Funky There is no single gene for cancer. There are some well known mutations that predispose to cancer but it is different for different cancers. Muscular dystrophy is clearer.

The problem is how you get into every muscle cell and alter it’s dna. It’s not quite a simple as it sounds. There is one virus I know which does it very effectively and that is HIV (a lentivirus). I am not a genetecist or virologist but the delivery systems needed for this kind of stuff are pretty complex.

mRNA vaccines have caused enough misinformation and fear. This level of messing about with genetics in vivo is liekly to cause considerable amounts of debate.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211383521001866

    Funky What’s your thoughts on chrispr?

    I think CRISPR is probably the future of medicine, but we’re a ways off it being used to successfully treat mutations like cancer. My sense (and I’m no expert…) is that it’s more likely to be used initially as a preventative instead of a curative measure. Stopping something from going wrong is usually more straightforward than fixing it once it’s fucked up…

    I’m genuinely not sure if it’s accurate to say the Chinese are way ahead. Some of the work done out at Berkely in California is (or seems to be) groundbreaking. I suspect the perceived gap in progress is more down to ethical barriers than practical ones.

      Funky What’s your thoughts on chrispr?

      Shame Pesto isn’t still around to answer this one.

        Looks like I’ve done a Grant and caught covid just before leaving for holiday tomorrow… bummer - was about to go to Rio.. you can only laugh.. fucking covid.

          Fucking hell the luck you guys have.

          bosstrabs I should have only done 21 in Shanghai.

          But then because I passed through a ‘medium risk’ area with 3 cases, they banged me up again when I arrived in Beijing.

          I should clarify that I passed through a medium risk area en route to Beijing that had 3 COVID cases.

          The amount of luggage I was carrying had no impact on whether I had to quarantine or not.

            Hope you just get a mild dose, Jules.

            This new variant is going to fuck everything. R number 2 in South Africa now.

              Old-Dutch This new variant is going to fuck everything. R number 2 in South Africa now.

              Only 33% vaccination rate. The west should hang it’s fucking head in shame. The WHO said this would happen.

                  Old-Dutch To be fair, they e said the same thing about the other variants, but this sort of shit was always going to happen - it’s been a long while since the last one.

                  Valneva vaccine production in the UK was recently cancelled by the government - guess what which vaccine is the most effective against changes in the spike protein. I read some article last week that it was cancelled because they blamed Brexit for not having enough building materials for their factory in Livingston.

                    Old-Dutch The drug companies are saying today that covid research is so far along now that a new vaccine can be rolled out within 100 days though. Fingers crossed.

                      DF will be FEWMIN when he reads this.

                      Way I see it is it’s good to get the immunity boost now - this is a good time to catch delta ahead of the variants … mild cold for me so far.. and no smell/taste… but Fckng hell - should be on Ipanema in my speedos rather than staring out of my window. I have a Maldives trip planned with the kids for Xmas but both my son and myself have had covid now… so we are highly likely to test positive in the few days before. Do countries give exemptions for recent infections?

                        Along_the_Wire South Africa have fcked up royally on their vaccination programme though - they rejected AZ back in February (because they said their variant broke through) … even excluding the AZ Fck up they have been really slow in getting jabs in arms

                          Jules72 I have a Maldives trip planned with the kids for Xmas but both my son and myself have had covid now… so we are highly likely to test positive in the few days before. Do countries give exemptions for recent infections?

                          I’d be stunned if they don’t have a clause like the US does:

                          “If you recently recovered from COVID-19, you may instead travel with documentation of recovery from COVID-19 (i.e., your positive COVID-19 viral test result on a sample taken no more than 90 days before the flight’s departure from a foreign country and a letter from a licensed healthcare provider or a public health official stating that you were cleared to travel).“

                          I’m likely having to use this to get to Puerto Rico - waiting for my GP letter.