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CRISPR gene therapy for sickle cell disease approved by the FDA Appeared in BioNews 1090 A clinical trial for a new gene therapy approach to treat sickle cell disease has been approved to proceed by the US Food and Drug Administration. Patients with sickle cell disease have a mutation in the beta-haemoglobin gene, causing them to produce misshapen red blood cells that can block blood vessels leading to severe pain, anaemia and potentially life-threatening complications, such as organ damage and strokes. Currently, the only cure is a stem cell transplant from a healthy donor, but in the newly-approved trial, scientists from the University of California will use CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing to replace the faulty gene with a functional version. ....
Credit: Getty Images/InStyle.com With social distancing amplifying the amount of time we re all spending online, we ve had to consider even more intently how to safely and consensually seek sexual connection in the digital space. Now, the latest Hollywood bombshell is forcing the issue. Page Six reported last week on leaked direct messages allegedly sent between actor Armie Hammer and a number of women. The DMs, which have yet to be verified, feature explicit sexual content, including graphic mentions of rape, cannibalism, and body mutilation. The news has certainly raised questions around Hammer s sexual preferences, but also around consent violations especially within the context of sexting, something that s become way more prevalent since the pandemic hit. People are more online, and that s where they re meeting people during COVID, so sexting has become more acceptable, says Shannon Chavez, Psy.D., a psychologist and sex therapist in Los Angeles. ....