By Raniel Ponteras, University of St La Salle
Have you ever consulted a phrase of poetry to mend a wound cut by romantic abandon? Perhaps a line or two from Ovid, García Lorca, or Byron can soothe a festering gash. But would you ever take counsel from a poet to succour some sores down there – from a scourge named syphilis?
By Anastasia Stefanidou, Communications Officer, Biochemical Society
Gene editing and the use of CRISPR to fix genetic disease in human embryos seem to be all over the news these days.
It has just been reported that a team of American and South Korean scientists have successfully used CRISPR, a tool that cuts DNA with more precision than any other genome editing technology, to fix a genetic defect in human embryos that can cause serious heart problems. Continue reading “An introduction to gene editing”
By Alex Binks, University of Glasgow
Hearing that I had come first place in the Biochemical Society Science communication competition was a wonderful feeling. Of course, this feeling was in part due to my excitement over the prospect of having an extra £300 to spend on all manner of sensible and not-so-sensible purchases. But more importantly, I had managed to prove to myself that it’s possible to make a successful science video without any money or any clue what the hell I was doing.
By James Brown, Education and Public Engagement Manager, Biochemical Society
To Hoover. To Google. To CRISPR. As Jennifer Doudna pointed out at the launch of her new book, A Crack in Creation, once your invention has become a verb, you know you’re onto something big. And CRISPR (or CRISPR-Cas9) is certainly big; it doesn’t seem like hyperbole to describe it as a ‘game-changer’ in molecular bioscience.
Continue reading A novel use for CRISPR – use of narratives in public engagement
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