Genetics stories

Gene therapy vaccine completely protects mice from HIV

Evan Ackerman
Friday, December 2, 2011 - 2:17pm
 
HIV has resisted attempts for a vaccine for three decades, and despite vastly improved ways to treat the condition, two million people still get infected every year. A new gene therapy technique has been shown to provide complete protection from HIV in mice with humanized immune system, and the same thing should work in humans, too.

We're getting close to drive-through gene sequencing

Evan Ackerman
Tuesday, November 8, 2011 - 1:37pm
 
The first human genome cost $3 billion to sequence back in 2003. By 2009, the cost to sequence someone's genome had dropped to more like $50,000. Next year, the target is a mere $1,000, and it'll only take two hours to completely identify all six billion of the base pairs in your DNA to tell you what you're likely to die from first.

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