Briefly

Jimmy Lai, two others convicted in HK

Businessman Jimmy Lai Chee-ying and two others were convicted on Thursday of taking part in an unauthorized assembly in Victoria Park, Hong Kong, last year. The District Court in Hong Kong found the three guilty of inciting others to participate in an unauthorized assembly and knowingly participating in an unauthorized assembly. Lai and Chow Hang-tung were charged with unlawful incitement of others to participate in an unauthorized assembly without lawful authority or reasonable excuse. Chow and Gwyneth Ho Kwai-lam were charged with knowingly participating in an unauthorized assembly at that time, along with other unidentified persons. The unauthorized assembly case involved a total of 26 defendants, including Lai, Lee Cheuk-yan, Albert Ho Chun-yan and Joshua Wong Chi-fung. Twenty-one people have pleaded guilty or been sentenced. Nathan Law Kwun-chung and Sunny Cheung Kwan-yang, who have left Hong Kong, were also involved in the case. The court has issued arrest warrants for them.

Scientists develop colon gene-editing tool

Chinese scientists have developed a targeted delivery system that can bring gene-editing tools to colon cells, offering a precise cure for inflammatory bowel disease. The study, published on Thursday in the journal Science Advances, detailed a CRISPR-Cas9 prodrug nanosystem that can transport a gene-editing protein exclusively to inflammatory lesions in mice colons and then "switch on" the protein. CRISPR-Cas9 is a gene-editing tool that can be used to edit genes within organisms. Zhejiang University researchers coated the Cas9 protein with a layer of biomimetic cell membrane in which they anchored a small molecular "switch," the study said. They found that in mice, a chemical arm of the switch would be activated by stimuli in ulcerative colons, thus activating the Cas9 tool to tone down the expression of disease-causing proteins.

Xinhua