Day: November 15, 2012

Biosecurity concerns for new animal disease research lab

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For over 50 years the United States has carried out research on dangerous animal diseases at Plum Island, just off the coast of New York. However after 9/11 the Department of Homeland Security raised concerns about the suitability of the location and its vulnerability to terrorist attack.

After carrying out an exhaustive search for an alternative, the Department selected Manhattan, Kansas as its preferred location. The National Bio and Agro defence facility (NBAF) would be the first US lab able to research diseases like foot and mouth in large animals. But reviews have raised worries about virus escapes in the middle of cattle country.

Read the original article here: US high security bio lab faces uncertain future

UCSF Genetics Symposium: personalized medicine is the theme

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Personalized medicine advances arising from genetic discoveries were the primary focus of wide-ranging presentations at the UCSF Institute for Human Genetics  2012 Symposium on Nov. 5.

Speakers described clinical research that has resulted in the identification of gene mutations that often drive deadly breast cancers in black populations; explained how rare mutations responsible for devastating developmental defects in infants can now be discovered in studies of just a handful of individuals from affected families; offered a preview of results expected to emerge from studies of genes and environment in hundreds of thousands of patients through a Kaiser Permanente-UCSF project; and described technical advances that continue to increase scientists’ ability to identify links between DNA and disease.

Brain gene separates humans from apes

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An international team of researchers have discovered a new gene that helps explain how humans evolved from apes. Scientists say the gene – called miR-941 – appears to have played a crucial role in human brain development and may shed light on how we learned to use tools and language. Researchers say it is the first time that a new gene – carried only by humans and not by apes – has been shown to have a specific function within the human body.

View the original article here: New brain gene born, study shows

Alzheimer’s tied to mutation harming immune response

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In a surprising coincidence, two groups of researchers working from entirely different starting points have converged on a mutated gene involved in another aspect of Alzheimer’s disease: the immune system’s role in protecting against the disease. The mutation is suspected of interfering with the brain’s ability to prevent the buildup of plaque.

The discovery, researchers say, provides clues to how and why the disease progresses. The gene, known as TREM2, is only the second found to increase Alzheimer’s risk substantially in older people.

View the original article here: Alzheimer’s Tied to Mutation Harming Immune Response

Debunking the “humans are getting dumber” study

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A new study published in Trends in Geneticsis suggesting that humans are slowly but surely losing their intellectual and emotional capacities. According to Stanford University’s Gerald Crabtree, humanity peaked in intelligence about 2,000 years ago, and we’ve been heading downhill since then, owing to genetic mutations that aren’t being selected against. It’s possible that Crabtree is right — but his argument may be a moot point.

View the original article here: Are humans getting dumber?

Hacking the President’s DNA

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The U.S. government is surreptitiously collecting the DNA of world leaders, and is reportedly protecting that of Barack Obama. Decoded, these genetic blueprints could provide compromising information. In the not-too-distant future, they may provide something more as well—the basis for the creation of personalized bioweapons that could take down a president and leave no trace.

View the original article here: Hacking the President’s DNA

Animal rights activists challenge patents on genetically engineered chimps

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Animal rights activists in Germany are contesting three patents on genetically engineered chimpanzees granted this year by the European Patent Office (EPO) in Munich. One of the challenges was filed today; the other two will follow shortly, says Ruth Tippe, a spokesperson for a German advocacy group called No Patents on Life.

“It is incomprehensible why the patent office would grant patents on these animals,” Tippe told ScienceInsider in a phone conversation minutes after filing papers with EPO to oppose the first of the three patents.

View the original post here: E.U. Patents on Transgenic Chimps Challenged

Mapped pig genome may aid medical research, food production

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Scientists have mapped the genome of the domestic pig in a project that could enhance the animal’s use for meat production and the testing of drugs for human disease.

A study published in science journal Nature identified genes that could be linked with illnesses suffered by farmed pigs, providing a reference tool for selective breeding to increase their resistance to disease.

View the original article here: Scientists go the whole hog in genome mapping

Company wants to use GM insects to protect crops

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Whether you like them or not, genetically modified ingredients are hard to avoid in the food supply–they’re found in most processed foods in the U.S. and elsewhere. These crops–generally things like cotton, soy, and corn–are tweaked in labs so that they’re immune to pest-killing products made by companies like Monsanto. The pesticides used on the crops can be harmful to humans, and scientists have questioned the safety of modifying crops in the first place. A British company called Oxitec has a plan to ditch pesticides and GMO crops, instead using genetic modification to eliminate the bugs that feed on certain crops like broccoli, cabbage, and fruit. What could possibly go wrong?

View the original article here: Are Genetically Modified Insects The Next Step For The GMO Industry?

Book: How synthetic biology will reinvent nature and ourselves

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In the future, genetically modified organisms could be making our medicines, our fuel, our housewares, our houses — and they could even help us remake ourselves. All that may sound like science-fiction, but the future is already arriving, in the form of the bioplastic bottle you may be holding in your hand. Harvard geneticist George Church lays it all out in a new book, “Regenesis: How Synthetic Biology Will Reinvent Nature and Ourselves,” written with Ed Regis.

View the original article here: How synthetic biology will change us

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