[Paleopsych] 'Gene-editing' technique cuts out diseased DNA

[Steve Hovland]

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7224
A gene-editing process that corrects mutations without weaving foreign 
genetic material into the chromosome has been demonstrated in diseased 
human cells for the first time. It could provide a less risky and more 
efficient alternative to gene therapy, which has resulted in leukaemia in 
some patients.
A team led by scientists at Sangamo Biosciences in Richmond, California, 
US, say they have corrected the single gene mutation that causes the fatal 
X-chromosome-linked severe combined immune deficiency (X-SCID) - or "bubble 
boy" disease - in human T-cells. They treated the cells in test tubes with 
the company's proprietary type of "zinc finger nucleases" (ZFNs) and have 
published their results in Nature.