Heena Sharma Blog

Analysing the DNA may help predict whether a person will live longer or die sooner than average, according to a study. Researchers at the University of Edinburgh in the UK analysed the combined effect of genetic variations that influence lifespan to produce a scoring system. People who score in the top 10 per cent of the population might expect to live up to five years longer than those who score in the lowest 10 per cent, they said. The findings, published in the journal eLife, also revealed fresh insights into diseases and the biological mechanisms involved in ageing. "If we take 100 people at birth, or later, and use our lifespan score to divide them into ten groups, the top group will live five years longer than the bottom on average," said Peter Joshi from the University of Edinburgh's Usher Institute. Read More Business Standard

A scientist in China claims to have produced the world’s first genome-edited babies by altering their DNA to increase their resistance to HIV . Aside from the lack of verifiable evidence for this non peer-reviewed claim, this research is premature, dangerous and irresponsible. He Jiankui from the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen (which has reportedly since suspended him) said he edited the DNA of seven embryos being used for fertility treatment, so far resulting in the birth of one set of twin girls. He says he used the tool known as CRISPR to delete the embryos’ CCR5 gene (C-C motif chemokine receptor 5), mutations in which are linked to resistance to HIV infection . If true, this is a significant advance in genetic science, but there are some very serious problems with this news. First, the research has not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal so we cannot be sure of the exact details of what has been done. Instead, the scientist made

A Chinese researcher claims that he helped make the world's first genetically edited babies twin girls born this month whose DNA he said he altered with a powerful new tool capable of rewriting the very blueprint of life. If true, it would be a profound leap of science and ethics. A US scientist said he took part in the work in China, but this kind of gene editing is banned in the United States because the DNA changes can pass to future generations and it risks harming other genes. Many mainstream scientists think it's too unsafe to try, and some denounced the Chinese report as human experimentation. The researcher, He Jiankui of Shenzhen, said he altered embryos for seven couples during fertility treatments, with one pregnancy resulting thus far. He said his goal was not to cure or prevent an inherited disease, but to try to bestow a trait that few people naturally have an ability to resist possible future infection with HIV , the AIDS virus . He