News

News

• Curing genetic disease in human stem cells Feb 21, 2020

  Whereas the CRISPR-Cas technology developed in 2012 cuts out a defect in a gene and replaces it with a new piece, the latest CRISPR technology works differently. The aim is to repair the error in the DNA without cutting it. This theoretically makes it a safer form of genetic editing. Scientists from Utrecht have shown for the first time that this technique can effectively and safely repair the DNA of stem cells derived from cystic fibrosis patients in the lab.

• Scientists develop more accurate stem-cell model of early developing mouse embryo Feb 20, 2020

  Scientists from the Hubrecht Institute (KNAW) and the University of Cambridge (UK) have managed to generate complex embryo-like structures from mouse embryonic stem cells. These structures, called gastruloids, can now for the first time grow somites, the blocks of tissue that later develop into the vertebrae and muscles of the embryo.

• Henk Wals new director of Netherlands data institute DANS Feb 11, 2020

  Henk Wals has been appointed as the new director of DANS, the Netherlands institute for permanent access to digital research resources, effective 1 April 2020. DANS is a joint institute of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences and research funding organisation NWO. Wals succeeds Peter Doorn, who has decided to step down after fifteen years.

• Academy: more resources for unfettered research needed from NWO Jan 29, 2020

  Research funder NWO (Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research) currently spends twice as much money on strategic research than on unfettered research.