Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

CRISPR eliminates HIV-1 infection in live animals

sciencedirect.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

171–180 of 267 posts

Re: CRISPR eliminates HIV-1 infection in live animals

#171

Post by stouset »

louithethrid wrote: post #143
alevskaya wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reason this isn't getting funded is because it's extremely unlikely to work in reality. They've engineered synthetic protein sensors of dsRNA that induce apoptosis on detection - this mimics the natural viral detection systems that all cells use to prevent viral infection. The argued benefit is that this artificial protein avoids the common hacks that many viruses use to circumvent the natural detection pathways.…

Yeah, they can only imagine a brute force approach like used in early stage research? How about creating a accepted organism (a synthetic gland - made from body extracted cells) that produces these sCISPoRs in small dosages?

And now you've magnified the costs and financial risk a thousandfold.

Experimental new treatment not yet feasible? Let's invent a whole new synthetic organ that might not even solve the problem!

Re: CRISPR eliminates HIV-1 infection in live animals

#173

Post by adam_seeliger »

camus2 wrote: post #84
ShannonAlther wrote: post #10

It's awesome that this is possible. Right now HIV infections are basically a minor nuisance, provided you're taking the appropriate medication, but this bodes well for future treatment of viral infections.

> Right now HIV infections are basically a minor nuisance I don't understand how anybody can say that. HIV treatment is extremely heavy and has potentially horrible side effects that must be masked with other drugs that have their share of horrible side effects. This + the fact that many people get only diagnosed when they are terminally ill due to the nature of the disease. I'm not even talking about the cost of the…

Calm down SJW.

Re: CRISPR eliminates HIV-1 infection in live animals

#174

Post by rorykoehler »

tejtm wrote: post #60
mandude wrote: post #2

Gene 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.

>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

That race is already over. Technology over the last century has changed our realities so much that we can never hope to go back.

Re: CRISPR eliminates HIV-1 infection in live animals

#176

Post by Jedd »

rosalinekarr wrote: post #23

For anyone unfamiliar with CRISPR, I strongly recommend this quick introduction video from Kurzgesagt on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAhjPd4uNFY

This video was published in 2016-10, and contains this exquisite quote (around 6'):

> In 2015, scientists use CRISPR to cut the HIV virus out of living cells from patients in the lab, proving it was possible. Only a year later they carried out a larger scale project with rats that had the HIV virus in basically all of their body cells. By simply injecting CRISPR into the rats tails they were able to remove more than 50% of the virus from cells all over the body. In a few decades, a CRISPR therapy might cure HIV and other retroviruses ...

Re: CRISPR eliminates HIV-1 infection in live animals

#179

Post by santaclaus »

mattkrause wrote: post #98
ChuckMcM wrote: post #66

Earlier 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.

Other than D.E. Shaw Research, I can't think of any where the namesake is actually doing lab work. There are plenty of foundations and the like though. The Schwartz Foundation funds a lot of neuroscience (particularly computational), but through grants to universities and researchers; Jerry Schwartz isn't really spending any time at the bench. For basic research, this might make more sense. We know that, in principle…

> Other than D.E. Shaw

That guy is hella badass. Shunned by your academic department? Fuck it, go make billions and use that money to fund the development of custom hardware to run high powered geometric integrators on biological systems.

Re: CRISPR eliminates HIV-1 infection in live animals

#180

Post by sirtaj »

blackbagboys wrote: post #160
bdamm wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My scientist friends tell me China is paying well, making funding available, and has a lower go-to-market burden. Innovation appears to be literally moving to China as talent is being drained away from the US & Europe.

They have a lower go-to-market burden because the regulators don't much mind if you literally fabricate long-term clinical trial results out of whole cloth. The only innovation occurring is in the field of separating fools from their money.

I've seen how clinical trials take place here in India and yes, it's not always pretty. There are plenty of people who mean well and do good work, but the pressure to reduce cost invariably leads to shortcuts.
Post reply on HN