Science - USA (2020-03-13)

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Coronavirus disruptions deepen

INFECTIOUS DISEASE | The spread of the

novel coronavirus in the United States

is scuttling plans at federal agencies and

scientific societies. Travel disruptions have

prompted NASA to postpone until later

this year three aircraft-based research

campaigns that were set to fly this spring.

NASA’s Ames Research Center closed

its doors to all nonessential personnel

and moved its staff to telework after an

employee tested positive for COVID-19,

the illness caused by the coronavirus. The

National Science Foundation announced

that grant proposal review panels would be

held virtually for at least the next 2 weeks.

And the National Institutes of Health said

that for 30 days, grant review panels and

meetings “that are not mission critical”

should be held virtually, postponed, or

canceled. The Conference on Retroviruses

and Opportunistic Infections, the larg-

est annual HIV/AIDS meeting held in the

United States, opted to go virtual just

2 days before its start on 8 March, noting

that “infectious disease physicians are

urgently needed to care for patients with

COVID-19 in their own institutions.” And

the American Chemical Society, which

was expected to host more than 10,

researchers at its annual meeting in

Philadelphia from 22–26 March pulled the

plug on the event, saying the gathering

would be “inadvisable and impractical”

given the virus’ spread in the area.

Virus curbs North Korean TB work

PUBLIC HEALTH | North Korea watch-

ers warn that the country’s aggressive

measures to defend itself against the

coronavirus are hobbling efforts to combat

tuberculosis (TB) and other infectious dis-

eases. The incidence of COVID-19 in North

Korea is unknown. But the nation has

stopped the flow of most goods and people

across its borders, and its state media says

the restrictions will remain until the virus

has stopped spreading or a vaccine is avail-

able. Three cargo containers of first-line TB

drugs are among hundreds held up in the

nearby port of Dalian, China, says a U.S.-

based humanitarian organization official

who requested anonymity. The official

NEWS

IN BRIEF

“

Refusal of the challenge was not an option.

”

Virginia seventh grader Alexander Mather, on entering NASA’s contest

to name its next Mars rover. His proposal, Perseverance, was the winner.

Edited by Kelly Servick

C

RISPR gene editing is being tried inside someone’s body for the

first time. Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University

(OHSU) reported last week that they’ve used the technique to

treat a person who has an inherited form of blindness called

Leber congenital amaurosis 10. It’s caused by a gene mutation

in retinal cells that disrupts production of a protein needed to

convert light to electrical signals. Previous CRISPR trials have edited

cells outside the body and reinserted them, and an older gene-editing

tool has been used to modify patients’ liver cells in the body. In the

new trial, sponsored by Allergan and Editas Medicine, researchers in-

jected under the patient’s retina a harmless virus carrying DNA for the

CRISPR gene-editing molecules. The gene editor cuts out the disease-

causing mutation and allows the cell to stitch the gene back together.

OHSU researchers hope the gene will be repaired in one-tenth to one-

third of the patient’s retinal cells. The modification is not passed on to

offspring. The researchers expect it will take up to 1 month to deter-

mine whether the patient has any restored vision. The trial will test the

therapy’s safety and preliminary effectiveness in 18 adults and children.

A gene-editing trial aims to restore function to light-converting retinal cells (rodlike structures, center).

BIOMEDICINE

Blindness trial marks a CRISPR milestone

1172 13 MARCH 2020 • VOL 367 ISSUE 6483

Published by AAAS