how did they refine crispr? Around this time last year we had
HIV overcomes CRISPR gene-editing attack https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11453737
CRISPR eliminates HIV-1 infection in live animals
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Re: CRISPR eliminates HIV-1 infection in live animals
#102Back in 2011, there was an announcement from MIT about a new approach to a broad-spectrum antiviral that appeared to work.[1] This goes way beyond an AIDS-specific cure. But it was at MIT Lincoln Labs, which doesn't usually do bio. So the researcher moved to Draper Labs, but didn't get much funding. Then that funding ran out. Now the guy behind this is trying to get funding on Indiegogo.[3] The problem seems to be th…
Given billionaires running their own space programs it makes me wonder why there aren't more billionaires running biologic research companies. Between life extension and immunity to (or protection from) really pathological conditions it seems like their interests would be aligned with folks like this.
Owner of JetBrains is running his own biotech company focused on improving human health. Not a billionaire yet though.
Re: CRISPR eliminates HIV-1 infection in live animals
#103Earlier quoted context omitted.
Given billionaires running their own space programs it makes me wonder why there aren't more billionaires running biologic research companies. Between life extension and immunity to (or protection from) really pathological conditions it seems like their interests would be aligned with folks like this.
I almost wonder if running your own space program is cheaper. As in the amount of regulatory BS you have to go through due to the monopolistic behavior of the large pharmaceutical companies...
And yet, if you're not really planning on selling the techniques you find on the open market could you save yourself a lot of time by ignoring the FDA?
Re: CRISPR eliminates HIV-1 infection in live animals
#104Earlier quoted context omitted.
The funding the scientist is seeking is a pittance compared to MIT's endowment, especially considering they own his patents , they should be funding it.
MIT Lincoln Labs is owned by MIT but operated relatively independently. It is funded, AFAIK from defense spending. Although I'm slightly surprised it wasn't moved to MIT the University.
I believe that Lincoln Labs was intentionally setup separately because MIT pledged not to do any weapons/defense related research. We have something similar with Georgia Tech and GTRI, but probably not for the same reason.
Re: CRISPR eliminates HIV-1 infection in live animals
#105Earlier quoted context omitted.
To be fair, they probably said the same about penicillin when it was discovered.
And in a way penicillin is too good to be true, now that bacteria are widely resistant to it and many other antibiotics.
Penicillin probably saved at least tens of millions of lives, and other antibiotics even more. Yes, some strains of bacteria are developing resistance, but even today antibiotics are saving many many lives every day.
Re: CRISPR eliminates HIV-1 infection in live animals
#106For anyone unfamiliar with CRISPR, I strongly recommend this quick introduction video from Kurzgesagt on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAhjPd4uNFY
There is a great radiolab podcast on it as well. http://www.radiolab.org/story/update-crispr/
I wanted to post the same thing. That episode of radiolab was great.
Re: CRISPR eliminates HIV-1 infection in live animals
#107Back in 2011, there was an announcement from MIT about a new approach to a broad-spectrum antiviral that appeared to work.[1] This goes way beyond an AIDS-specific cure. But it was at MIT Lincoln Labs, which doesn't usually do bio. So the researcher moved to Draper Labs, but didn't get much funding. Then that funding ran out. Now the guy behind this is trying to get funding on Indiegogo.[3] The problem seems to be th…
This is the type of innovation we exchange for a sense of absolute security in having highly-vetted decade-long bio R&D and extensive backlogs at the FDA for approvals to sell products on the market. It's go big or go home because the regulatory risk/timeline is so extensive. Most of these things die quietly or never get started so we never really see the true costs of what it takes to push the pharma world forward.…
No, this hasn't gotten anywhere near human testing yet. The FDA isn't involved.
Re: CRISPR eliminates HIV-1 infection in live animals
#108Gene therapy (and CRISPR) is ultimately going to eliminate most if not every ailment/issue/genetic problem that we have, including aging and eye problems. Very thankful we are reaching the point where we can go into our cells and fix ourselves.
I do agree, but that is just the good news. In other news although we can harbor optimistic thoughts for scientists, medical professionals, lawmakers and maybe even politicians all around the globe to do the "right" thing to preserve human life in a currently recognizable form, but there is not a force on heaven or earth that is going to stop parents from trying to give their children every advantage.
> to do the "right" thing
"right" according to whom? nature itself doesn't believe that
Re: CRISPR eliminates HIV-1 infection in live animals
#109Earlier quoted context omitted.
He also coincidentally happens to be the guy who wrote a dissertation on why beam-collision nuclear fusion reactors won't work as a viable path towards self-sustaining nuclear fusion: https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/11412 Since I was doing a startup making a beam-collision nuclear fusion reactor at the time, the name kind of rings a bell...
So, was he right?
Short answer: Yes.
Longer answer: When I first read it, I didn't think that the limitation that he had proposed applied to the type of device that we were making. He was really criticizing a similar but-not-identical type of fusion concept, and I clung to the differences. However, as our work progressed, I saw that the basic concept applied, which is that the scattering which would occur in a plasma (or a beam) would dissipate the energy concentration faster than the fusion rate would compensate. In short, a beam would thermalize with its surrounding plasma at an energy rate faster than the fusion rate.
We looked at using van de Meer beam cooling to try to keep the beam in a highly collimated state which would reduce the thermalization rate, but this wouldn't work. We also tried using Landau damping to make self-reinforcing waves that could, in theory, keep the energy concentration, but this really didn't work.
Re: CRISPR eliminates HIV-1 infection in live animals
#110Earlier quoted context omitted.
There's also an updated version of the episode that they aired this year. http://www.radiolab.org/story/update-crispr/
Just to add some info: The update recaps the original, and talks about advances over the year or two since the first one. It's a great podcast episode.
And if you like the original episode, I also strongly suggest you listen to this:
http://www.radiolab.org/story/shrink/
It is not CRISPR-related, but part of the same interview. It was really inspiring.