Yale Researchers Take Different Look at CRISPR

    I came across this article from Yale about a new kind of CRISPR tool, and it honestly caught my attention more than I expected. Most of what we hear about CRISPR is the usual Cas9 stuff, but this group switched to Cas12 and ended up with something that can hit several genes at once without making as many mistakes. That alone feels like a pretty big deal, especially since CRISPR has always had the problem of editing areas it wasn’t supposed to.

    What really stood out to me is the idea that many diseases aren’t caused by just one gene. We talk about “a gene for this” or “a gene for that,” but a lot of conditions—cancer, autoimmune issues, neurological disorders—are actually messy and involve a bunch of different genes interacting. So having a tool that can handle multiple edits at once makes the research feel a lot closer to what’s actually happening inside a real cell. There’s also the whole ethical side of things, which is hard to ignore. Another group of scientists is even calling for a pause on anything that could change DNA in ways that get passed down to future generations. I get why. Just because we can do something doesn’t automatically mean we should—at least not right away.

    Overall, this update from Yale makes it clear that gene editing is changing quickly. It’s not just about fixing a single broken gene anymore. We’re heading toward a point where scientists might be able to look at entire networks of genes at once, and that could transform how we understand genetic diseases in the long run.

Primary Source:https://news.yale.edu/2025/06/09/yale-genome-engineers-expand-reach-and-precision-human-gene-editing

Second Source: https://www.geneticsandsociety.org/article/gene-editing-leaders-call-10-year-suspension-heritable-human-genome-editing

Scientists Measure Mouse Personality and Map Traits to Their Genetics

https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-measure-mouse-personality-and-map-traits-to-their-genetics/

Related article:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/11/191111105004.htm

Mice were found to have personalities and there is now a way to measure them. Scientists at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel and at the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry in Munich developed a method to observe and measure the personalities of mice. In order to observe the personality traits of these mice, their behaviors were first observed, then a computational algorithm to extract personality traits from the behavioral data was conducted. When the scientists gave the mice personality traits, it was found that these mice did indeed have their own unique personalities that guided their behavior. Gene expressions of these mice were also mapped in the mice’s brains and the scientists found that they could identify specific genes associated with certain personality traits. Thus, showing that both genes and epigenetics contribute to personality formation.

I think that this study is really important because it finally links genetics to personality traits. With this study, it is potentially possible to diagnose and treat psychiatric problems when there is something wrong with the genes that are linked to these problems. Furthermore, it now allows people to study how personality can be affected by genes, drugs, and aging, and how it can contribute to mental health. This way, more appropriate or better treatments could possibly be found for mental illnesses such as depression or anxiety disorders.

New Genetic Links Reveal Anorexia Could Be Much More Than a Psychiatric Condition

https://www.sciencealert.com/new-genetic-links-reveal-anorexia-could-be-much-more-than-a-psychiatric-condition

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/anorexia-may-be-linked-to-metabolism-a-genetic-analysis-suggests/

Most psychiatric disorders are not usually thought to be associated with genetics. When thinking about any psychiatric disorder it is frequently thought to be the cause of mental and behavioral problems that impede an individual’s personal functions. However, in the case of anorexia nervosa, it was recently discovered that this disorder is not just a psychiatric problem.

Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder that is identified by an extremely low body mass index, an unwillingness to eat, and distorted body images. Most people with anorexia nervosa view themselves as overweight when in reality they are extremely underweight. This disorder affects about 0.5-3.7 percent of women in America.

With anorexia nervosa being a non-substance abuse psychiatric disorder with the highest mortality rate, there is a lot of stigma around it. A large number of parents of anorexia nervosa patients express their concern for their children or they try to help them as much as possible. Because of these concerned parents, Cynthia Bulik, a professor of eating disorders from the University of North Carolina put together a research team and discovered that eating disorders are heritable. With her research team, she studied identical and fraternal twins and discovered that it has a 50 to 60 percent heritability. Further research was done by Bulik and her team also suggested that there are eight genetic variants that are associated with anorexia. This research was done with tens of thousands of people and the genetic variants found may increase vulnerability to the illness. This research has not found out exactly how these genetic variants contribute to the increase in vulnerability to anorexia but they may be linked to metabolic problems.



I thought this article was interesting because of how psychiatric disorders are linked to genetics. It was interesting to see how recent research has been revolutionizing the potential causes of psychiatric problems. I look forward to more research done on this subject in terms of treating these disorders not just as psychological or psychiatric.

Does Our DNA Make Us All Unique or All the Same?

"Does Our DNA Make Us All Unique or All the Same?" Bob Grant


As we know, all human beings look different with almost all the same basic physical features. How is that? It all comes back to human genetics. "The study of human heredity occupies a central position in genetics"(Carson 2019). Therefore, this study is so popular due to the fact that understanding human heredity can allow for scientist and doctors to diagnose and treat any disease that involves genetics; but also humans want to know why they are the way they are. Which ties into Bob Grant's statement, "A better understanding of the genetic diversity among humans could motivate an appreciation of both our similarities and our differences"(Grant 2019). With that being said, finding a better understanding of the genomic tapestry, that makes up the human species, will stem from,"diversifying our cataloging and curation of human genome sequences"(Grant 2019). As research continued on this topic, the Human Genome Project realized that individual genomes varied much greater than originally expected. For instance, "researchers now know that human genomes differ from one another by about 0.6 percent"(Grant 2019). Believe it or not, this is six times greater than originally expected in the early 2000s.

So, are all humans different or the same? As people become ore educated in the genomic science world, people begin to appreciate how unique people really are, thanks to the genitives blueprints that build each individual. Although, research continues to notice the insane similarities in every human's DNA. Therefore, humans are just as much different, as they are the same. Today, researching of the widespread misuses of genetic science include the finding of the specific DNA that makes humans different from one another. For instance, after intensive research, researches discovered, "the genetic ambiguity between “races” far outweighs any clustering of genes capable of defining a particular race"(Grant 2019). Therefore, looking at DNA from this aspect, can really make all individuals seem very different.

On the other hand, looking at the main genetic similarities, that all humans carry, shows that all humans are somehow all related. Fortunately, for the human species, being alike can also bring a whole new development of medicine. Researchers found, "Our sameness can aid us in making therapies that are specific to genomic profiles shared by groups of people"(Grant 2019). Overall, researchers of this topic must come together to help science and medicine as a whole and use this complexity of research to it's advantage. Knowing the genetic commonalities and differences is what will guide the human species going forward.


https://www.the-scientist.com/editorial/does-our-dna-make-us-all-unique-or-all-the-same--66307

https://www.britannica.com/science/human-genetics

Character Traits, Genetically or Environmentally Determined?

A recent  study of more than 800 sets of twins indicated genetics as  more dominant in shaping key personality traits, than environment. This topic has been debated on for decades, and while there is no doubt that both environment and genetics shapes our personalities, the degree to which they play a role was uncertain. The findings from the study indicated that " Identical twins (whose DNA is presumed to be exactly the same) were twice as likely to share traits compared to non-identical twins." The reasoning of the researchers is that  stronger  genetic link increases the likelihood that the trait is carried through out family. The specific character traits identified to be more influenced by genes are: self-control and decision making. Researcher Chi-Hua Chen from the University of California, San Diego and his team analyzed genetic data from about 140 000 samples and identified "Five personality traits: extraversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience"to be influenced by genes. 

I have always investigated siblings that I know, who are from the same parents and raised in the same environmental condition. It has always been very fascinating how similar they are, and at the same time how different they could be. The findings from this studies links genes to certain  personality traits .This knowledge could be used to investigate the root of certain physiological diseases, as well as it opens new questions for further studies such as examining people with the same personality traits controlled by genes, but in very different environmental settings.