Lab-grown meat? Dutch start-up keeps pork on your plate without wrecking the planet
A Dutch start-up may have found a workaround for eco-conscious consumers struggling to give up meat: pork grown in a laboratory that doesn't harm animals or damage the planet. Meatable will this summer unveil its first pork prototype made entirely from cultured animal cells instead ...
French court requires strict testing for crops created using CRISPR genetic technique
France's highest administrative court decided Friday that plants produced using new gene editing techniques such as CRISPR undergo strict testing as genetically modified organisms in a ruling that could see some varieties pulled from the market. The Conseil d'Etat said in its ruling that the ...
CRISPR passes test: Patients show no side effects after immune systems genetically edited
U.S. scientists have succeeded in genetically editing the immune systems of three cancer patients using CRISPR without creating any side effects, a first for the tool, which is revolutionizing biomedical research. The highly anticipated results from the first phase of a clinical trial were published ...
Osaka University transplants iPS cell-based heart cells in world's first clinical trial
An Osaka University team said it has carried out the world's first transplant of cardiac muscle cells created from iPS cells in a physician-initiated clinical trial. In the clinical project to verify the safety and efficacy of the therapy using induced pluripotent stem cells, Yoshiki ...
An expert panel of the health ministry on Friday approved a clinical research program proposed by a Kyoto University team to transplant cartilage made from induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells to damaged knee joints. Professor Noriyuki Tsumaki and other members of the team are planning ...
Defying local skepticism and 'Tokyo first' mentality, Science Park thrives in rural Yamagata
When Keio University professor Masaru Tomita accepted an offer in 2000 to head a new science lab in the city of Tsuruoka, Yamagata Prefecture, his fellow researchers — shocked at what they evidently considered his relegation to the countryside — warned him that his ...
Rich and poor debate treaty on plant gene data as climate change hits crops
Ahead of renewed negotiations to revise a global treaty in Rome on Monday, rich and poor countries are at loggerheads over how to share genetic plant data that could help breed crops better able to withstand climate change. The little-known agreement is seen as crucial ...
Creating meat from cells is no longer the realm of science fiction — a Russian cosmonaut recently did it aboard the International Space Station, and it is just a matter of time before these products arrive on supermarket shelves. Tests carried out in space in ...
Biotech firms eye big profits as owners seek cures for their sick pets
For Jessica Lescault there is no question that her 6-year-old English bulldog Moose deserves cutting-edge biotechnology cancer treatment as much as any human patient. "Pets are your loved ones, pets should be your family, pets are not something you keep on a chain in the ...
Japan biotech venture to sell jacket made with synthetic protein textile
Biotech venture Spiber Inc. and sports apparel-maker Goldwin Inc. on Thursday announced the December launch of what they claim is the world's first outerwear jacket made with protein material produced via microbial fermentation. The Moon Parka jacket will go on sale in a limited volume ...
Jump around: How 'jumping genes' could transform gene editing
For years, scientists have used a tool something like a pair of scissors for the complex task of genetic editing, but a newly discovered technique using "jumping genes" could offer a seamless, safer alternative. Gene editing is the process of altering a part of DNA ...
China's top legislature to draw up tighter rules on human gene, embryo trials
China's National People's Congress (NPC), the country's top legislature, will consider tougher rules on research involving human genes and embryos, the first such move since a Chinese scientist sparked controversy last year by announcing he had created the world's first "gene-edited" babies. He Jiankui, associate ...
