Cis-Regulatory Element Editing
Mapping and editing the non-coding DNA switches that control when genes are on or off makes it possible to reawaken or retune a cell's own silenced genes — such as developmental globin programs — without touching the coding sequence.
Developed mainly in: United KingdomImpacting: Europe, China, Rest of Asia and Middle East & Africa
University of Oxford researchers led by Siyu Liu, Mira Kassouf and Douglas Higgs mapped the regulatory elements that silence the embryonic ζ-globin gene and edited them to switch it back on. Reported in Nature Genetics, the intervention rescued an otherwise lethal form of α-thalassemia in mice and rebalanced globin chains in patient-derived human cells.
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12 October 2026 · score 7.0/10
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Tracked from 2 signals, each traced to its source.
- Oxford team edits regulatory DNA to reawaken embryonic zeta-globin in alpha-thalassaemia
Progress · 4 Nov 2026
- Oxford team edits DNA switches to reactivate embryonic globin gene in α-thalassemia
Scienmag · 12 Oct 2026
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