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Dusting off Science

As President-elect Obama fills out his cabinet positions, people in the sciences are wondering just when he will name a science advisor. To increase the status of the position, Chris Mooney says at the online publication Science Progress that the advisor should be named soon, and announced as prominently as the other cabinet-level positions have been. Olivia Judson weighs in with a blog post at the New York Times on the "rubbishing of science" that has occurred during the Bush administration. She says Obama should "restore science in government."

The Scan

Positive Framing of Genetic Studies Can Spark Mistrust Among Underrepresented Groups

Researchers in Human Genetics and Genomics Advances report that how researchers describe genomic studies may alienate potential participants.

Small Study of Gene Editing to Treat Sickle Cell Disease

In a Novartis-sponsored study in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers found that a CRISPR-Cas9-based treatment targeting promoters of genes encoding fetal hemoglobin could reduce disease symptoms.

Gut Microbiome Changes Appear in Infants Before They Develop Eczema, Study Finds

Researchers report in mSystems that infants experienced an enrichment in Clostridium sensu stricto 1 and Finegoldia and a depletion of Bacteroides before developing eczema.

Acute Myeloid Leukemia Treatment Specificity Enhanced With Stem Cell Editing

A study in Nature suggests epitope editing in donor stem cells prior to bone marrow transplants can stave off toxicity when targeting acute myeloid leukemia with immunotherapy.