Personalized Medicine
A height gene? One for smarts? Don’t bet on it.
As I skimmed my emails one morning, one stopped me in my tracks. "Is overeating in your genes? Take an ...
What is a ‘healthy’ microbiome?
A group of culturally isolated villagers in the Amazon may hold the key to showing us what a healthy microbiome, ...
23andme finds genes for asthma (with hay fever)
23andMe, the leading personal genetics company, has participated in the first ever genome-wide association study of the combined asthma-with-hay fever ...
Entrepreneur of next-gen gene therapy
If you’re in the business of drug discovery, you’ve got to be ready for the long haul. One recent study ...
$1000 Genomes for $2000
Illumina claimed they can achieve the $1000 genome at the annual JP Morgan investor conference when they introduced their new ...
Old brains may be slow, but still smart
Modern memory tests are selling old brains short. It could be that older, wiser heads are so chock full of ...
Corporate DNA testing could put our genetic privacy at risk
There is another aspect of 23andMe’s business, one which has received less attention from the media (with the exception of ...
The complex and confusing genetics of schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is even more complex than already believed, with rare gene mutations contributing to the disorder. In two studies published ...
Number of home DNA testing kits in Britain doubled in last two years
Sales of DNA tests for everything from the risk of developing life-threatening diseases to catching out cheating partners are booming. The ...
Direct-to-consumer genetic testing just not ready for prime time
Stories keep coming in from people who signed up for genetic testing and received strange, conflicting, or just plain wrong ...
Is 2014 the year of the thousand-dollar genome?
For this “TechKnow,” our contributors were given the option to test their genetics through a mail-order DNA kit from personal ...
My risk-benefit ratio for personal genetics
Personal genomics is going to play a role in future medical care. If 23andMe can't provide medical results to customers, ...
The $1000 human genome: A reality check
Illumina, the leading maker of DNA sequencers, recently announced that it will soon begin producing a new piece of equipment ...
FDA backs genetic screening, but struggles against ‘wild west’ of consumer genomics
The FDA's tussle with personal genetics company 23andMe may make the headlines. But in many other ways the agency is ...
‘Swiss-army-knife’ molecule could help researchers assess how cells really work
Researchers have discovered a first-of-its-kind way to isolate RNA from live cells in their natural tissue microenvironment without damaging nearby ...
What will the $1,000 genome mean?
Sydney’s Garvan Institute is promoting its acquisition of an Illumina machine which it says can sequence the whole human genome ...
Will public trust in personalized medicine suffer, an ethicist wonders
23andMe's personal DNA test kits have helped increase public interest in personalized medicine. But after the FDA demanded they stop ...
How will parents deal with fetal genome screening?
Today’s genetic technologies are not yet a crystal ball for seeing a child’s future, but doctors are closer than ever ...
$1000 genome may finally be in sight
Despite all the talk, no company has yet met the goal of sequencing a human genome for $1,000 or less ...
Gene therapy successful in treating leukemia. Can it be used to fight other cancers as well?
A new cancer treatment pioneered at the University of Pennsylvania has generated a lot of excitement in the field and ...
Injecting DNA in the brain: What’s the promise of gene therapy for Parkinson’s disease?
Gene therapy has been used to successfully treat a number of challenging diseases, such as leukemia. Now, scientists are hoping ...
Regulation of genetics-based medicine likely to spark controversy in 2014
Many of 2013's biggest medical stories, including the Supreme Court's ruling on Myriad Genetics and the FDA's regulation of 23andMe, ...
Rumors of the death of consumer genomics greatly exaggerated
Direct-to-consumer genetic testing can offer exciting new ways of understanding ourselves and so far we've only seen the tip of ...
Rumors of the death of consumer genomics greatly exaggerated
Direct-to-consumer genetic testing can offer exciting new ways of understanding ourselves and so far we've only seen the tip of ...
Disruptive genomics: Is China’s BGI the epicenter of the world’s biotech revolution?
What might be the consequences when we isolate the genes for IQ? Is cheap sequencing a good thing? Is there ...
Media missed important message when covering Angelina Jolie’s preventative mastectomy
Angelina Jolie's preventative double mastectomy was one of the biggest genetics stories of 2013. But, new studies show, the media ...
Future pharma: Led by US scientists, glow-in-the-dark pigs bred in China
Pigs engineered with jellyfish DNA to emit a greenish glow in ultraviolet light are a key step in developing effective, ...