The Download: gene-editing HIV, and how to destroy PFAS

The information: The gene-editing know-how CRISPR has been used to alter the genes of human infants, to switch animals, and to deal with folks with sickle-cell illness. Now scientists are trying a brand new trick: utilizing CRISPR to completely remedy folks of HIV. 

How they did it: A biotechnology firm referred to as Excision BioTherapeutics says it added the gene-editing device to the our bodies of three folks dwelling with HIV and commanded it to chop, and destroy, the virus wherever it’s hiding.

What it means: The early-stage research is a probing step towards the corporate’s eventual aim of curing HIV an infection with a single intravenous dose of a gene-editing drug. Nonetheless, as a result of the medical doctors withheld early information in regards to the therapy’s results, outdoors specialists have been left guessing whether or not it labored. Read the full story.

—Antonio Regalado

The race to destroy PFAS, the without end chemical compounds 

What do firefighting foams, mountaineering boots, raincoats, nonstick frying pans, lipstick, and even ink have in widespread? They’ll all include PFAS, a household of chemical compounds which were utilized in numerous purposes for many years. 

The compounds are ubiquitous in consuming water and soil, even migrating to Arctic sea ice. PFAS are referred to as without end chemical compounds as a result of as soon as current within the atmosphere, they don’t degrade or break down. They accumulate, and finally persist.