Sickle Cell Disease News and Research

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Sickle-cell disease, or sickle-cell anaemia (or drepanocytosis), is a life-long blood disorder characterized by red blood cells that assume an abnormal, rigid, sickle shape. Sickling decreases the cells' flexibility and results in a risk of various complications.

New Gene Silencers Offer Hope for Hereditary Blood Disorders

According to a recent study, chemical tags that were previously thought of as genetic clutter are really potent gene silencers; eliminating them could lead to safer treatments for hereditary blood disorders.

18 Aug 2025

Scientists Uncover New Activation Mechanism of the Human Sweet Taste Receptor

Sweet taste receptors are proteins in taste buds that detect sugar and other sweeteners, but the mechanism underlying how they elicit a sweet response has been unclear.

5 Aug 2025

Every Newborn Sequenced Within a Decade: What Does This Mean for Healthcare?

We spoke with Neil Ward from PacBio about England’s plan to introduce whole genome sequencing for every newborn, and how long-read technology is shaping the future of early diagnosis around the world.

29 Jul 2025

ColdBrew Enhances Accuracy of Protein Water Mapping for Drug Design

Every protein in the body is encased in a water shell that directs protein structure, provides vital stability and steers function.

30 Jun 2025

New STAMP Technique Combines Microscopy with Single-Cell RNA Analysis

Single-cell RNA sequencing provides scientists with important information about gene expression in health and disease.

18 Jun 2025

Scientists Capture Dynamic Process of Chromatin Remodeling in Action

Chromatin remodeling plays a vital role in gene regulation, affecting how DNA is accessed. Disruptions in this process can also lead to cancer and other diseases.

7 Apr 2025

Spotiphy Revolutionizes Spatial Transcriptomics with AI for Single-Cell Resolution

Spatial transcriptomics is a cutting-edge technique that characterizes gene expression within sections of tissue, such as heart, skin or liver tissue.

14 Mar 2025

New Approach Aims to Make CRISPR Therapy Safer and More Effective

CRISPR is a powerful gene-editing tool that holds enormous potential for treating genetic diseases by allowing scientists to cut, replace, or delete mutations in DNA.

16 Jan 2025

Scientists Uncover Circuit Controlling Neuron Migration in Brain Development

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, but for developing neurons, this first step relies on collaboration from multiple signaling pathways.

10 Jan 2025

Researchers Create 3D Atlas of Brain-Spinal Cord Connections

Signals relayed to motor neurons from the brain enable muscle movement, but these signals typically pass through spinal interneurons before they reach their destination. How the brain and this highly diverse group of "switchboard operator" cells are connected is poorly understood.

24 Dec 2024

Terumo Blood and Cell Technologies Presents Data on Automated Red Blood Cell Exchange to Treat Sickle Cell Disease at the American Society of Hematology

The abstracts highlight the potential to improve SCD treatment using aRBCX. The first poster presents data from U.S. insurance claims, examined in a study performed with researchers at University of Pittsburgh.

18 Dec 2024

Disrupting a Gene Boosts T Cell Therapy, St. Jude Study Shows

Immunotherapy, using a patient's own immune system to treat disease, has shown promise in some patients with cancer but has not worked in most.

15 Oct 2024

New Gene-Editing Tool Offers More Precision and Flexibility

Researchers at the University of Sydney have created a gene-editing instrument that is more precise and adaptable than the industry standard CRISPR, which has transformed genetic engineering in biotechnology, agriculture, and medicine.

24 Jun 2024

St. Jude Researchers Discover NLRC5's Role in Inflammatory Cell Death

The innate immune system is responsible for protecting the human body from threats that could cause disease or infection.

17 Jun 2024

New Clinical Trial Offers Path to Sickle Cell Cure

The most recent results from a clinical trial were given by researchers in an effort to find a cure for sickle cell disease, a painful genetic blood illness that has few available treatments.

17 Jun 2024

Revolutionizing Cell Subpopulation Studies: The ConVERGD Approach

As gene sequencing technologies become more powerful, our understanding of cellular diversity has grown in parallel.

29 May 2024

Cryo-EM Reveals Structural Insights Into ADAM17/iRhom2 Complex

Efficient communication between cells is vital for many biological processes, such as recruiting immune cells to combat disease.

24 May 2024

St. Jude Scientists Reveal Role of Non-Coding DNA Variants in Childhood Leukemia

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists have identified specific DNA variants in the non-coding regions of the genome contributing to chemotherapy resistance in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

2 May 2024

Precision Combination Therapy Better Controls High-Risk Subtypes of B-ALL in Mouse Models

Despite having an overall survival rate of 94%, B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL), the most common childhood cancer, can prove challenging to treat, with survival among relapsed or resistant cases falling between 30-50%.

9 Apr 2024

Retrotransposon-Based PRINT Technique Holds Potential for Precise Gene Insertion

The recent approval of a CRISPR-Cas9 therapy for sickle cell disease demonstrates that gene editing tools can do a superb job knocking out genes to cure hereditary disease.

22 Feb 2024