Month: November 2012

Researchers create a fly to study how a normal cell turns cancerous

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The wing of a fruit fly may hold the key to unraveling the genetic and molecular events that transform a normal cell into a cancerous one. The study, conducted on Drosophila melanogaster by scientists at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) and led by ICREA researcher Marco Milán, has reproduced each of the steps known to take place when a healthy cell turns cancerous. The researchers have thus provided an inexpensive and effective model that will allow the scientific community to scrutinize the genes and molecules involved in each step. Given that the vast majority of genes in Drosophila are conserved in mice and humans, the results obtained may also lead researchers to perform similar studies in more clinically relevant models. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA (PNAS) has published the study online this week.

“This has allowed us to propose something that hasn’t yet been possible to study in depth and that now should be taken into serious consideration. Is genomic instability the cause of tumorigenesis?” says Milán.

View the original article here: Researchers create a fly to study how a normal cell turns cancerous – HealthCanal.com

GM corn in Mexico: Attack on the heart of maize biodiversity

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Mexico, the homeland of corn and cradle of its genetic diversity, is waiting with baited breath for an important decision that could seriously compromise its agricultural biodiversity. Since 2009, when [Mexico] dropped [a] decade-long moratorium on GMOs, 177 authorizations have already been granted for sowing transgenic corn in Mexico. Now the country is waiting for the outcome of a case whose dimensions and potential impact make it significantly more serious.

“Corn’s genetic heritage is an intangible asset for all of humanity,” said Carlo Petrini, Slow Food’s president. “We must avoid it being put at risk to further the private interests of certain multinationals. We hope that the Mexican government follows the precautionary principle adopted by Europe and other countries, including recently Kenya.”

View the original article here: Attack on the Heart of Biodiversity

India’s GM Food Hypocrisy

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While modern crop engineering faces endless red tape, more slipshod cross-breeding gets a free pass.

India has enjoyed signal successes with genetic engineering in agriculture. But today the nation’s relationship with this critical biotechnology is in total disarray, the victim of activists’ scaremongering and government pandering.

View the original article here: India’s GM Food Hypocrisy

Is evolution reducing our intelligence?

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James R. Flynn’s observation that IQ scores experienced dramatic gains from generation to generation throughout the 20th century has been cited so often, even in popular media, that it is becoming a cocktail party talking point. Next stop a New Yorker cartoon. (An article about Flynn and the Flynn effect has already been published in The New Yorker.)

A recent report in Trends in Genetics (part 1 and part 2) takes a bleaker view of our cognitive future—one that foresees the trend line proceeding inexorably downward. Gerald Crabtree, a biologist at Stanford University, has put forward a provocative hypothesis that our cushy modern existence—absent the ceaseless pressures of natural selection experienced during the Paleolithic—makes us susceptible to the slow creep of random genetic mutations in the the 2000 to 5000 genes needed to ensure that our intellectual and emotional makeup remains intact. The implications of this argument are that we as a species of the genus Homo are over many generations slowly losing our sapiens.

View the original article here: Homo (Sans) Sapiens: Is Dumb and Dumber Our Evolutionary Destiny?

Proposition 37: Gone, but probably not forgotten

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California’s Proposition 37, which would have mandated the labeling of many grocery products containing genetically-engineered ingredients, was defeated by voters on Nov. 6. The setback for the organic industry has temporarily discouraged the spread of this measure to other states. But it isn’t over by a long shot.

View the original article here: Proposition 37 – gone, but probably not forgotten

Era of personalized medicine bears tangible fruit

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The Personalized Medicine World Conference, PMWC 2013, to be held on January 28-29, 2013 in Silicon Valley, provides real-world insights into the progress of personalized medicine. Participants can join the discussion and interact with key opinion leaders who are framing and forming the future of this rapidly changing industry.

View the original article here: How the Era of Personalized Medicine is Bearing Fruit

Food radicals will fail in court

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Jayson Lusk is correct that radical activists will likely continue their efforts to lobby state governments to require labeling of certain “genetically engineered” foods (“The Food Police Are Routed at the Ballot Box,” op-ed, Nov. 20). However, whatever such requirements state legislatures or electorates attempt to impose, those efforts are destined to fail in the courts.

View the original article here: Food Radicals Will Fail in Court

Texas representative files bill to prohibit human cloning in universities

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More than 10 years after the Human Cloning Prohibition Act failed to pass at the federal level, state Rep. Richard Raymond, D-Laredo, has filed a bill proposing the prohibition of human cloning at institutions of higher education. Raymond’s bill would amend the Texas Education Code to prohibit cloning of humans and create a civil penalty of $10 million for each violation at an institution.

Institutions that violate the possible law would become ineligible to receive state funds, according to the text of the bill.

View the original article here: State representative files bill to prohibit human cloning in universities – UT The Daily Texan

Watermelon genome data may aid in creating disease-resistant breeds

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An international team has produced a high-quality draft genome for watermelon, using the sequence as a jumping-off point for more extensive genomic and transcriptomic analyses of the plant. Whereas several commonly cultivated watermelon accessions seem to have fairly low genetic diversity, the diversity within wild watermelon plants remains quite high, they found, suggesting that these plants might serve as a source to augment the genetic wherewithal of watermelon crops.

View the original article here: Researchers Report on Findings from Watermelon Genome

Stem cells used to improve drug development

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Johns Hopkins researchers report concrete steps in the use of human stem cells to test how diseased cells respond to drugs. Their success highlights a pathway toward faster, cheaper drug development for some genetic illnesses, as well as the ability to pre-test a therapy’s safety and effectiveness on cultured clones of a patient’s own cells.

View the original article here: Use of Stem Cells in Personalized Medicine

Court battles over GMOs in Wildlife Refuges

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A judge recently ordered Fish and Wildlife Services to halt the planting of genetically engineered crops on the national wildlife land in the Southeast Region. Similar results eluded environmental groups in a related lawsuit over GMO use on refuge lands in the Midwest Region.

View the original article here: Court Battles Over GMOs in Southeast and Midwest Wildlife Refuges

Mexico postpones GMO corn plantings

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A temporary halt on the planting of GMO corn took place on Thursday, Nov. 22 as it was announced that proposed plantings of the highly controversial genetically modified maize were halted in Mexico.
The news means that the successor’s government of president-elect Enrique Pena Nieto will now handle the issue sometime in the spring of 2013 according to Reuters.

View the original article here: Mexico GMO Corn Plantings Postponed as 7,000 Years of Agriculture Hangs in the Balance

Non-invasive prenatal test for at-risk mothers recommended by US medical society

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Non-invasive prenatal screening for certain abnormalities in fetal chromosomes should be offered to at-risks mothers, recommends the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). The opinion has been well-received by companies that offer the technology for this test.

View the original article here: Non-invasive prenatal test for at-risk mothers recommended by US medical society

Engineered marine algae could expand biofuel production

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Biologists at UC San Diego have demonstrated for the first time that marine algae can be just as capable as fresh water algae in producing biofuels.

The scientists genetically engineered marine algae to produce five different kinds of industrially important enzymes and say the same process they used could be employed to enhance the yield of petroleum-like compounds from these salt water algae. Their achievement is detailed in a paper published online in the current issue of the scientific journal Algal Research.

View the original article here: Bioengineered marine algae expands environments where biofuels can be produced

Organic farmers condemn scientific method

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If you don’t believe in miracles like that organic produce is nutritionally superior or that you can taste GMOs in food, the National Organic Coalition thinks you are on the take from slightly bigger Big Ag. Even if you are the Obama administration’s USDA, the $29 billion organic food industry thinks you are For Sale. 

View the original article here: Organic Farmers Condemn Scientific Method

Kenya issues blanket ban on GM food imports

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The recent Cabinet ban on the importation of GM foods citing health risks was unfortunate. It was clear proof that we are still sceptical about the role of science in economic growth. I fully support the Cabinet’s concern on the rising cases of cancer. However, this should be investigated holistically without pointing fingers at GM foods. It should be noted that genetic modification, which is the application of scientific knowledge to transfer beneficial genetic traits from one species to another to obtain desired results, is not alien science.

View the original article here: Blanket ban on GM food imports overlooked benefits of science

Should synthetic biology be open-source?

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Synthetic biology, the newer, cooler branch of genetic engineering, has gained a lot of attention in recent years because of its innovative take on biology, as well as for its similarities with the hugely successful software industry. But synthetic biology still struggles in one key area where the software industry excels: open access to information. Synthetic biology could easily be buried beneath patents protecting proprietary information, much like the pharmaceutical and biotech industries today. And while computer science and synthetic biology aren’t identical (there will likely be a lot less on the consumer-facing end from engineered DNA), a more open-source model within synthetic biology could expedite the experimentation process, allowing researchers to focus on the engineering aspects and not time-consuming DNA synthesis — ultimately bringing some of these ungodly sounding new life-forms out from labs and into the commercial world.

View the original article here: How to Code A Life

Science 2.0 founder Hank Campbell responds to Neo-eugenics

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Eugenics, once discredited as part of the first wave of social authoritarian progressives that trampled free will for women, handicapped people and minorities, is attempting a 21st century comeback. 

One advantage society has now is that the first time eugenics rolled around, there were a whole lot of people with very little education who were steam-rolled by self-styled progressive elites, including a Supreme Court justice named Oliver Wendell Holmes who could turn his bigotry into law. As much as we can complain about science literacy today, it is far ahead of what it was even 25 years ago and well beyond a century back.  That debate about the line between good eugenics and bad, rather than blind acceptance of the consensus, will be vital to a policy that makes sense.

Additional Resources:

 View the original article here: Genetic Literacy Project On Neo-Eugenics

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