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Scientists edited genes in a living person and saved his life

popularmechanics.com

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Re: Scientists edited genes in a living person and saved his life

#11

Post by directevolve »

qnleigh wrote: post #10
directevolve wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, CRISPR-Cas9 as a tool for genetic engineering was only invented in 2012. A 13-year translation timeline is not unusual, maybe even unusually fast. CAR-T cell therapy for cancer took 30 years from discovery to clinic. It took about 30 years to go from the early attempts to use engineered lipid nano particles for drug delivery to the first FDA-approved medication using them, doxil. With CRISPR, it took a long tim…

I mean to ask 'why now?' not 'what took so long?' What about the regulations or the science let this happen now, and not 5 years ago or 5 years into the future? Also do we know that this was CRISPR?

Yes, CRISPR’s mentioned in the article. Someone should write a book about it to break down the history leading up to this accomplishment.

Re: Scientists edited genes in a living person and saved his life

#12

Post by hirsin »

directevolve wrote: post #8
qnleigh wrote: post #5

What enabled this treatment to be used now? Gene editing techniques have existed for a long time, but there were many reasons why they weren't being used in humans, like concerns about off-target edits and heritability. The article mentions something about gold nanoparticles, but this aspect was developed over the course of a few weeks, and in any case these aren't new either.

Well, CRISPR-Cas9 as a tool for genetic engineering was only invented in 2012. A 13-year translation timeline is not unusual, maybe even unusually fast. CAR-T cell therapy for cancer took 30 years from discovery to clinic. It took about 30 years to go from the early attempts to use engineered lipid nano particles for drug delivery to the first FDA-approved medication using them, doxil. With CRISPR, it took a long tim…

Expanding the timeline a bit, CRISPR was known as a possible gene targeting/editing tool by 2008 at least - I distinctly recall learning about it then in a guest lecture.

Re: Scientists edited genes in a living person and saved his life

#13

Post by EthanHeilman »

gigatexal wrote: post #7

What worries me is the attacks on universities and the breaking of public private research based on this comment from the article: "In a race against time, scientists and doctors across the U.S. developed the first in vivo gene therapy, thanks to decades of medical research."

With Trump it appears a window is closing on the development of important technologies and research. I doubt we will enter a new dark age, but in some areas, progress is likely to slow, which in turn will be used as evidence that it isn't worth funding, which will cause funding cuts and result in even slower progress. Everyone is racing to get stuff done, because there might not be the money tomorrow. It seems likely to me that longer term, more ambitious projects are probably being sidelined because there isn't time to complete them before the pencil pushers in the whitehouse defund them.

Look at how the Nixon administration and congress gutted NASA. It took nearly 40 years to crawl out of the hole in the roadmaps that their shortsighted stupidity created. We could have had reusable rockets, aerospike engines and Nuclear Thermal Propulsion in the early 1980s. Instead we got halfway measures like the space shuttle and the ISS that both ate budget but didn't create the required innovation for lower cost to orbit.

Re: Scientists edited genes in a living person and saved his life

#14

Post by rolph »

qnleigh wrote: post #10
directevolve wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, CRISPR-Cas9 as a tool for genetic engineering was only invented in 2012. A 13-year translation timeline is not unusual, maybe even unusually fast. CAR-T cell therapy for cancer took 30 years from discovery to clinic. It took about 30 years to go from the early attempts to use engineered lipid nano particles for drug delivery to the first FDA-approved medication using them, doxil. With CRISPR, it took a long tim…

I mean to ask 'why now?' not 'what took so long?' What about the regulations or the science let this happen now, and not 5 years ago or 5 years into the future? Also do we know that this was CRISPR?

Yes, This was a CRISPER technique.

https://www.chop.edu/news/worlds-first-patient-treated-perso...

Re: Scientists edited genes in a living person and saved his life

#15

Post by Alex2037 »

EthanHeilman wrote: post #13
gigatexal wrote: post #7

What worries me is the attacks on universities and the breaking of public private research based on this comment from the article: "In a race against time, scientists and doctors across the U.S. developed the first in vivo gene therapy, thanks to decades of medical research."

With Trump it appears a window is closing on the development of important technologies and research. I doubt we will enter a new dark age, but in some areas, progress is likely to slow, which in turn will be used as evidence that it isn't worth funding, which will cause funding cuts and result in even slower progress. Everyone is racing to get stuff done, because there might not be the money tomorrow. It seems likely…

[dead]

Re: Scientists edited genes in a living person and saved his life

#16

Post by pinkmuffinere »

dlcarrier wrote: post #6

There was a guy on YouTube who genetically engineered himself to gain lactose tolerance. ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3FcbFqSoQY ) It lasted for around a year and a half ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoczYXJeMY4 ) before the effect mostly wore off. He took it orally, so it only affected his intestinal lining, and I presume it didn't effect enough stem cells to get a permanent effect, but it would still be u…

Wow this is amazing. Definitely the best biology video I've seen.

Edit: this is cool enough to deserve it’s own post, Im going to submit it: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46405855

Re: Scientists edited genes in a living person and saved his life

#17

Post by jacquesm »

Your genes seem to be out of date, there are several security updates pending. The download will be 3.2 Gb and will take about 3 seconds..... Because this is a security update you can not refuse it. If you are commanding a vehicle park it now or switch to autopilot. Commencing update in 10, 9, 8, ...

Re: Scientists edited genes in a living person and saved his life

#18

Post by [deleted] »

directevolve wrote: post #8
qnleigh wrote: post #5

What enabled this treatment to be used now? Gene editing techniques have existed for a long time, but there were many reasons why they weren't being used in humans, like concerns about off-target edits and heritability. The article mentions something about gold nanoparticles, but this aspect was developed over the course of a few weeks, and in any case these aren't new either.

Well, CRISPR-Cas9 as a tool for genetic engineering was only invented in 2012. A 13-year translation timeline is not unusual, maybe even unusually fast. CAR-T cell therapy for cancer took 30 years from discovery to clinic. It took about 30 years to go from the early attempts to use engineered lipid nano particles for drug delivery to the first FDA-approved medication using them, doxil. With CRISPR, it took a long tim…

[deleted]

Re: Scientists edited genes in a living person and saved his life

#19

Post by gigatexal »

EthanHeilman wrote: post #13
gigatexal wrote: post #7

What worries me is the attacks on universities and the breaking of public private research based on this comment from the article: "In a race against time, scientists and doctors across the U.S. developed the first in vivo gene therapy, thanks to decades of medical research."

With Trump it appears a window is closing on the development of important technologies and research. I doubt we will enter a new dark age, but in some areas, progress is likely to slow, which in turn will be used as evidence that it isn't worth funding, which will cause funding cuts and result in even slower progress. Everyone is racing to get stuff done, because there might not be the money tomorrow. It seems likely…

I couldn’t have said it better myself. They will use this to say not productive don’t fund.

Re: Scientists edited genes in a living person and saved his life

#20

Post by c1ccccc1 »

dlcarrier wrote: post #6

There was a guy on YouTube who genetically engineered himself to gain lactose tolerance. ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3FcbFqSoQY ) It lasted for around a year and a half ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoczYXJeMY4 ) before the effect mostly wore off. He took it orally, so it only affected his intestinal lining, and I presume it didn't effect enough stem cells to get a permanent effect, but it would still be u…

̶I̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶n̶k̶ ̶h̶e̶ ̶a̶c̶t̶u̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶g̶e̶n̶e̶t̶i̶c̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶e̶n̶g̶i̶n̶e̶e̶r̶e̶d̶ ̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶g̶u̶t̶ ̶b̶a̶c̶t̶e̶r̶i̶a̶ ̶r̶a̶t̶h̶e̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶n̶ ̶a̶n̶y̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶o̶w̶n̶ ̶c̶e̶l̶l̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶r̶e̶,̶ ̶r̶i̶g̶h̶t̶?̶

EDIT: Above is false. Went back and checked and I had mis-remembered the video.

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