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IMAGE: A broad coalition that includes UC San Diego scientists sets commitments for field trials of powerful gene drive technology. The multidisciplinary group encourages trials that are safe, transparent and ethical. view more
Credit: Stephanie Gamez, UC San Diego
The modern rise of gene drive research, accelerated by CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology, has led to transformational waves rippling across science.
Gene drive organisms (GDOs), developed with select traits that are genetically engineered to spread through a population, have the power to dramatically alter the way society develops solutions to a range of daunting health and environmental challenges, from controlling dengue fever and malaria to protecting crops against plant pests.
New screening platform can be used to discover more effective drugs for type 1 diabetes
With nearly 2 million Americans battling type 1 diabetes, it is no surprise that clinical therapies for the disease are constantly evolving and improving. In type 1 diabetes mellitus, the body s immune system attacks and destroys insulin-producing β-cells. As a result, people living with type 1 diabetes lose insulin secretion and encounter difficulty regulating glucose levels especially after meals.
Drugs developed to proliferate β-cells often are inefficient and have off-target effects that can dysregulate other cell types and pancreatic hormone production. To address these issues, researchers at Brigham and Women s Hospital and the Broad Institute teamed up to design next-generation β-cell-targeting proliferators: zinc-binding prodrugs (ZnPD). To achieve this, the researchers engineered a new screening platform, the Disque Platform, to better represent β-cells in the lab. Utilizing the D
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With nearly 2 million Americans battling type 1 diabetes, it is no surprise that clinical therapies for the disease are constantly evolving and improving. In type 1 diabetes mellitus, the body s immune system attacks and destroys insulin-producing β-cells. As a result, people living with type 1 diabetes lose insulin secretion and encounter difficulty regulating glucose levels especially after meals. Drugs developed to proliferate β-cells often are inefficient and have off-target effects that can dysregulate other cell types and pancreatic hormone production. To address these issues, researchers at Brigham and Women s Hospital and the Broad Institute teamed up to design next-generation β-cell-targeting proliferators: zinc-binding prodrugs (ZnPD). To achieve this, the researchers engineered a new screening platform, the Disque Platform, to better represent β-cells in the lab. Utilizing the Disque Platform, researchers identified a ZnPD drug which exhibited a 2.4-fold in