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"Doing Fine"

In a Twitter thread, Technology Review's Antonio Regalado says that He Jiankui, the researcher who announced in November the birth of twins whose genomes he had been edited, is "doing fine" and that reports that He might be facing the death penalty are erroneous.

The Telegraph reported this week that there were concerns by some researchers in the UK that He might be facing bribery or corruption charges for his work, charges it said could come with the death penalty. But Regalado says this was speculation on part of the Francis Crick Institute's Robin Lovell-Badge, who was giving a press briefing on the CRISPR work, and Lovell-Badge's comments then took on a life of their own.

Regalado adds that Lovell-Badge has heard from He.

The Scan

RNA Editing in Octopuses Seems to Help Acclimation to Shifts in Water Temperature

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Topical Compound to Block EGFR Inhibitors May Ease Skin Toxicities, Study Finds

A topical treatment described in Science Translational Medicine may limit skin toxicities seen with EGFR inhibitor therapy.

Dozen Genetic Loci Linked to Preeclampsia Risk in New GWAS

An analysis of genome-wide association study data in JAMA Cardiology finds genetic loci linked to preeclampsia that have ties to blood pressure.

Cancer Survival Linked to Mutational Burden in Pan-Cancer Analysis

A pan-cancer paper appearing in JCO Precision Oncology suggests tumor mutation patterns provide clues for predicting cancer survival that are independent of other prognostic factors.