Investigators from Duke University hypothesized that hirudin-like protease inhibitors could be generated by linking exosite-binding aptamers with small-molecule active site inhibitors, thus generating more potent “EXACT” inhibitors.

An international consortium of thousands of scientists is creating the Human Cell Atlas, a three-dimensional map of all the cells in the body. The goal is to understand all the cells that make up human tissues, organs and systems, which will enable multiple medical applications. This collection of cell maps is openly available for navigation at single-cell resolution, identified through omics analyses that reveal the tridimensional distribution of each cell.

Editas Medicine Inc. has achieved in vivo preclinical proof of concept of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell (HSPC) editing and fetal hemoglobin (HbF) induction in humanized mice engrafted with human hematopoietic stem cells and lacking their own hematopoietic cells.

Metagenomi Inc. has reported data from an ongoing preclinical study designed to provide evidence supporting the potential durability and safety of the company’s hemophilia A gene editing investigational therapy, MGX-001.

Shwachman-Diamond syndrome is an inherited bone marrow failure syndrome characterized by exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, cytopenia, growth restriction and skeletal abnormalities, and for which primary treatment is allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, which is associated with significant toxicity.

Recent studies have shown that up-regulation of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ coactivator-1α (PGC-1α) was able to induce fetal hemoglobin synthesis in human primary erythroblasts.