CRISPR-Based Sickle Cell Treatment | Pain Tolerance From Neanderthals

Science Friday

Science Friday and WNYC Studios

Natural Sciences, Science, Wnyc, Friday, Life Sciences

4.4 • 6.4K Ratings

🗓️ 3 November 2023

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

If given final approval by the FDA, this sickle-cell treatment would be the first to use gene-editing CRISPR technology on humans. Also, gene variants inherited from Neanderthals can impact pain tolerance in modern humans.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Your level of pain tolerance may have been passed down from non-human ancestors.
0:08.0	We all have some ancestry from ancient human cousins called Neanderthals and also another
0:15.6	related family called Denisovans. It's Friday November 3rd and hey would you
0:21.2	look at that? It's Science Friday.
0:26.0	I'm Sci-Fri producer Kathleen Davis.
0:28.4	Most people have somewhere between 1 and 3%
0:31.8	of Neandrotal DNA.
0:33.9	The more we learn about the human genome,
0:36.0	the more we find out how these Neanderthal remnants
0:39.1	may still impact us today.
0:41.4	One surprising effect that has recently been discovered is your level of pain tolerance.
0:47.0	We'll get to that story in just a moment, but first, Ira and guest, Umar Irfan, talk about the biggest science stories of the week.
0:56.3	This week an FDA committee cleared the way for a potentially revolutionary cure for sickle
1:02.4	cell disease. Yes, a potential cure for sickle cell.
1:06.3	If given final approval, the treatment could be the first to use CRISPR gene editing in humans.
1:13.0	Joining me now to give us more details
1:14.8	on this new treatment.
1:16.1	Another top science news of the week is Umar Fan.
1:19.9	Staff writer for a Vox based in Washington, D.C.
1:23.0	Welcome back, Omer.
1:24.0	Hi, Ira, thanks for having me.
1:26.0	Let's get right into this story about sickle cell.
	...

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