluidFM micropipette probe and transferred into an empty well to guarantee the monoclonality of the resulting cell line.

FluidFM technology also enables 3D printing of complex structures on a micrometer level, including difficult-to-print geometries such as overhangs. The Cytosurge team of specialists developed a proprietary micro 3D printing technology which, in 2019, was spun off into an independent company called Exaddon AG.

The latest generation of the company's CERES 3D printer combines positioning with nanometer accuracy, air pressure-driven liquid dispensing, electrochemical deposition, and optical force feedback. By employing the FluidFM nanopipette probes, the system deposits a metallic ion solution, which is then solidified via an electroplating process that takes place at room temperature.

The CERES micro 3D printer offers a printing volume of 200x200x200 m, while the optical force feedback loop measures the forces acting on the printing tip and allows real-time monitoring of the printing process and ensuring completion of each voxel until the complete object is constructed.

Such in-situ control of the printing process leads to high-quality metal microstructures that are immediately ready for use without the need for any post-processing.

Continue reading: Determining the Viscosity of Nanofluids: Techniques and Applications

Li, M., et al. (2022) FluidFM for single-cell biophysics. Nano Res. 15, 773786. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-021-3573-y

P. Monnier et al. (2021) FluidFM nano-injection overcomes delivery limitations of current CRISPR gene editing methods, accelerates cell line development cycles, and is poised to significantly broaden multiplexing capabilities. [Online] CRISPR Medicine News. Available at: https://crisprmedicinenews.com/news/fluidfm-nano-injection-overcomes-delivery-limitations-of-current-crispr-gene-editing-methods-accele (Accessed on 11 March 2022)

Saha, P., et al. (2020) Fundamentals and Applications of FluidFM Technology in Single-Cell Studies. Adv. Mater. Interfaces 7, 2001115. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1002/admi.202001115

C. Scott (2017) Cytosurge Develops Nanoscale FluidFM into Consumer-Friendly 3D Printing Process [Online] 3DPrint.com. Available at: https://3dprint.com/180243/cytosurge-eth-zurich-fluidfm (Accessed on 11 March 2022)

Meister, A., et al. (2009) FluidFM: Combining Atomic Force Microscopy and Nanofluidics in a Universal Liquid Delivery System for Single Cell Applications and Beyond. Nano Letters 9 (6), 2501-2507. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1021/nl901384x

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are those of the author expressed in their private capacity and do not necessarily represent the views of AZoM.com Limited T/A AZoNetwork the owner and operator of this website. This disclaimer forms part of the Terms and conditions of use of this website.

Read more from the original source:
FluidFM - Where Nanofluidics and AFM Meet - AZoNano

CP Foods reaffirms commitment on good animal welfare practices and prudent use of antimicrobials with BBFAW ranking

The Business Benchmark of Farm Animal Welfare (BBFAW) has maintained Charoen Pokphand Foods PLC (CP Foods) in Tier 3 for the 2nd year in a row. The BBFAW also highlight the company's overarching policy, strong commitments towards animal welfare and involvement in industry initiatives.

BBFAW Report is an annual ranking of corporate report on animal welfare practices, policies, and management, assessing of 150 leading food producers and distributors across the world. Key criteria assessment included 1. Management Commitment and Policy 2. Governance and Management 3. Innovation and Leadership and 4. Performance Reporting and Impact.

Dr. Payungsak Somyanontanakul (D.V.M.), vice president and head of Animal Welfare Committee of CP Foods said that the company has been ranked at Tier 3 for 2 consecutive years, where animal welfare's policy with the score is above the sector's average in many aspects. The success is thanks to the company's overarching policy, covering important issues such as prudent use of antimicrobials in livestock and aquaculture businesses, and "Five-freedom"-based farming practice.

To ensure a good quality of life for the animal, CP Foods has made a full commitment against genetic engineering or cloning as well as having commitment on environmental enrichment. Also, Smart farms and automation have been used to improve the animal wellbeing and biosecurity measures.

The company is being praised for its contribution to industry initiatives such as taking a role as a member of the 3Ts-Alliance (Teeth, Tails and Testicles), organized by the World Animal Protection. The objective of the initiative is to reduce pain in swine in the global swine industry through gathering knowledge and experience from relevant experts around the world.

CP Foods is also progressing toward the group gestation pen. According to the latest data, around 43% and 15% of sow farms in Thailand and overseas respectively have already switched to group gestation pen respectively. The company commits 100% of the gestation sow farms are transitioning towards the group gestation pen with internationally recognized animal welfare practices by 2025 for Thailand operation and by 2028 for international operations.

Due to higher demand for high animal welfare products, the company targets to increase the production of cage-free eggs to 20 million this year, an increase of 4 million from the previous year.

Moreover, CP Foods is determined to produce safe and quality foods that adhere to sustainability principles through the responsible and prudent use of antibiotics in both its farms and those under the Contract Farming Scheme. Accordingly, the farming practices must be 1. Free from human-only antibiotics, 2. Free from shared-class antibiotics which are important in human medicine with the purpose of growth promotion, and 3. Free from hormones with the purpose of growth promotion.

CP Foods is committed to raising animal welfare practice in line with international standards, "Kitchen of the World" vision and CPF 2030 Sustainability in Action. Subsequently, the company emphasizes the farming process with animal welfare principles and applies farming technology to produce and deliver safe food to consumers around the world.

Original post:
Charoen Pokphand Foods Public : CP Foods reaffirms commitment on good animal welfare practices and prudent use of antimicrobials with BBFAW ranking -...

Genetic engineering, also calledgenetic modification, is the direct manipulation of an organismsgenomeusing biotechnology. It is a set of technologies used to change the genetic makeup of cells, including the transfer of genes within and across species boundaries to produce improved or novelorganisms. Read important facts about Genetic Engineering in this article for the IAS Exam.

NewDNAmay be inserted in the host genome by first isolating and copying the genetic material of interest usingmolecular cloningmethods to generate a DNA sequence, or by synthesizing the DNA and then inserting this construct into the host organism.Genesmay be removed, or knocked out, using anuclease.Gene targetingis a different technique that useshomologous recombinationto change an endogenous gene and can be used to delete a gene, removeexons, add a gene, or introducepoint mutations.

Aspirants reading, GEAC can also refer to topics lined below:

Medicine, research, industry and agriculture are a few sectors where genetic engineering applies. It can be used on various plants, animals and microorganisms. The first microorganism to be genetically modified is bacteria.

Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) is the biotech regulator in India. It is created under the Ministry of Environment and Forests. Read more about GEAC in the linked article.

There are five bodies that are authorized to handle rules noted underEnvironment Protection Act 1986 Rules for Manufacture, Use, Import, Export and Storage of Hazardous Microorganisms/Genetically Engineered Organisms or Cells 1989. These are:

Soybean-Herbicide tolerance,Canola-Altered fatty acid composition,Plum-Virus resistance,Corn-Insect resistance

Pros:Tackling and Defeating Diseases,Getting Rid of All Illnesses in Young and Unborn Children,Potential to Live Longer,Produce New Foods,Faster Growth in Animals and Plants,Pest and Disease Resistance.Cons:May Lead to Genetic Defects,Limits Genetic Diversity,Reduced Nutritional Value,Risky Pathogens,Negative Side Effects

UPSC Preparation:

Originally posted here:
Genetic Engineering - Meaning, Applications, Advantages ...

Genetic engineering in is founded on the idea of manipulating the gene pool in order to make lives better. One way of doing this is to start from the basic, from the egg cell and sperm cell. Another way is to swap bad genes in a fully formed human with good ones.

There are moral and ethical controversies surrounding genetic engineering or genetic mutation in humans. Personal convictions alone dictate people what to oppose and what to accept. However, it takes an objective inspection of this medical technology for us to draw a more acceptable conclusion and prevent pre-created biases.

1. Helps Prevent Genetic DisordersMany of the diseases today are hereditary or genetic. By manipulating the genes in humans, scientists find a way to prevent people from suffering from an otherwise hereditary health condition.

2. Helps Individual Have Better LifeGenetic engineering helps humans have a chance at a healthier, longer life with more desirable physical characteristics. By altering the genes of fetuses, there is a strong likelihood that future generations will be taller, stronger, healthier and better looking.

3. Helps Deepen Understanding of GenesPromoting genetic engineering is one way of deepening our understanding about human genetics. It helps scientists find ways to cure or prevent hereditary diseases, most especially.

4. Allows Parents to Choose Babys TraitsSome parents would want their children not to inherit their less desirable traits, if given the chance. By modifying the genes of babies, parents have a chance at designing their own babies, according to what they want gender, color of hair, etc.

5. Probes into Medical AdvancementsThere are many areas in science, which continue to be a mystery to even the most learned scientists and researchers today. Other advancements in the medical field can spring from genetic engineering.

1. Test Failure Leads to Termination of EmbryosSince genetic engineering is not a perfect science, and far from being so, there will be failures along the way, and this leads to termination of embryos with undesirable gene pool. To some people, this is tantamount to abortion.

2. Who Decides the Good and Bad GenesNo one has the right to decide or judge what specific traits are good or bad. With genetic engineering, the power likely rests on the scientists, the future parents, or the political leader. However, are these people accountable or responsible when experiments go wrong?

3. Engineered Babies Could Have Worse Imperfections When the actual results are not the outcome initially intended, society could have grave issues regarding the presence of erroneously engineered humans, specifically if they turn out to be mentally ill, psychotic, abusive, or non-responsive. How does society control these badly designed humans by murder, by further experimentation or by imprisonment?

4. It Is Very ExpensiveEngineering the genes of animals is already intricate and expensive enough, how much more an entire human being? It takes a team of skilled geneticists and researchers, plus a topnotch facility, to perform the experiment. This means that genetic engineering may only be available to the wealthy, furthering the gap in society.

5. Reduces the Individuality among HumansWhen there is a consensus as to which traits are good or bad, there is a tendency for future generations to lose their diversity and individuality. There will be no short people because being tall is more desirable. There will be no fat people because being slender is more desirable. Ultimately, the reduction of undesirable traits in humans would lead to a generation of pure breeds with very little capability of adapting to changes in the environment as in the case of pure breed animals, which are prone to disease.

Follow this link:
Genetic Engineering in Humans Pros and Cons List | NYLN.org

Sometimes an adventure in science history begins with a chance find in a junk shop.

In the summer of 2021, a member of the public found a framed 1984 photograph of Professor David Hopwood in a shop in Surrey. We dont know how it came to be there, but we were delighted to be able to acquire it for the John Innes Centre Archives where (now Professor Sir) David Hopwoods papers are housed.

An artefact like this demands a back-story.

Although the photo has a press release pasted on the back, we wanted to know more about the circumstances behind this specially commissioned image.

The first port of call was David himself. His records were able to take us back to 1984 85 and some of the background behind the making and reproduction of this image.

The story begins with a request for David to give a 40-minute talk at the British Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Norwich on Friday 14th September 1984.

The British Association (BA) had only visited Norwich on three previous occasions (1868, 1935 and 1961). Their fourth visit to Norwich would take place for the first time at a university venue (the University of East Anglia was by then twenty years old), with the visiting delegates able to stay on campus for the princely sum of 11 per night.

The largest scientific meeting of its kind in the UK, the BAs typical audience was described then as scientists and technologists from disciplines other than that of lecturer, representatives of industry, commerce and the professions, teachers, school students and university students, and the general public with an interest in science, its applications and implications.

At the time, in the week of the BA meeting, the national press devoted more column inches to science than at any other time of year.

David accepted the invite to the conference, and his talk appeared in the meeting programme as, Advances in genetic engineering allow the isolation of genes for antibiotic production from Streptomyces organisms, the major antibiotic producers. This will lead to more efficient antibiotic production and to useful new compounds.

However, this brief abstract doesnt reveal the breakthrough that David was about to announce. His team at the John Innes Institute had produced the first hybrid antibiotic by genetic engineering.

David had an advance publicity call from the BA press officer- could David provide 70 copies (photocopy or stencil) of his finished paper and a 1-page abstract for distribution to the journalists and broadcasters attending?

The next request was from Nexus, the UEA Student Union television service (dubbed Norwichs secret TV channel). Nexus had its own studio in the Student Union building, and a low power transmitter enabled them to broadcast to the TV viewing rooms at the end of the building and some of the halls of residence, but the audience was primarily students who would watch at lunchtimes on closed circuit TV in the foyer of the Union building.

Nexus had secured an agreement with the University to provide a TV and information service throughout the BA conference and wanted to pre-record a short informal interview with David to be shown the day before the address.

He responded to these requests by phone or post, this was before the advent of email.

So, what was the breakthrough that Davids paper was about to announce to the world and why was it important? David later described this piece of work as the closest he got to a eureka moment in his career (as recalled in 2011 in an interview with Professor Tony Maxwell for BBCs Bang goes the theory).

Davids work centred on the genetics and microbiology of a strain of Streptomyces coelicolor, an Actinomycete. This group of soil-dwelling bacteria had originally fascinated biologists because they appeared to be intermediate between bacteria and fungi.

That taxonomic question was solved in the 1950s when it was confirmed that they are true bacteria and only resemble fungi, growing in mycelial colonies with aerial hyphae and spores (to the naked eye they have a fuzzy appearance like mould when grown on an agar plate).

It was the knowledge that these microbes could provide valuable drugs for medicine that spurred many laboratories to continue studying them. Actinomycetes secrete antibiotics in nature to help them compete with other microorganisms living in the soil.

The discovery of Streptomycin in 1943 (isolated from a strain of Streptomyces griseus), the first effective treatment for TB, resulted in the setting up of drug discovery labs around the world, mostly in pharmaceutical companies.

For many years the key to finding new antimicrobial drugs was to look at the natural products of the soil. By 1984, streptomycetes had yielded more than 70 commercially important antibiotics, but it was thought that most of what the soil had to offer had been developed.

The hunt for new drugs was becoming harder and harder. David Hopwoods breakthrough offered an alternative approach the possibility of making unnatural natural products to extend the range of available compounds.

Davids lab (including Dr Francisco Malpartida and Helen Kieser at the John Innes Institute, now John Innes Centre), in collaboration with a Japanese group, had produced the worlds first hybrid antibiotic called mederrhodin A by genetic engineering.

Genes for antibiotic production were first cloned from the parent strain of Streptomyces coelicolor. The cloned genes were introduced into another streptomycete, one that usually makes a brown coloured antibiotic called medermycin.

The genetically engineered streptomycete then began to secrete a new, purple-coloured antibiotic (mederrhodin A) made by both sets of genes working in collaboration. Spectroscopic analysis by Professor Satoshi muras group at the Kitasato Institute, Tokyo confirmed its hybrid chemical structure.

The appearance of the purple colour was Davids eureka moment. The experiment had demonstrated the exciting possibility of creating new compounds by transferring genes between different organisms that make different compounds.

Scientists had already mastered the trick of getting one species of bacteria to manufacture a compound normally made by another species (by gene transfer), indeed Davids lab had first demonstrated the cloning of the complete set of actinorhodin genes in this way, but producing a totally novel compound by genetic engineering, this was new.

With this experiment the new pharmaceutical field of unnatural natural products was born. These methods also offered the prospect of cloning genes controlling rate-limiting steps in antibiotic biosynthesis, which could improve yields in antibiotic production.

This work was only possible because there had been three decades of prior research to gain a detailed knowledge of the genetics of streptomycetes (starting with Davids PhD studies in Cambridge in the 1950s), and the recent development of effective methods for the isolation and manipulation of Streptomyces genes. But thats another story.

Davids archive enables us to track some of the papers that covered the news of the discovery. The first UK clipping is from Hospital Doctor on 20th September 1984, soon followed by The Economist (22nd September), then the New Scientist (4th October) and The Scotsman (28th November).

It is likely that the UK publicity was generated directly from the BA meeting, but Davids paper also had an interesting afterlife, and the picture from the junk shop is the clue to it.

The Central Office of Information (COI) wanted to organize some publicity on the new hybrid antibiotic, and commissioned two colour photographs of David, one where he appears above a table of petri dishes (pictured here) and another where he is seen working with an array of lab flasks (the original of this second image has not yet been traced).

The COI was a government communications and marketing department (successor to the Ministry of Information) that provided publicity for other organisations in the public sector and was especially tasked with promoting British inventions and discoveries overseas.

It was after their involvement that news of a hybrid antibiotic breakthrough began to travel around the world. The COI photographs were published for the first time in January 1985 in the Arabic language press (Anwar and Amal in Beirut). Illustrated articles afterwards appeared in Trinidad, Jedda, Bogota, Montevideo, Germany, and France.

The formal announcement of the hybrid antibiotic discovery was made in Nature in April 1985 , recording the contributions of Hopwood, Malpartida, Kieser, H. Ikeda, J. Duncan, I. Fujii, B.A.M. Rudd, H.G. Floss and S. mura.

An American group, led by Professor Heinz Floss at Ohio State University, Columbus, had characterised a second hybrid antibiotic made by a strain arising when Davids group had transferred actinorhodin genes from S. coelicolor into a culture making another blue compound called dihydrogranaticin, but this did not give rise to a change in colour, so it was not so dramatic as the mederhodin case.

That 1985 landmark was the catalyst for the introduction of genetic approaches that transformed natural product chemistry (see for example, L. Katz speaking for the Society for Industrial Microbiology in 2003).

Read more:
Unnatural Natural Products the story behind a photo - The John Innes Centre

It may now be possible to reduce tick-borne diseases, such as Lyme disease, thanks to two new gene-editing methods developed by researchers in the U.S. The new tools could be used to further understand tick biology, and potentially alter parts of the tick genome involved in harbouring and transmitting pathogens.

Ticks are parasites that consume animal and human blood. There are 70 species found in Australia 16 of which have been reported to feed on humans. While there isnt evidence of locally acquired Lyme disease in Australia, ticks are nonetheless vectors of other bacteria which cause diseases such as Q fever, Queensland tick typhus, Flinders Island spotted fever, and Australian spotted fever.

Ticks are a formidable foe to public health, says Jason Rasgon, professor of entomology and disease epidemiology at Pennsylvania State University in the US. We are in desperate need of new tools to fight ticks and the pathogens they spread.

In the first study to demonstrate genetic modification in ticks, the team used two different protocols using the CRISPR/Cas9 system a gene-editing complex which allows the cutting of DNA at a targeted location in the genome to add or remove sequences of DNA.

This process is usually done by injecting the CRISPR/Cas9 into embryos, but until now this has been impossible to do in tick eggs due to their hard wax coating.

For many years, people thought it would be impossible to make a transgenic tick because tick eggs are coated in a hard wax that shattered the delicate glass needles used for injections, says Rasgon.

The researchers were able to circumvent this problem by removing the maternal organs that make this wax prior to the ticks laying their eggs. This resulted in eggs that could be injected with the complex to successfully make deletions in two different genes.

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Then, using a different protocol, they injected the CRISPR/Cas9 directly into pregnant adult female ticks and used a process called ReMOT Control to target the ovaries specifically. A small peptide (a short chain of amino acids) which binds to receptors on the ovaries of most insect species was fused to the Cas9, allowing the complex to be delivered into the developing ovaries to edit the genomes of the offspring.

This is the first research demonstrating that this peptide is functional in ticks.

They found when applied to a gene called ProbB, the gene-editing efficiencies of both protocols embryo injections (14%) and ReMOT Control (11.7%) were similar. Gene-editing efficiency is a measure of the extent to which the procedure alters the gene, and refers to the frequency of insertion/deletion mutations that occur.

The ReMOT Control protocol was just as efficient as embryo injection and significantly easier, says Rasgon.

In the United States, alone, ticks infect approximately 300,000 people with Lyme disease each year, and if left untreated, the infection can spread to joints, the heart and the nervous system, he adds. Currently, there is no vaccine, and existing treatments are not always fully effective.

In Australia, brown dog ticks are also the vector for the deadly dog disease Ehrlichiosis. First detected in May 2020, the ticks have gone on to infect dogs in northern Western Australia, the Northern Territory, and northern South Australia.

This research, published in iScience, is particularly valuable because climate change is allowing ticks to rapidly invade new areas, and putting even more people and animals at risk of infections.

The methods can be used to develop new control methods for diseases, such as Lyme disease, and also to further understand the biology of ticks, says Rasgon.

Originally posted here:
Decoding the dangers of ticks - Cosmos

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