Can CRISPR—a gene editing mechanism born from a bacterium’s antiviral system—be used as an antibiotic? That’s what SNIPR Biome wants to know, and new interim data from an early phase 1 study seem to ...

Scientists have demonstrated a new potential way to edit the genomes of bacteria in complex environments, by equipping viruses to hunt them down and insert the CRISPR gene-editing system. In nature, ...

The idea that a single-celled bacterium can defend itself against viruses in a similar way as the 1.8-trillion-cell human immune system is still “mind-blowing” for molecular biologist Joshua Modell of ...

Bacteria-attacking viruses, known as bacteriophages, use small RNAs to disarm the CRISPR-Cas immune systems of bacteria. This discovery has now been documented by researchers at the University of ...

Researchers flip nature's script by engineering a virus to carry a CRISPR system to change a bacterium's genes. Call it a CRISPR conundrum. Bacteria use CRISPR-Cas systems as adaptive immune systems ...

A microscopic discovery will not only enable scientists to understand the microbial world around us but could also provide a new way to control CRISPR-Cas biotechnologies. A microscopic discovery will ...

On June 28, 2012, the most significant scientific breakthrough of the first quarter of the 21st century was announced to the ...

During the last few years, CRISPR has grabbed headlines for helping treat patients with conditions as varied as blindness and sickle cell disease. However, long before humans co-opted CRISPR to fight ...

Bacteria use CRISPR systems to store small pieces of DNA in their genome—called spacers—to guide an immune defense through the recognition, and ultimately destruction, of invading viruses. New work ...

"As our lab expands and diversifies the types of good bacteria that we work with, we turn to more finicky bacteria, like Bifidobacterium," said Rodolphe Barrangou, the Todd R. Klaenhammer ...

One of the most revolutionary tools in cutting-edge medicine is a molecular scalpel so precise that it can modify defective DNA and fix genetic diseases like sickle cell anemia, and chronic disorders ...