OBSTETRICS & GYNAECOLOGY
Guided by CRISPR, prenatal gene editing shows proof-of-concept in treating disease before birth.
For the first time, scientists have performed prenatal gene editing to prevent a lethal metabolic disorder in laboratory animals, offering the potential to treat human congenital diseases before birth. Researchers offer proof of concept for prenatal use of a sophisticated, low-toxicity tool that efficiently edits DNA building blocks in disease-causing genes.
SURGERY
Brain-computer interface enables people with paralysis to control tablet devices.
Three clinical trial participants with paralysis chatted with family and friends, shopped online and used other tablet computer applications, all by just thinking about pointing and clicking a mouse.
Tablets and other mobile computing devices are part of everyday life, but using them can be difficult for people with paralysis. New research from the BrainGate* consortium shows that a brain-computer interface (BCI) can enable people with paralysis to directly operate an off-the-shelf tablet device just by thinking about making cursor movements and clicks.
EAR, NOSE & TONSIL
Electrical stimulation in the nose induces sense of smell in human subjects.
Proof-of-concept research may accelerate development of smell restoration technology.
P hysicians have, for the first time, induced a sense of smell in humans by using electrodes in the nose to stimulate nerves in the olfactory bulb, a structure in the brain where smell information from the nose is processed and sent to deeper regions of brain.
