genetics, disease & medicine

At $2 million for a single dose, Novartis’s Zolgensma is the most expensive medicine to date, but still less expensive over a lifetime than another approved drug for the rare genetic disease.

Researchers can now track the expansion of a resistance mechanism that allows the malaria vector Anopholes funestus to detoxify a key insecticide used on bed nets.

Certain populations have been historically underrepresented in genome sequencing studies, but the NIH, private clinics, and 23andMe and other companies are trying to fix that.

The large-scale experiments aim to test how the technology would fare in the wild, if deployed to knock down populations of the pests.

Deep-learning algorithms could help doctors narrow in on the causes of certain medical conditions, say researchers.

A trial called BabySeq, in which researchers performed genomic sequencing on 159 newborns, identified children susceptible to diseases that regular screening doesn’t look for.

He Jiankui says he has successfully used CRISPR-Cas9 to tweak the genes of twins born earlier this month. Some independent experts are dubious.

Separate proof-of-concept studies report success against two inherited diseases.

Methylation patterns at so-called metastable epialleles in the genome stamp a memory into each of our cells.

One variant limited the brain’s ability to use glucose.

The Germany-based study will test an ex vivo genome-editing therapy for the inherited blood disorder β-thalassemia.

Researchers boosted levels of the dystrophin protein to nearly normal levels in a canine model of the disease.

Brief electroporation appears to make T cells more receptive to new genetic material, which could speed the development of immunotherapies.

Doctors treated the fetus, who has alpha thalassemia major, with cells from her mother’s bone marrow.

Complications during pregnancy may act via the placenta to magnify the effects of genetic risk factors.