Human Genetics Features
The GLP tackles innovations in human genetics and biotechnology. We highlight the work of our own writers, as well as that of contributors from around the Web. The GLP does not take a position on genetics-related issues; any opinions expressed belong to the authors.
Categories include:
- CRISPR and gene editing
- Gene therapy
- Stem cell research
- Genetic diseases
- Synthetic biology
- Epigenetics
- Biodrugs (pharmacogenetics)
- Personal genomics
- Ancestry and evolution
- Ethics and regulations
Breaking the body’s ‘sugar code’ could refine our ability to predict, treat diseases
Key elements of arthritis, cancer, food allergies and aging are trapped within glycans, types of sugar in the human body ...
Synthetic biology mosquitoes: Pioneering solution emerges to counter fears over using ‘gene drives’ to control Zika
In fall 2015, scientists planned to release genetically engineered mosquitoes throughout the Florida Keys. These lab-bread insects are capable of ...
Sen. Elizabeth Warren controversy follow: Almost every American has a sliver of Native American ancestry
The reporting on the largest genetic study of American ancestry—claims that Americans are a genetic melting pot of white, black ...
How DNA health screening of pets can lead to tragic consequences
A lack of regulatory scrutiny has left pet owners and their companions vulnerable to misleading marketing and immature science ...
Are we ready for the artificial womb?
In the coming years, the obstacles to ectogenesis --development outside of a mother from fertilization to full-term infancy-- will be ...
CAR-T cell therapy and the promise of immune cells engineered to fight cancer
The National Cancer Institute estimates that more than 1.7 million people will be diagnosed with cancer this year. To cope ...
Using your body’s internal clock to offset those bad eating habits
When we eat late at night, it disrupts our circadian rhythm. Eating within an 8-12 hour time period could reset ...
Crime, violence and DNA: The many faces of MAOA, the so-called ‘warrior gene’
A near certainty whenever monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) rears its ugly head in popular science writing is that an ugly ...
Defining life: If it’s created in a lab, is it really alive?
Describing life is difficult and evasive. Will we fully understand life if we can create it through synthetic biology? ...
Gender and the brain: Are there hardwired differences between men and women?
The idea that genders are different in a neurological sense is picking up considerable momentum in the hard sciences. It could have ...
Is it time to rethink evolutionary timeline for Earth’s animals?
New research suggests that animal origins happened much earlier than previously thought ...
Viewpoint: Why consumer DNA tests are more dangerous than you might think
Commercial DNA testing isn’t just harmless entertainment. It’s keeping alive ideas that deserve to die ...
Mosquito massacre: Can we safely tackle malaria with a CRISPR gene drive?
CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing quickly decimated two caged populations of malaria-bearing mosquitoes (Anopheles gambiae) in a recent study, introducing a new ...
Rewiring the brain and what’s happening when we’re ‘thinking ourselves better’
A self-help skeptic is confronted with evidence — anecdotal and scientific — that we may be able to think ourselves ...
Race and genetics: How our ancestry both limits and exacerbates disease risks
Members of different ethnic groups living in the same region may have widely varying life expectancies. A wide range of ...
Understanding the brain’s record-keeping system
The brain has a temporary way to keep track of memories ...
When the nose never knows: Exploring the genetics behind a missing sense of smell
Imagine life without odors. Food tastes the same regardless of how congested your nasal passages are or how damaged your ...
Can big data fight cancer by identifying those genetically predisposed to disease?
Present-day cancer care is reactive. When an individual begins to have symptoms of cancer, a tumor has typically already formed ...
Why are humans so much smarter than other primates?
By counting the number of neurons in brains, one scientist revolutionized our view of why Homo sapiens and nonhuman primates ...
Sexual reproduction may not be the best evolutionary strategy. So why do we do it?
In many ways asexual reproduction is a better evolutionary strategy: only one parent is needed, and all of their genes ...
Things to consider before taking a genetic test for Alzheimer’s risk
Genetic testing is available to people who want to know if they carry a variant of a gene that confers ...
Do children have a right to know about a parent’s serious hereditary disease?
Genetic diagnosis is getting ever more sophisticated. But as doctors uncover diseases that are hereditary, who needs to know? Shaun ...
‘Voluntary euthanasia’: Are we ready to harvest organs while donors are still alive?
In the dystopian society of Nobel prizewinner Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, cloned people are raised to provide organs for ...
Viewpoint: Coffee cancer warning illustrates failure of California’s Prop 65 law
On August 29, the FDA threw its hat into California’s eternal does-or-doesn’t-coffee-cause-cancer fight. “Requiring a cancer warning on coffee, based ...
Using engineered gut bacteria to fight genetic disease
A Boston-based synthetic biology company is taking a novel approach to treating the rare genetic metabolic disorder Phenylketonuria. Synlogic uses ...
Why the promise of personalized medicine could fall short for minorities
African-Americans are underrepresented in large-scale genetic and neuroscience studies ...
Why those sleepless nights could increase your Alzheimer’s risk
New research suggests bad sleep causes a build-up of plaque associated with Alzheimer’s ...
National identity and what the genes of Aboriginal Australians tell us about ‘what it is to be human’
Recent genetic research suggests that Aboriginal Australians have lived on their island continent for at least 50,000 years (with some ...
