In this week's Science, researchers from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center show how the gene-editing technology CRISPR/Cas 9 can be used to prevent muscle degeneration in a mouse model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy. The investigators removed embryos from pregnant mutant mice, injected them with CRISPR molecules designed to target and correct the dystrophin mutation, and then transferred the embryos back into wild-type female mice. The newborns showed restoration of normal gene expression and normal skeletal muscle function even when only 17 percent of their cells were gene-corrected. GenomeWeb Daily News has more on this here.
Also in Science, a team from the Weizmann Institute of Science described the creation of programmable on-chip DNA compartments that act as artificial cells. The two-dimensional DNA compartments were fabricated in silicon and proved capable of metabolism, programmable protein synthesis, and communication. Gene expression in the DNA compartment reveals a "rich, dynamic system that is controlled by geometry, offering a means for studying biological networks outside a living cell," the researchers say.