With the corn harvest underway in the Midwest, farmers are evaluating the performance of new drought-resistant corn varieties after the unusually dry summer, The Kansas City Star reports.
View the original article here: Midwest farmers praise drought-resistant corn for good yields
More than 350 top chefs this week came out in favor of Proposition 37, the initiative that calls for labeling most foods containing genetically engineered ingredients, saying there is an “enormous stake in ensuring transparency in our food system.” Restaurateurs and chefs including Alice Waters, Mario Batali, Jacques Pépin, Charles Phan, Cat Cora and Joyce Goldstein have signed a petition of support.
The claim that nanopore technology is on the verge of making DNA analysis so fast and cheap that a person’s entire genome could be sequenced in just minutes and at a fraction of the cost of available commercial methods, has resulted in overwhelming academic, industrial, and global interest. But a review by Northeastern University physicist Meni Wanunu, published in a special issue on nanopore sequencing in Physics of Life Reviews, questions whether the remaining technical hurdles can be overcome to create a workable, easily produced commercial device. Earlier this year Oxford Nanopore Technologies, one of the pioneering companies of sequencing discoveries, announced that they expect nanopore strand sequencing to achieve a 15-minute genome by 2014 at a cost of $1,500. This is a far cry from the $10 million it cost to sequence an entire genome just 5 years ago.
View the original article here: Study questions feasibility of entire genome sequencing in minutes
A team of researchers at The Australian National University is one step closer to better understanding how organisms function after discovering how epigenetic information is transmitted from one generation of cells to the next. Lead researcher, Dr David Tremethick from The John Curtin School of Medical Research, said developing a better understanding of these epigenetic processes has significant potential implications for human health, in particular the treatment and prevention of diseases such as cancer.
View the original article here: Scientists Cracked the epigenetic code – BioScholar News
A team of Malaysian doctors achieved success and gained international attention by being innovative, passionate – and a little bit crazy. “My arm has been bothering me,” the patient told Dr Ranjit Singh. After he gently flexed his patient’s arm and studied the MRI scans, he suggested that the patient undergo keyhole surgery and five rounds of stem cell injections. These stem cells would repair the injured area and regenerate the cartilage tissue. The treatment was so simple, it was almost too good to be true.
View the original article here: Using stem cells to regenerate cartilage – The Star Online
Rapid population growth, climate change, escalating food prices, diminishing agricultural land and water resources pose a serious setback in increasing food output to feed the world’s fast growing population. Hence, scientists have to seek better solutions for farmers for increasing productivity on smaller tracts of land using less water, energy, fertilisers and pesticides. Local researchers, like their counterparts in the developed world, believe that Genetic Modification (GM) Technology could well be the holy grail for enhancing the country’s food output in the future.
View the original article here: GM Crops To Boost Malaysia’s Food Security – Bernama
A multi-specialty hospital here has successfully used stem cells to cure a hip joint disorder, relieving affected patients from expensive surgery and conservative treatment. “We have so far treated seven patients, including two non-resident Indians (NRIs) suffering from hip joint disorder using their stem cells and helped them to resume normal life within months,” Live 100 Hospital chairman HN Nagaraj said.
View the original article here: Hip disorder cured using stem cells – Zee News
By reprogramming skin cells from Parkinson’s disease patients with a known genetic mutation, researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have identified damage to neural stem cells as a powerful player in the disease. The findings, reported online October 17th in Nature, may lead to new ways to diagnose and treat the disease.
The scientists found that a common mutation to a gene that produce the enzyme LRRK2, which is responsible for both familial and sporadic cases of Parkinson’s disease, deforms the membrane surrounding the nucleus of a neural stem cell. Damaging the nuclear architecture leads to destruction of these powerful cells, as well as their decreased ability to spawn functional neurons, such as the ones that respond to dopamine.
View the original article here: Stem cell study may help to unravel how genetic mutation leads to Parkinson’s … – News-Medical.net
The Food and Drug Administration is stepping up its oversight of companies selling unproven and unlicensed stem-cell therapies and emerging industry with a spotty ethical and medical track record.A study last month pointing to health risks from a type of genetically modified maize and a related pesticide did not provide grounds for questioning previous safety approvals, the French government said on Monday. The study by researchers at the University of Caen said rats fed on Monsanto’s NK603 GM maize (corn) or exposed to the company’s top-selling Roundup weed killer were at higher risk of suffering tumors, multiple organ damage and premature death.
View the original article here: France says no need to revisit Monsanto maize approval – Chicago Tribune
This article detailed current research about how, although low bone density and osteoporosis is quite prevalent in the public eye, that excessive bone density and subsequent diseases also present a significant medical challenge. The article reported that such diseases of excessive bone density, such as malignant infantile osteopetrosis, or MIOP, are only currently treated with a risky transplant procedure, but research has shown that gene therapy might provide a safe and effective alternative. This therapy would allow experts to extract stem cells from the patients themselves, eliminating any external donor, and have the non-functioning gene replaced with a working copy, and then reinserted into the patient. Researchers note that the method is not risk-free, and that much work is still required before the technique is ready for practical application.
View the original article here: Gene Therapy as a Cure for Fatal Bone Diseases in Children?
View the original article here: Insights into rare immune cells that keep blood stem cells in a youthful state … – Medical Xpress
In a major advance that will unlock the benefits of the mapping of the barley genome–one of the world’s most important cereal crops–work conducted and supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in collaboration with researchers around the world has resulted in the most advanced sequencing of the barley genome to date, as reported today in the journal Nature. The advance will give researchers the tools to produce higher yields, improve pest and disease resistance, and enhance nutritional value of barley. Past genomic research supported by USDA has provided similar benefits to crops such as tomato and corn, and helped improve cattle breeding and enhance the productivity of dairy cows.
View the original article here: Scientists advance the mapping of the barley genome
View the original article here: Indian farmers protest Monsanto GM corn field trial in Haryana – DigitalJournal.com
The Australian science site The Conversation recently carried a story from a scientist with CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, challenging what it says are the five biggest myths about the alleged dangers of GM technology. Now a scientist with Greenpeace International responds.
View the original article here: Debating the alleged dangers of genetically modified crops
Research scientists at Australia’s national science research agency are using a technique called gene silencing to “switch off” virus genes that make chickens susceptible to H5N1, the bird flu that has devastated livestock and killed 359 people worldwide since 2003.
New draft laws will compel industry to label food containing genetically modified (GM) ingredients. This comes after a protracted row between big food producers and consumer organisations over the issue of labelling, with many companies refusing to label on the grounds that the labelling law was ambiguous.
View the original article here: Draft changes to GM label laws published – Independent Online
View the original article here: Researchers unravel the first epigenomes of chronic lymphocytic …
Like much that transpires in politics, most of the anti-genetic engineering campaigns we’ve seen over the past 30 years are not what they seem; they are more propaganda than populism, with well-financed special interests conducting a highly organized assault on important, superior products and technologies.
