Links and loose ends
First, some updates on several previous posts:
My Deltacron predictions (first, that Delta–Omicron SARS-CoV-2 recombinants would be confirmed, but second, that they would not spread widely) were both correct. See here (BMJ, March 2022) for discussion.
Aducanumab (previously discussed) was expected to lead to a Medicare premium increase but this did not happen. My initial prediction of a multibillion-dollar boondoggle was fortunately incorrect.
The supplies for the Ukrainian refugees arrived in May and were distributed. Thank you to everyone who helped!
(Late breaking update, July 12: PCSK9 base editing, which I discussed here, has entered human trials.)
Bonus graph, inspired by https://xkcd.com/2014/ and related to another previous post:
Second, some links to recent research that I find interesting:
Related to in vitro gametogenesis: a great dataset of fetal gonad development, and my preprint for generating granulosa-like cells from iPSCs using transcription factor expression.
Synthesis of a Hox gene cluster and evaluation of regulatory mechanisms. 130 to 170 kbp synthetic constructs were assembled in yeast and delivered to mouse ESCs. (For comparison, the entire (haploid) mouse genome is 2.5 Gbp.)
Directed evolution of L-DNA (mirror-image to normal DNA) using a synthetic mirror-image polymerase. This is very cool, but the possibility of mirror-image life raises serious biosafety concerns which I plan to discuss in a future post.