Kevin Davies

The NHGRI is finally ready to appoint a new director.
Deadline = 1 week from today.
hr.nih.gov/careers/open...

DNA and the Unraveling of James Watson A personal reflection on the life, legacy, and controversies of DNA co-discoverer James Watson, following his death at age 97.

Some close encounters with Jim Watson:
www.genengnews.com/topics/omics...

James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.

STAT ran an obituary written by Sharon Begley, who passed in 2021.
www.statnews.com/2025/11/07/j...

1967 letter from Crick to Watson objecting to Watson book ‘The Doible Helix” “The examples show some of the more glaring features, but longer quotations and comments would be needed to bring out the attitude behind much of the writing. For example, the tone used to describe Rosalind's work in the Epilogue reasonable, is perfectly reasonable, but contrasts ludicrously with the descriptions of her in the text itself.”

1967 letter from Crick to Watson objecting to Watson book ‘The Doible Helix” “My objection,- in short, is to the widespread dissemination of a book which grossly invades my privacy, and I have yet to hear an argument which adequately excuses such a violation of friendship. If you publish your book now, in the teeth of my opposition, history will condemn you, for the reasons set out in this letter. of factual errors in your latest draft. to him. Yours sincerely, Francis”

"If you publish your book now, in the teeth of my opposition, history will condemn you”

“the tone used to describe Rosalind's work in the Epilogue
is perfectly reasonable,
but contrasts ludicrously with
the descriptions of her
in the text itself.”

-Francis Crick

Letter criticizing Watson’s book 🧪

A New Startup Wants to Edit Human Embryos Seven years after the first gene-edited babies were revealed, biotech startup Manhattan Genomics is reviving the idea of editing human embryos to make disease-free children.

The launch of Manhattan Genomics — @wired.com @emilymullin.bsky.social

www.wired.com/story/startu...

The State of AI in Drug Discovery 2025, Wed, Oct 29th, 2025 @ 11:00 AM Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. publishers Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning partnered with big data generation at unprecedented scale is transforming the worlds of biotechnology and pharma, particularly in the arena of drug discovery. From generative AI to unlock novel drug candidates to virtual cells that gleam insights across multimodal biology, we are witnessing the cusp of an exponential curve of AI innovation that is poised to enhance and perhaps overhaul the design and validation of novel therapeutics. In 2024, GEN debuted our virtual summit, The State of AI in Drug Discovery, which drew a record audience. This year’s summit provides a platform for an outstanding group of researchers, evangelists and entrepreneurs to showcase the latest advances, applications and challenges regarding the deployment of AI across therapeutic development. The program features many of the most exciting companies and organizations powering the AI revolution, including NVIDIA, Xaira Therapeutics, Recursion, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Arc Institute, Generate: Biomedicines, and more! Please join us on October 29th for a dynamic program featuring: A featured presentation with Bo Wang, PhD (Xaira Therapeutics) on the promise of multimodal AI for health care The democratization of small molecule drug discovery with the developers of Boltz-2, Gabriele Corso, PhD (MIT), Regina Barzilay, PhD (MIT), and Najat Khan, PhD (Recursion) Evolving industry trends across the AI therapeutic landscape with Derek Lowe, PhD (Novartis and author of "In the Pipeline"), Molly Gibson, PhD, (Flagship Pioneering), and Stacie Calad-Thomson, PhD (NVIDIA) Building the virtual cell with Theofanis Karaletsos (Chan Zuckerberg Initiative), Emma Lundberg, PhD (Stanford), Hani Goodarzi, PhD (Arc Institute), and Ron Alfa, MD, PhD (Noetik) What’s next for AI in protein design with Surge Biswas, PhD (Nabla Bio), Tharindi Hapuarachchi, PhD (Generate: Biomedicines), and Oliver Vince, PhD (Basecamp Research) Breakout sessions from our event sponsors, Revvity Signals, Benchling, and Telesis Bio. Registration for The State of AI in Drug Discovery is entirely free. Sponsored by

Fantastic free virtual summit 11 am
ET today:
The State of AI in Drug Discovery

Hosted by @faylinphd.bsky.social
Speakers include @dereklowe.bsky.social
@emmalundberg.bsky.social
@bowang87.bsky.social
@mollygibson.bsky.social
Regina Barzilay
… and more!

webinars.liebertpub.com/e/The-State-...

Hear David Liu share his approach/philosophy to solving biological problems on IPM's BTB podcast

Apple podcast link:
itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/i...

Spotify link: open.spotify.com/show/03X80PT...

Acast: shows.acast.com/67105af84872...

@broadinstitute.bsky.social
@harvard.edu
@broadinstitute.org

From Pharma to Farm: Can CRISPR Feed the World? Now entering its second decade, CRISPR genome editing technology is poised to revolutionize agriculture—just in time to help us adapt to climate change.

The Baby KJ story earlier this year certainly showed gene editing's potential in rare diseases. Doudna has long insisted the biggest impact will be in agriculture: www.genengnews.com/topics/genom...

We went to the rehung National Gallery. This painting, from around 1460, could easily have been painted for the cover of a 70s British prog-rock album.

"The State of CRISPR & Genome Editing" virtual summit starts today at 11 am ET/8 am PT.
FIVE hours of great talks including:
- Feng Zhang
- Fyodor Urnov
- Nicole Gaudelli & Alexis Komor
- Neville Sanjana
- Julie Makani & Johnny Mahlangu
- and Beth Shapiro
Registration free: bit.ly/CRISPR25

Seems a good time to invite Sen Britt to watch an NIH review panel (aka study section) analyze piles of grants over several days to identify the <10% that win funding. Applications that scientists spent months preparing, whose peers spent weeks poring through in advance of review mtg at NIH.

N.I.H. Workers Denounce Trump’s ‘Harmful’ Health Policies (Gift Article) In a scathing public letter, employees of the National Institutes of Health accused the administration of undermining the agency’s work and endangering people’s health.

N.I.H. Workers Denounce Trump’s ‘Harmful’ Health Policies. Gift link: nyti.ms/4kxstdt

Cell and Gene Therapy Leaders Tell FDA: “Believe in American Solutions” Leaders from the world of cell and gene therapy shared their personal stories and policy recommendations in an extraordinary roundtable conducted by the FDA in front of its recently-appointed top offi...

“Believe in America solutions” — Highlights from today’s extraordinary FDA roundtable, featuring almost two dozen cell and gene therapy leaders and patient advocates presenting to the new FDA/HHS leadership — RFK, Bhattacharya, Oz, Makary and Prasad:
www.genengnews.com/topics/genom...

Former!

Good name for a band…

FDA Roundtable on Cell and Gene Therapy Captioning Link: https://bit.ly/4dQaNaz

Livestream of @fda.gov roundtable on cell and gene therapy - starts 9 am ET:
www.youtube.com/live/0qDhRtn...

First Personalized CRISPR Gene Editing Therapy Patient Baby KJ Discharged Three hundred and seven days after he was first admitted to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), KJ Muldoon went home after being treated.

”I’m overwhelmed to see the pictures of KJ at home, with his family…Somehow that hits harder.. it just increases my determination to find ways to do the same for as many kids as possible.”
- @kiranmusunuru.bsky.social

Story @grinsteinj.bsky.social

www.insideprecisionmedicine.com/topics/preci...

Medical Research Funding — Unbreaking How the administration is breaking the government, and what that means for all of us.

I urge everyone to read Unbreaking’s new page on everything the govt is doing to destroy & diminish medical research funding.

It’s the best thing I’ve read on this topic: @lizneeley.bsky.social & co have such done an incredible job.

unbreaking.org/issues/medic...

US supercomputer named after Nobel laureate Jennifer Doudna to power AI and scientific research A new supercomputer named after a winner of the Nobel Prize in chemistry will help power artificial intelligence technology and scientific discoveries from a perch in the hills above the University of...

US supercomputer named after Nobel laureate Jennifer Doudna @jenniferdoudna.bsky.social @innovativegenomics.bsky.social to power AI and scientific research
apnews.com/article/nvid...

The CRISPR Journal has published a series of 18 Perspectives from a wide array of authors to accompany the Global Observatory for Genome Editing summit this week:
www.liebertpub.com/toc/crispr/0/0

Here is the closing statement:
www.summit.global-observatory.org/statement/

Excellent story from @faylinphd.bsky.social on the hot news from #ASGCT2025 — @kiranmusunuru.bsky.social and colleagues tailor the world’s first bespoke gene editor to treat KJ, an infant with an ultra-rare genetic disease, heralding a new era in precision med.
www.genengnews.com/topics/genom...

Natalie Portman To Play Pioneering DNA Scientist Rosalind Franklin In ‘Photograph 51’ For Director Tom Hooper & FilmNation — Cannes Market Hot Project Oscar winner Natalie Portman is set to star in Photograph 51 for The King's Speech director Tom Hooper.

Natalie Portman To Play Pioneering DNA Scientist Rosalind Franklin In ‘Photograph 51’ For Director Tom Hooper & FilmNation @deadline.com
deadline.com/2025/05/nata...

This means that the $200 genome has now gone up to $210 in price. And you can only have #TwoDolls.

Tanzania and South Africa will participate in "The State of CRISPR & Genome Edoting" virtual summit on 11 June 2025.

Registration
webinars.liebertpub.com/e/the-state-...

@kevinadavies.bsky.social

Join GEN on June 11 for:
"The State of CRISPR & Genome Editing" virtual summit.
Guests include:
Feng Zhang, @urnov.bsky.social , @juliemakani.bsky.social
@nevillesanjana.bsky.social; Alexis Komor & Nicole Gaudelli,
and Beth Shapiro
Registration is free!
webinars.liebertpub.com/e/the-state-...

Giving away translations of some of my books — please get in touch if interest:

- Breakthrough (1995) 🇬🇧
- Cracking the Genome (2001) 🇯🇵🇵🇹🇪🇸🇳🇱🇨🇿🇩🇪🇸🇪🇮🇹🇸🇦
- The $1,000 Genome (2010) 🇰🇷🇧🇷
- Editing Humanity (2020) 🇰🇷🇷🇺🇯🇵🇮🇹

NIH Grant Cuts Aren't Saving Money. They're Wasting It. The Trump administration says the canceled funding is about cost efficiency, but data shows that the opposite is happening.

Read the full piece here (gift link): www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

It's there -- writing and editing :)

The George R.R. Martin among the co-authors on the latest ⁦‪@colossal‬⁩ preprint —
“On the ancestry and evolution of the extinct dire wolf”
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Calling out colossal baloney on supposed dire wolf de-extinction - The Niche Professor discusses hype by Colossal Biosciences on their supposed dire wolf de-extinction, which is harmful to science.

Calling out colossal baloney on supposed dire wolf de-extinction ipscell.com/2025/04/call... #stemcells #stemcell Colossal Biosciences blew it by hyping this