Personalized Medicine
Do biobanks that accept anonymous DNA have a responsibility to inform donors when they discover a treatable genetic defect?
What should happen when researchers, while sequencing a participant’s DNA as part of a large study, discover gene variants that ...
Breast and ovarian cancer BRCA genes now linked to prostate and pancreatic cancers, even in men
Faulty versions of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes are well known to increase the risk of breast cancer in men ...
‘Deleting’ disease? How gene editing and transgenic GMO technology can cut disorders before they are inherited
What has now been proven possible was once the stuff of science fiction dreams. CRISPR has shown it can successfully ...
More confirmation that people who have these Neanderthal genes are better protected against severe COVID
The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has now entered its third year. Since its inception, it has infected people differently ...
Viewpoint: Did the New York Times blunder in its analysis of non-invasive prenatal blood test (NIPT) limitations?
On January 1st, The New York Times website prominently featured a substantial piece of investigative journalism about a relatively new ...
Viewpoint: Do NIPTs — non-invasive prenatal blood tests to find rare disorders — work? New York Times investigation raises doubts
Silicon Valley technology has made [a wondrous promise] to expectant mothers: that a few vials of their blood, drawn in ...
Podcast: Could the food we eat be fueling a surge in autoimmune diseases?
Could the food we eat and the air we breathe be damaging our immune systems? The number of people with ...
How a teenager’s blood and genetically modified mice are key tools in pioneering potential autism treatments
Jake Litvag leaned in for a closer look as a lab mouse scurried around an enclosure, stopping to sniff a ...
Did you lose your sense of smell or taste after catching COVID? Blame it on part on your genes
A study published [January 17] in the journal Nature Genetics identified a genetic risk factor associated with the loss of ...
Pass on only the positive traits? How IVF can stop genetic diseases from reaching offspring
In vitro fertilization (IVF), widely known as a way to help infertile couples have babies, has taken on another remarkable ...
Cancerland? A wider array of cancer pre-screening and hyper-early detection methods are arriving. Here’s why that’s problematic
Cancer is appropriately perceived as a disease of risk: genetic or heritable risks, lifestyle risks and the unknown risks of ...
Genetic screening can reveal your likelihood of suffering from a deadly disease — but that doesn’t mean you can’t change the odds
Ruby had inherited a faulty gene from her father, the one that had caused his death aged 36 from a ...
Couples undergoing IVF can get genetic testing to prevent birth defects
Many families carry some defective genes that can give rise to known genetic disorders. Some of these are incompatible with ...
Genome sequencing for newborns can save lives. Should governments mandate it?
Genomics England, a government owned company, recently announced a pilot program of whole genome sequencing to screen for genetic diseases ...
What worms and fruit flies can tell us about living past 100
To figure out how to slow (or even stop) ageing, we need to know why our bodies do it in ...
There could be a genetic link between your mental health and where you choose to live
In a study published in October in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, researchers find one’s genetic risk for mental health conditions ...
A lucky segment of the population is genetically immune to the COVID virus. What can we learn from them?
In March 2020, Eleanor A. had been sick for several days. Thinking it might be the new respiratory illness going ...
Drugs, sex and DNA: Your moral attitudes are partly baked into your genes
Few hallmarks of the 1960s counterculture stand out like sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll—elements of a "lifestyle" that Life magazine once ...
Gene variation common in South Asians found to double risk of dying from COVID
Scientists identified a specific gene that doubles the risk of respiratory failure from Covid-19 and may go some way to ...
Artificial Intelligence can accurately identify babies’ rare genetic disorders
An artificial intelligence (AI)-based technology rapidly diagnoses rare disorders in critically ill children with high accuracy, according to a report ...
Are DNA from at-home ancestry tests private? Not always, and some states are cracking down
If you’ve ever spit into a plastic tube or swabbed your cheek and mailed your saliva away to learn about ...
Living longer: Genes set limits, but diet and exercise can extend lifespans
Death comes for us all. But recent research points to interventions in diet, exercise and mental outlook that could slow ...
14 genes that cause obesity identified, opening the door to targeted, personalized treatments
Promising news in the effort to develop drugs to treat obesity: University of Virginia scientists have identified 14 genes that ...
Do broccoli, kale or brussel sprouts taste bitter to your kids? Mouth microbiome could explain why many children dislike brassica vegetables
Brassica plants contain a compound called S-methyl-L-cysteine sulfoxide, that contributes to their distinctive smell. When this compound is mixed with ...
The first child selected as an embryo on the basis of its ‘polygenic risk score’ is now 16 months old
The first child acknowledged to have been selected as an embryo on the basis of its “polygenic risk score” is ...
I have a progressive genetic disease. Should I get a test to determine how severe it is?
[Charcot-Marie-Tooth, or] CMT disease runs in my family, and many of my relatives have chosen not to be officially diagnosed ...
Life is a genetic lottery — but that’s a far cry from saying our traits are determined or fixed
People are often uncomfortable or anxious about genetics. "They think genetics means our outcomes are determined and that it doesn't ...