Clonal hematopoiesis (CH), where few blood stem cells produce a significant fraction of mature blood cells that are genetically identical, is partly an inevitable feature of aging. Certainly, it is near universal in those older than 60. CH is not itself a disease, but 1%-2% of CH cases progress to acute myeloid leukemia, and it raises the risk of some other types of cancer as well. A total of eight genes are responsible for 95% of CH cases, George Vassiliou told the audience in Saturday’s plenary session at the 2026 Annual Congress of the European Hematology Association (EHA 2026).

Clonal hematopoiesis (CH), where few blood stem cells produce a significant fraction of mature blood cells that are genetically identical, is partly an inevitable feature of aging. Certainly, it is near universal in those older than 60. CH is not itself a disease, but 1%-2% of CH cases progress to acute myeloid leukemia, and it raises the risk of some other types of cancer as well. A total of eight genes are responsible for 95% of CH cases, George Vassiliou told the audience in Saturday’s plenary session at the 2026 Annual Congress of the European Hematology Association (EHA 2026).

When a tumor migrates and colonizes another tissue or organ, it can be identified as a metastasis, but its origin is not always clear. Now, a study based on machine learning has identified DNA-methylation patterns that reveal the type of tissue a cancer comes from when the primary tumor cannot be found. This technique could help guide more specific treatments for patients with cancers of unknown primary, who today often receive broad, nontargeted chemotherapy.

A modified version of CRISPR-Cas9 has enabled, for the first time, the efficient integration of a large transgene capable of inactivating entire chromosomes into one of the three copies of chromosome 21 in Down syndrome-derived cells. The goal is to silence the extra copy to limit the gene-dosage imbalance that drives many features of trisomy 21. Researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center turned to XIST, the long noncoding RNA responsible for the natural silencing of the X chromosome in females. Using this strategy, they achieved integration efficiencies of 20% to 40% and a partial reduction in the overexpression of chromosome 21 genes.

Genes that are switched on or off in the human brain differ between men and women. Moreover, these differences are not uniform. They vary across cortical regions and cell types. Scientists at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and the National Institute on Aging (NIA) used single-cell sequencing and unveiled distinct gene expression patterns regulated by hormones and sex chromosomes. This detailed map of the brain’s molecular biology shows how women and men switch on and off more than 3,000 brain genes differently and expands the catalogue of X chromosome genes that escape inactivation.

The loss of regenerative capacity in mammals over the course of evolution may be linked to certain environmental conditions rather than to a genetic limitation. Tissue stiffness around an amputated area, oxygen availability, or epigenetic regulation could determine this ability, according to two simultaneously published but independent studies published in Science, as reported by BioWorld yesterday.

The loss of regenerative capacity in mammals over the course of evolution may be linked to certain environmental conditions rather than to a genetic limitation. Tissue stiffness around an amputated area, oxygen availability, or epigenetic regulation could determine this ability, according to two simultaneously published but independent studies published in Science today.

The number of deaths caused by prion diseases reaches about 30,000 annually. Only 5 months pass from the diagnosis of seemingly healthy patients to the fatal outcome of this neurodegenerative condition, and just 1 month until quality of life is completely lost. Removing the brain protein that causes this genetic or infectious disorder could be achieved thanks to new gene-silencing techniques. At a special meeting of the American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy, in “AAV-mediated epigenetic editing for prion disease,” Sonia Vallabh presented not just the data of her research, but the impact of this disease on her family and on herself.

Durable reprogramming of human T cells may now be possible thanks to a new technique based on the CRISPRoff and CRISPRon methodology. Researchers from the Arc Institute, Gladstone Institutes, and the University of California San Francisco have stably silenced or activated genes in this type of immune cell without cutting or altering its DNA, making T cells more resistant, active, and effective against tumors.

Durable reprogramming of human T cells may now be possible thanks to a new technique based on the CRISPRoff and CRISPRon methodology. Researchers from the Arc Institute, Gladstone Institutes, and the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) have stably silenced or activated genes in this type of immune cell without cutting or altering its DNA, making T cells more resistant, active, and effective against tumors.