This month, we’re starting a new series delving into snapshots of science history and their lasting impact on the modern world. In honor of Juneteenth, we’ll start with the Tuskegee Syphilis Study—a clinical study that contributed greatly to the erosion of trust between the healthcare industry and the Black community. This broken trust has had a lasting negative effect on the health of Black people and on the diversity of clinical trials. Diverse clinical trials are crucial to ensuring that new treatments are effective and safe for all the populations they are used in. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Black people…
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The last few weeks, I have written about the complex molecular immunity mechanism of CRISPR and how we can harness it to precisely edit genes in a gamut of cells. But the ability of CRISPR to treat genetic disorders, predispositions, and susceptibilities relies on our understanding of the genetic basis of disease. Since the completion of the Human Genome Project (HGP) in 2003, which sought to sequence the entire human genome, scientists have made great strides in connecting diseases and disorders with their genetic backgrounds. In the meantime, the invention of Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) in 2006 has drastically reduced…
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Last week, we discussed the immune system and vaccines—our armor and shield against viral invasion. But what happens when those defenses aren’t enough? As our immune system begins taking arms against an enemy horde, we must pivot from girding our defenses to looking for ways we can help our immune system achieve victory quickly with minimal cellular casualties. Just like Gandalf bringing the Riders of Rohan to aid at the battle of Helms Deep moments before the heroes’ glorious defeat (yes, I did use this metaphor to make a LOTR reference), anti-viral drugs can mean the difference between victory and…
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