{"id":11658,"date":"2025-07-15T12:49:04","date_gmt":"2025-07-15T12:49:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/11658\/"},"modified":"2025-07-15T12:49:04","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T12:49:04","slug":"sustaining-the-goose-that-lays-golden-eggs-how-to-continue-miraculous-biotech-advances","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/11658\/","title":{"rendered":"Sustaining the Goose That Lays Golden Eggs: How to Continue Miraculous Biotech Advances"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since the end of World War II there has been a strong, bipartisan<\/a> consensus in the United States that basic research<\/a>, funded largely by the U.S. government, lays the foundation<\/a> for scientific progress that drives economic growth. It is, indeed, the goose that lays golden eggs<\/a>. Republicans and Democrats quibbled about details, but shared a general, broad consensus in support<\/a> of this proposition. The return<\/a> on investment<\/a> has been dramatic<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But abrupt<\/a> policy reversals<\/a> and dramatic budget cuts to broad swaths of government functions by the present administration, most particularly to the principal scientific agencies\u2014the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy\u2014have canceled, or stalled, thousands<\/a> of ongoing grants and put the future<\/a> of the U.S. research<\/a> enterprise in doubt<\/a>. Even though multiple<\/a>, sometimes conflicting<\/a> court<\/a> decisions<\/a> have ruled the cuts and layoffs illegal, the consequent chaos and confusion has disrupted lives and livelihoods of the essential agents of the research enterprise. Competitor<\/a> nations<\/a> have jumped<\/a> to attract researchers from the U.S. to relocate to their countries, and many<\/a> are doing so while many more continue to contemplate<\/a> the opportunities.<\/p>\n

The multiple negative<\/a> impacts of these policy shifts have been widely<\/a> noted<\/a>. But amid the ongoing political tumult and policy upheaval it is worthwhile to review some of the continuing scientific fruits recently reported thanks to the longstanding bipartisan support<\/a> for basic research in the life sciences. Here are a handful:<\/p>\n

\u25aa May 15, 2025\u2014the world\u2019s first personalized CRISPR therapy<\/a> given to baby with genetic disease: A baby with a rare genetic disease that kills at least half of those afflicted has been cured<\/a> by scientists in Philadelphia using gene editing. The method developed could be applied<\/a> to thousands of other genetic disease afflicting millions of patients.<\/p>\n

\u25aa May 5, 2025\u2014researchers delete proteins in wheat<\/a> that are harmful to people with celiac disease: About one in every hundred people round the world have celiac disease, in which an abnormal immune system response to the presence of certain proteins in bread wheat can trigger a host of negative health impacts<\/a>. Scientists deleted<\/a> one of the major wheat proteins (using gamma radiation induced deletions, but which could be replicated with CRISPR like gene editing as well) in a move that could reduce the potential of wheat to trigger celiac disease.<\/p>\n

\u25aa February 24, 2025\u2014CRISPR transforms ordinary fat cells<\/a> into cancer killing machines: Scientists have used CRISPR gene editing to turn fat cells into cancer-fighting machines that out compete tumor cells for nutrients, thus disrupting their growth. This novel approach could help overcome weaknesses in current cancer treatment regimes.<\/p>\n

\u25aa May 4, 2025\u2014India unveils world\u2019s first genome-edited rice<\/a>: Indian scientists have used gene editing to improve two local rice varieties to better resist salt and drought, with anticipated yield gains of 25 to 30 percent. The approach taken falls outside the scope of Indian regulations aimed at genetically engineered crops, thus decreasing the time to bring the new varieties to market, which is expected in 4 to 5 years.<\/p>\n

\u25aa April 30, 2025\u2014FDA okays a genus gene edit<\/a> to breed PRRS-resistant pigs: Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) is a major problem<\/a> for swine production globally, negatively impacting herd health, increasing antibiotic use, production costs, and constricting supply. The Pig Improvement Company (PIC, a subsidiary of UK based Genus, plc) recently received FDA approval to bring swine with gene edited resistance to PRRS to market, a development that should have considerable positive global impacts.<\/p>\n

\u25aa July 1, 2025\u2014a genetically engineered chestnut tree, grown in Syracuse, moves one step closer to release<\/a>: In the nineteenth century, the American chestnut made up one of every four trees<\/a> in the eastern deciduous forests of the United States, its nuts providing food for myriad creatures and driving a significant sector of the rural economy. A fungal disease introduced from Europe<\/a> in 1904 killed all but a few scattered remnants. A genetically engineered variety that researchers at Syracuse University have improved to resist the fungus is now in the final stages<\/a> of regulatory approval by USDA, the last substantial hurdle that must be cleared before restoration efforts can go large scale.<\/p>\n

\u25aa May 26, 2025\u2014India\u2019s first gene-edited sheep<\/a> is born: Indian researchers used gene editing to tweak a gene that controls muscle mass. The intervention promises to increase meat yields by 30 percent or more.<\/p>\n

\u25aa June 3, 2025\u2014malaria eradication is now seen as within reach<\/a>: With support from the Gates Foundation, Target Malaria<\/a> scientists have devised a method of producing sterile female mosquitoes. Produced in quantity and released into local populations, these have the potential to help eradicate targeted populations of the world\u2019s most dangerous (to humans) animal. This holds great promise for efforts at eliminating malaria.<\/p>\n

\u25aa May 14, 2025\u2014science weaponizes our immune system<\/a> to target aggressive brain tumors: Researchers have harnessed the tools of modern biotechnology to develop new, multipronged therapies that show promise in tackling fearsome, deadly, difficult to treat cancers like the glioblastoma that killed former President Biden\u2019s son, Beau.<\/p>\n

At the same time valuable fruits such as these are ripening, the unprecedented power of the new biological tools developed through basic research continues to improve. While CRISPR has delivered<\/a> previously unimagined<\/a> power to research and development teams around the world, new discoveries and refinements<\/a> continue to arrive.<\/p>\n

Overcoming the technical obstacles of converting such insights to practical tools and products is difficult, but as the record shows, it can be done. In many cases, however, the primary barrier now impeding the path of such innovative solutions to the market is excessive regulation, which is everywhere around the world in need of correction.<\/p>\n

The most egregiously counterproductive and indefensible regulatory policies hampering biotechnological innovations over the last four decades have been in Europe, as we have noted previously<\/a>. But there are signs<\/a> of progress<\/a>. The EU is thrashing<\/a> its way toward a revamping of regulations widely admitted<\/a> to be ill-considered<\/a>, and a UK parliamentary committee has \u201cgreenlit gene edited plants<\/a>.\u201d But the situation in the United States is unsettled on several levels.<\/p>\n

Although the last three administrations have mandated updates and improvements to reduce unjustified regulatory burdens on biotech innovations, only small steps<\/a> have been taken where large ones are required, and the present administrative turmoil threatens<\/a> to impede improvements. A recent court case overturned<\/a> existing regulations, producing uncertainty and confusion<\/a> that nevertheless opens<\/a> some doors. The tools to fix<\/a> this are in hand, and a wide basis of political support remains intact. Specific roadmaps<\/a> have been provided<\/a>, by ourselves<\/a> and others<\/a>. There are few things this administration could do that would have a more beneficial long-term impact on the ability of American innovators to deliver solutions to urgent problems. It\u2019s time to save the golden goose<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Since the end of World War II there has been a strong, bipartisan consensus in the United States…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11659,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[200,79],"class_list":["post-11658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-genetics","tag-genetics","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11658\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}