Gene therapy advance for safer, cheaper and more efficient procedure and Extinct Tiger gene revived

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Replacing one amino acid on the surface of a virus that shepherds corrective genes into cells could be the breakthrough scientists have needed to make gene therapy 30 times more efficient. Gene therapy will be a more viable option for treating genetic diseases such as hemophilia. The discovery could be the solution to a problem that has plagued researchers and doctors using AAV as a gene therapy vector — how to administer enough of the gene-toting virus to yield a therapeutic benefit without triggering an attack from the body’s immune system.


A two-week-old mouse fetus expresses the DNA of the extinct Tasmanian Tiger by developing cartilage, shown in blue. So a hybrid of a mouse and and extinct animal.

This is the realization of many movies and TV shows: Jurassic Park, Manimal, Aliens IV, South Park, Island of Dr Moreau and many more

In separate news, DNA from an extinct Tasmanian Tiger has been resurrected in a live animal (mouse) for the first time. The genetic material, extracted from the extinct Tasmanian tiger, proved functional in mice.

In addition to being more efficient, the new version of AAV could also prove to be more economical, Srivastava said. Current gene therapy trials are expensive because scientists must administer so much of the vector containing the therapeutic gene to see results. Using the new vector, scientists could potentially scale back to using as little as 100 billion particles instead of 10 trillion, Srivastava said.

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