Human embryo gene editing: God's scalpel or Pandora's box?

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 154-163 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qi Zhou ◽  
Yan Zhang ◽  
Yujie Zou ◽  
Tailang Yin ◽  
Jing Yang
Keyword(s):  
Human Embryo ◽  
Gene Editing ◽  
Scientific Progress ◽  
Model Organism ◽  
Basic Research ◽  
Development Trend ◽  
Treatment And Prevention ◽  
Human Fertilization ◽  
Ethical Supervision ◽  
English Articles

Abstract Gene editing refers to the site-specific modification of the genome, which mainly focuses on basic research, model organism construction and treatment and prevention of disease. Since the first application of CRISPR/Cas9 on the human embryo genome in 2015, the controversy over embryo gene editing (abbreviated as EGE in the following text) has never stopped. At present, the main contradictions focus on (1) ideal application prospects and immature technologies; (2) scientific progress and ethical supervision; and (3) definition of reasonable application scope. In fact, whether the EGE is ‘God's scalpel’ or ‘Pandora's box’ depends on the maturity of the technology and ethical supervision. This non-systematic review included English articles in NCBI, technical documents from the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority as well as reports in the media, which performed from 1980 to 2018 with the following search terms: ‘gene editing, human embryo, sequence-specific nuclease (SSN) (CRISPR/Cas, TALENT, ZFN), ethical consideration, gene therapy.’ Based on the research status of EGE, this paper summarizes the technical defects and ethical controversies, enumerates the optimization measures and looks forward to the application prospect, aimed at providing some suggestions for the development trend. We should regard the research and development of EGE optimistically, improve and innovate the technology boldly and apply its clinical practice carefully.

scholarly journals Bio-inspired Fog Harvesting Materials: Basic Research and Bionic Potential Applications

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 501-533
Author(s):  
Kui Wan ◽  
Xuelian Gou ◽  
Zhiguang Guo
Keyword(s):  
Collection Efficiency ◽  
Basic Research ◽  
Development Trend ◽  
Water Mist ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Biological Water ◽  
Water Collection ◽  
Transmission Area ◽  
Potential Applications ◽  
Water Transmission

AbstractWith the explosive growth of the world’s population and the rapid increase in industrial water consumption, the world’s water supply has fallen into crisis. The shortage of fresh water resources has become a global problem, especially in arid regions. In nature, many organisms can collect water from foggy water under harsh conditions, which provides us with inspiration for the development of new functional fog harvesting materials. A large number of bionic special wettable synthetic surfaces are synthesized for water mist collection. In this review, we introduce some water collection phenomena in nature, outline the basic theories of biological water harvesting, and summarize six mechanisms of biological water collection: increased surface wettability, increased water transmission area, long-distance water delivery, water accumulation and storage, condensation promotion, and gravity-driven. Then, the water collection mechanisms of three typical organisms and their synthesis are discussed. And their function, water collection efficiency, new developments in their biomimetic materials are narrated, which are cactus, spider and desert beetles. The study of multiple bionics was inspired by the discovery of Nepenthes’ moist and smooth peristome. The excellent characteristics of a variety of biological water collection structures, combined with each other, are far superior to other single synthetic surfaces. Furthermore, the main problems in the preparation and application of biomimetic fog harvesting materials and the future development trend of materials fog harvesting are prospected.

scholarly journals MaizeGDB: The Maize Model Organism Database for Basic, Translational, and Applied Research

2008 ◽  
Vol 2008 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolyn J. Lawrence ◽  
Lisa C. Harper ◽  
Mary L. Schaeffer ◽  
Taner Z. Sen ◽  
Trent E. Seigfried ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Model Organism ◽  
Basic Research ◽  
Model Organism Database ◽  
High Productivity ◽  
Group Activities ◽  
Food And Agriculture ◽  
Food And Agriculture Organization ◽  
Genetics And Genomics ◽  
Excellent Source ◽  
By Products

In 2001 maize became the number one production crop in the world with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations reporting over 614 million tonnes produced. Its success is due to the high productivity per acre in tandem with a wide variety of commercial uses. Not only is maize an excellent source of food, feed, and fuel, but also its by-products are used in the production of various commercial products. Maize's unparalleled success in agriculture stems from basic research, the outcomes of which drive breeding and product development. In order for basic, translational, and applied researchers to benefit from others' investigations, newly generated data must be made freely and easily accessible. MaizeGDB is the maize research community's central repository for genetics and genomics information. The overall goals of MaizeGDB are to facilitate access to the outcomes of maize research by integrating new maize data into the database and to support the maize research community by coordinating group activities.

scholarly journals Science Runs and the Debate Brakes: Somatic Gene-Editing as a New Tool for Gender-Specific Medicine in Alzheimer’s Disease

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 421 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pamela Tozzo ◽  
Silvia Zullo ◽  
Luciana Caenazzo
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Gender Equity ◽  
Gene Editing ◽  
Gender Diversity ◽  
Sex And Gender ◽  
Treatment And Prevention ◽  
Genetic Level ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Gender Specific

Gender-specific medicine is a discipline that studies the influence of sex and gender on physiology, pathophysiology, and diseases. One example in light of how a genetic-based disease among other diseases, that impact on sex, can be represented by the risk of developing dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. The question that comes into focus is whether gene-editing can represent a new line of investigation to be explored in the development of personalized, gender-specific medicine that guarantees gender equity in health policies. This article aims to discuss the relevance of adopting a gender-specific focus on gene-editing research, considered as a way of contributing to the advance of medicine’s understanding, treatment, and prevention of dementia, particularly Alzheimer’s disease. The development or improvement of cures could take advantage of the knowledge of the gender diversity in order to ascertain and develop differential interventions also at the genetic level between women and men, and this deserves special attention and deep ethical reflection.

Coal Mine Safety Management Researching Situation Analysis Based on Knowledge Map

2014 ◽  
Vol 962-965 ◽  
pp. 1003-1009
Author(s):  
Hong Xia Li ◽  
Long Zhao Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Safety Management ◽  
Hot Spot ◽  
Basic Research ◽  
Development Trend ◽  
Research Field ◽  
Mine Safety ◽  
Published Data ◽  
Knowledge Map ◽  
Knowledge Mapping ◽  
Classical Literature

In order to understand the characteristics and law of development of coal research in the field of safety management, the papers published data from 1993--2013 based on Web of Science database and the Java platform development CitespaceIII visualization software for scientific knowledge map drawing is used. Through the knowledge map visualization analysis, it shows the origin of the research of international coal safety management and foundation of knowledge, and its basic and frontier disciplines. The results show that: through the visual keywords co-occurrence knowledge mapping analysis, high frequency keywords and high degree of heart keyword ranked in the top 10. It also shows the hot spot area and the development trend in the research field of coal safety management; from the literature co-citation results, classical literature and knowledge of basic research on coal safety management field, it plays an important role in the development process of the research in the field of visualization; through the journal co-citation analysis of knowledge map, it gets higher yield and literature journal, such as SAFETY SCI, COAL SCI TECHNOLOGY, CHINA COAL and the like, which shows that in the study of coal safety management field quantity of periodicals, China is the first, which explains China's leading position in the field of safety management of coal.

scholarly journals Animal Models of Uveal Melanoma: Methods, Applicability, and Limitations

2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta M. Stei ◽  
Karin U. Loeffler ◽  
Frank G. Holz ◽  
Martina C. Herwig
Keyword(s):  
Animal Model ◽  
Animal Models ◽  
Uveal Melanoma ◽  
Tumor Biology ◽  
Scientific Progress ◽  
Basic Research ◽  
Research Progress ◽  
Transgenic Mouse Models ◽  
Tumor Patients ◽  
Xenograft Models

Animal models serve as powerful tools for investigating the pathobiology of cancer, identifying relevant pathways, and developing novel therapeutic agents. They have facilitated rapid scientific progress in many tumor entities. However, for establishing a powerful animal model of uveal melanoma fundamental challenges remain. To date, no animal model offers specific genetic attributes as well as histologic, immunologic, and metastatic features of uveal melanoma. Syngeneic models with intraocular injection of cutaneous melanoma cells may suit best for investigating immunologic/tumor biology aspects. However, differences between cutaneous and uveal melanoma regarding genetics and metastasis remain problematic. Human xenograft models are widely used for evaluating novel therapeutics but require immunosuppression to allow tumor growth. New approaches aim to establish transgenic mouse models of spontaneous uveal melanoma which recently provided preliminary promising results. Each model provides certain benefits and may render them suitable for answering a respective scientific question. However, all existing models also exhibit relevant limitations which may have led to delayed research progress. Despite refined therapeutic options for the primary ocular tumor, patients’ prognosis has not improved since the 1970s. Basic research needs to further focus on a refinement of a potent animal model which mimics uveal melanoma specific mechanisms of progression and metastasis. This review will summarise and interpret existing animal models of uveal melanoma including recent advances in the field.

scholarly journals Applications of Different Biomarkers in the Diagnosis of Drug-induced Liver Injury

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-61
Author(s):  
Monika Sharma ◽  
Ishita Yadav ◽  
Chandra K. Sharma
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Practice ◽  
Safety Assessment ◽  
Basic Research ◽  
Biological Processes ◽  
Drug Induced ◽  
Drug Induced Liver Injury ◽  
Significant Function ◽  
Treatment And Prevention ◽  
Day By Day

Biomarkers perform a significant function in the process of drug development. Biomarkers have been utilized in the safety assessment of drugs in clinical practice and also for personalization of medicines. To recognize the relation among considerable biological processes as well as clinical outcomes, it is important to increase our potential of treatments for all ailments, in addition to our understanding of normal and healthy physiology. Since the 1980s, using biomarkers is essential for substitutional results in long term assessments of main maladies, for example, cancer, as well as illness related to the heart. Now a days, biomarkers are highly important for unifying discovery of the drug and day by day improvements. The importance of biomarkers is increasing gradually with the advancement of novel therapeutics for the treatment and prevention of a broad range of diseases in order to overcome hepatotoxicity. These biomarkers are extensively used for the identification of disease and the field of medical research. The use of biomarkers in clinical as well as basic research has been promoted rapidly by the different drug regulation authorities for better outcomes in the future.

scholarly journals Status and Trend of Research on the Funding and Management of Basic Research in China: An Analysis Based on Knowledge Maps of Core Journal Database of China National Knowledge Infrastructure in 1992-2019

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (06) ◽  
pp. 201
Author(s):  
Yang Yang ◽  
Xiangyu Zhu
Keyword(s):  
Basic Research ◽  
Development Trend ◽  
Research Field ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Core Journal ◽  
China National Knowledge Infrastructure ◽  
Knowledge Maps ◽  
Knowledge Infrastructure ◽  
Visualization Software ◽  
Content Mining

This paper aims to clarify the current status, hotspots, historical evolution and development trend of the research on funding and management of basic research in China. Firstly, 736 relevant papers indexed during 1992-2019 in the core journal database of China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) were analyzed in details. Using the information visualization software CiteSpaceV5.6.R3, the institutional cooperation co-occurrence map, author cooperation co-occurrence map, keyword co-occurrence map, and keyword timeline view maps were plotted through content mining. The results show that: the research institutions in the research field of basic research funding and management have formed three core cooperation networks, and the institutions in Beijing attract the most attention; most of the prolific and active authors choose teamwork over independent research; the research topics mainly fall into four aspects of basic research: input, subjects, results, and talents; the research hotspots are in line with policies and demands, and evolve through three stages: exploration and gradual progress, adjustment and development, and expansion and acceleration. The research results open up a new direction for relevant studies, and provide a reference for innovative parties to implement basic research.

scholarly journals Application of the CRISPR/Cas9-based gene editing technique in basic research, diagnosis, and therapy of cancer

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Huimin Zhang ◽  
Chunhong Qin ◽  
Changming An ◽  
Xiwang Zheng ◽  
Shuxin Wen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cancer Research ◽  
Gene Editing ◽  
Basic Research ◽  
Genomic Locus ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Genomic Changes ◽  
Diagnosis And Therapy ◽  
Oncology Research ◽  
Potential Applications ◽  
A Site

AbstractThe 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna for the development of the Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/CRISPR-associated nuclease9 (CRISPR/Cas9) gene editing technology that provided new tools for precise gene editing. It is possible to target any genomic locus virtually using only a complex nuclease protein with short RNA as a site-specific endonuclease. Since cancer is caused by genomic changes in tumor cells, CRISPR/Cas9 can be used in the field of cancer research to edit genomes for exploration of the mechanisms of tumorigenesis and development. In recent years, the CRISPR/Cas9 system has been increasingly used in cancer research and treatment and remarkable results have been achieved. In this review, we introduced the mechanism and development of the CRISPR/Cas9-based gene editing system. Furthermore, we summarized current applications of this technique for basic research, diagnosis and therapy of cancer. Moreover, the potential applications of CRISPR/Cas9 in new emerging hotspots of oncology research were discussed, and the challenges and future directions were highlighted.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document