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Home > UC Science Today > The weekly roundup - March 4th
Podcast: UC Science Today
Episode:

The weekly roundup - March 4th
Category: Science & Medicine
Duration: 00:02:25
Publish Date: 2017-03-03 18:00:00
Description: Here are some of the stories covered this week on Science Today. Multiple sclerosis is a chronic disease that can paralyze the brain and spinal cord when the immune system attacks the body. MS affects about 2 million people globally and while there is no cure for the chronic disease, drug regimens and behavioral therapy have allowed people with MS to lead better quality lives. Now, neurologist Bruce Cree of UC San Francisco has been testing a drug in clinical trial that’s designed to reduce MS symptoms – in fact, Cree found that patients’ brain inflammation was practically gone. “This was very impressive and suggests that we have a highly effective therapy. There is some advantage in medication in terms of tolerability, in terms of efficacy and I think it’s going to be a very important new therapy." It’s called ocrelizumab and it’s currently under review by the FDA. While at UCSF, we also checked in with researchers hoping to improve a powerful gene editing tool called CRISPR, which scientists hope can one day treat genetic disorders. Microbiologist Benjamin Rauch explains that the technology hasn’t been precise enough. "CRISPR is not perfect; CRISPR will cut DNA in the wrong place if we give it enough time to do so. You can’t edit in the wrong place because it will have some negative effects." So they’re working with so-called anti-CRISPR proteins that they found can stop CRISPR before it makes the wrong cut. This is a story we’ll definitely keep track of because a safer more accurate CRISPR brings scientists a step closer to developing an effective DNA-editing therapy in the future. And finally, UC San Diego’s Catherine Marinac is looking into simple and novel ways to reduce a woman’s risk of breast cancer. She found that fasting at least 12 hours overnight may help because women who fasted longer had better control over their blood sugar connections. "We know that it influences inflammation and many of these metabolic factors are related, so you’ll typically see abnormal glucose with inflammation. We know it influences some parameters related to Circadian rhythms and Circadian misalignment and all of these things are on the same cascade. So, we don’t know the exact mechanism, but that’s currently being investigated in animals." Stay on top of the latest University of California research – subscribe to Science Today on iTunes of follow us on Facebook. Until next time, I’m Larissa Branin. Subscribe to Science Today: iTunes: apple.co/1TQBewD Stitcher: www.stitcher.com/podcast/science-today Follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ucsciencetoday Stories mentioned in this roundup: https://soundcloud.com/sciencetoday/ms_strategy https://soundcloud.com/sciencetoday/crispr_edit https://soundcloud.com/sciencetoday/fasting_cancer
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