By Ryan Hylton Basic concept of the CRISPR-Cas9 system. Photo Credit: Vox/Javier Zarracina At least 6,000 human diseases are caused by heritable genetic mutations1. A long-time dream of physicians and patients alike has been to specifically treat these diseases by manipulating the genetic code in affected patients. This dream became one step closer to reality … Continue reading The First Use of CRISPR to Treat a Genetic Disease in a Live Patient
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“Just setting up my twttr”
By Raquel Buj, PhD (@BioYupi) Photo Credit: PxHere “just setting up my twttr”, was the first tweet in history and how Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter, changed the world on March 21, 2006. Twitter has shaken the world by modifying how we interact, communicate, and consume news. Twitter attracts a significant number of politicians, journalists, … Continue reading “Just setting up my twttr”
Lessons on Flattening the Curve: Evidence in Favor of Widespread Testing and Social Distancing During the COVID-19 Pandemic
By Ryan Hylton "We've got a choice to make. Do we want to follow the trajectory of a South Korea, where they had aggressive mitigation measures and everyone really leaned into this issue, or do we want to follow the trajectory of Italy where we're seeing a rapid increase in cases and more deaths?"1 The … Continue reading Lessons on Flattening the Curve: Evidence in Favor of Widespread Testing and Social Distancing During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Media and Medical Science: The Misinformation Age
By Elizabeth Lesko From the anti-vaccination movement to the current panic over COVID-19, the mass media plays a critical role in providing information about medical science to the general population. While media coverage of medical research has the benefit of raising public awareness and therefore increases interest and potential funding for understudied areas, it also … Continue reading Media and Medical Science: The Misinformation Age
And the Winner is…
The long-awaited for results of the LTS Best of 2019 Contest are in! With a total of 6 votes, the Best of 2019 blog post winner is: Newly identified gene variant may render hormonal birth control less effective by LTS' own Editor in Chief Sadie Dierschke With a total of 5 votes, 2nd place goes … Continue reading And the Winner is…
Best of 2019 Blog Contest
Greetings LTS readers! As we've settled into the new year, we'd like to take a look back on the news and views LTS brought to your attention in 2019. We had a great year creating, writing, and editing engaging posts for your enjoyment, and hopefully, to your scientific benefit. We hope you will cast your … Continue reading Best of 2019 Blog Contest
A Scary Side of Drinking: Alcohol Use Disorder
Credit: Gerd Altmann from Pixabay Turning 21 is a rite of passage—your first (legal) drink! Drinking is typically seen as a reward for something great (like getting a grant!), something to take the edge off (like when you don’t get that grant…), or a way to loosen up in social situations. On occasion and in … Continue reading A Scary Side of Drinking: Alcohol Use Disorder
Newly identified gene variant may render hormonal birth control less effective
Credit: Gabriela Sanda from Pixabay Temperatures are getting cooler and days are getting shorter—fall is definitely here. With the dawn of October, many are ready for the month-long campaign devoted to raising awareness for women’s health. While pink ribbons and highlights in advancements in breast cancer research may abound in the coming weeks, a recent … Continue reading Newly identified gene variant may render hormonal birth control less effective
One Year After Gene-Edited Babies
Credit: PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay Almost one year ago, Dr. He Jiankui at the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, China announced to the world he had used gene editing on human embryos resulting in the birth of a set of twins: “Lulu” and “Nana”. Jiankui claimed to have used CRISPR, a gene editing … Continue reading One Year After Gene-Edited Babies
A Post-Doc is NOT your only career option
Credit: Arek Socha from Pixabay You’ve spent hours on grad school applications, GRE’s, and now you’ve made it. Graduate school is a whirlpool of emotions, ups, downs, successes, and failures. It can be research intensive, teaching intensive, or maybe even both. In the end, everyone in graduate school has their own journey. Despite the long … Continue reading A Post-Doc is NOT your only career option
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