A curated round-up of recent biology and biotech research stories from across the field. Each item links to the original source — outbound links are nofollow and open in a new tab.

Gene editing & gene therapy

CRISPR breakthrough turns genes on without cutting DNA

Researchers have demonstrated a gentler form of gene editing that switches genes back on by removing the chemical methylation tags that silence them — without making double-strand breaks. The approach could enable safer treatment of sickle cell disease by reactivating fetal haemoglobin and is being explored as a platform for a wider class of epigenetic therapies. Read on ScienceDaily.

NIH-funded team shrinks CRISPR for in-body delivery

An NIH-supported group has engineered a smaller CRISPR system designed for in-vivo delivery to specific tissues, addressing one of the biggest bottlenecks in turning gene-editing therapies into routine clinical interventions. NIH news release.

2026 update on CRISPR clinical trials

The Innovative Genomics Institute's 2026 review tracks the rapidly expanding pipeline of CRISPR-based clinical trials, covering blood disorders, cancers, cardiovascular targets such as PCSK9, and ophthalmic indications — with around 250 gene-editing therapeutic candidates currently being monitored. IGI report.

Cancer & medicine

Pan-KRAS inhibitor advances as a potential cancer breakthrough

A new pan-KRAS inhibitor is being described as one of the most significant cancer drug developments of the decade. KRAS mutations drive an estimated one in five human cancers, including many pancreatic, colorectal and lung tumours, and a tractable inhibitor opens the door to treatments that have eluded researchers for forty years. Mass General Brigham 2026 predictions.

Antibody design targets Epstein–Barr virus entry

Scientists have produced human-like monoclonal antibodies that block Epstein–Barr virus from attaching to and entering immune cells. EBV has been linked to multiple sclerosis and several B-cell cancers, so neutralising entry could be a route to both prophylactic and therapeutic candidates. Coverage on ScienceDaily.

AI for biology

AlphaDesign brings AlphaFold into de novo protein design

The AlphaDesign framework couples AlphaFold structure prediction with autoregressive diffusion models to generate proteins with controllable interactions, conformations and oligomeric state. The team has used it to design and validate in-vivo active inhibitors of bacterial retron defence systems, signalling a new era in computationally driven enzyme and binder design. Molecular Systems Biology paper.

AlphaFold turns five — how it changed biology

Nature's retrospective collects citation patterns, downstream tools and case studies from five years of AlphaFold to show how structure prediction has reshaped structural biology, drug discovery and synthetic biology. Nature feature.