31–40 of 267 posts
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.
Seems too good to be true
Some VC needs to talk to this guy. This might or might not work, but the upside is good and the costs aren't that high.
[1] https://www.ll.mit.edu/news/DRACO.html [2] http://www.businessinsider.com/todd-rider-draco-crowdfunding... [3] https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/dracos-may-be-effective-a... [4] https://riderinstitute.org/
Wow, I had not connected the idea of using CRISPR genome editing with targeting virus dna segments. If I understand the technique correctly (and I am not a biologist for sure!) they used an adeno virus modified with a specific Cas9 setup to elide HIV DNA from cells it infected (normally I associate viruses with adding DNA rather than removing it :-) Is that even close to a correct interpretation? It sounds like the t…
As exciting as this is, we already know how people have used the decreased danger of HIV infection to become careless about other types of STIs. Given that our antibiotics are losing their ability to treat many common STIs, an HIV cure without some advancement in antibiotics will be swapping one epidemic for a series of others. Edit: I wanted to add a couple sources for my claims above. Once people stopped believing…
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, provided you're taking the appropriate medication Even with your caveat, the fact that more than 1 million people died from HIV in 2015 is probably a good signal to not use the term "minor nuisance". https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/basics/statistics.html
Back 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…
As exciting as this is, we already know how people have used the decreased danger of HIV infection to become careless about other types of STIs. Given that our antibiotics are losing their ability to treat many common STIs, an HIV cure without some advancement in antibiotics will be swapping one epidemic for a series of others. Edit: I wanted to add a couple sources for my claims above. Once people stopped believing…
The field's challenges right now in terms of STIs are addressed with more advocacy, outreach, screening, education, etc. Treatment is phenomenally effective currently for gonorrhea, chlamydia, syphilis, etc. Antibiotic resistance has been seen in some of those, sure, and will likely increase, but we deal with that as it comes -- just as we have with every other resistant pathogen. I'm not eager to keep a life-long and fatal STI around (HIV) to try to forestall that outcome.
Also: Those sources don't really support your claims. They describe an explosion of STDs that (at least as posited in those articles) are tied to decreased public health funding. There is indeed lots of discussion around risk compensation in light of improved HIV treatment, PrEP, HCV treatment, etc, but the data's a little unclear, and in my view is irrelevant to whether we should actually find and provide cures.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Only if we fail to educate people about the dangers of other STIs.
Which is happening... I would say the excessive mediatic exposure of HIV have definitely worked to supress awareness and care for other STIs. For instance, I am HPV+ and didn't have a clue about the existance of such a thing before getting it.
Last time I read about CRISPR used to remove HIV from infected cells, the virus mutated to defeat the CRISPR attack - could this happen here?
I see CRISPR as grepping through memory for running instruction code. Sure, the code can change, but if you see the behavior, then it's a matter of finding the new code signature manually and generating a new CRISPR variant target it. If that's accurate, the similarities to anti-malware are pretty cool. Just keep updating your virus DB.