Daily Human Digest
Every day, the staff of the Genetic Literacy Project scours the Web for stories on a range of human genetics issues, including gene editing, regulations and bioethics, gene therapy, epigenetics, personal genomics, evolution, ancestry and artificial intelligence. We publish excerpts of those stories and encourage our readers to visit the original publications for the complete stories.
CRISPR gene editing commercialization divides former colleagues
The money men have moved in on a new technique for editing the human genome that promises to revolutionise the ...
Scientists create embryonic stem cell lines using adult cells, but pro-lifers still critical
Two new studies report the successful creation of embryonic stem cells using a human egg and a patient's DNA. The ...
Mother’s diet during conception may lead to epigenetic consequences and disease
A study following mothers in rural Gambia, where the rainy and dry season make for major seasonal changes in diet ...
Researcher claims one gene can determine which sports you could excel at
There are numerous genetic labs that offer a test to help determine an athletic gene to see what sports one ...
Study aims to measure impact of genes vs. environment during fetal development
A recent study led by A*STAR's Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences (SICS) found that genetics as well as the environment ...
GINA’s sixth birthday: Does legislation protecting our genetic information mean anything?
The Genetic Nondiscrimination Act nominally protects against nefarious use of genetic information by employers and health insurance companies, but it ...
Artists and biologists team up to push boundaries of synthetic biology
The Synthetic Aesthetics project argues that synthetic biology needs a healthy dose of novelty and imagination. To this end, the ...
Aging-related loss of Y chromosome reponsible for some cancers
Though overall life expectancy varies around the globe, it is true for pretty much any country you look at that ...
Bacteria poised to acquire antibiotic resistance genes at quickening pace
The post-antibiotic era is near, according to a report released today by the World Health Organization (WHO). The decreasing effectiveness ...
Humans overlook bacteria in genomic research
Decades after the genomics revolution, half of known eukaryote lineages still remain unstudied at the genomic level--with the field displaying ...
Why no treatment for mutation that causes alcohol-digesting enzyme deficiency in Asian populations?
Between the two of us, my roommate and I have the, uhh, digestive problems that are more common in people ...
Dating the origin of our genes
Each of us carries just over 20,000 genes that encode everything from the keratin in our hair down to the ...
Adult stem cells made into insulin producing cells
For the second time in recent weeks researchers said they used cloning technology on adult tissue, rather than from a ...
Open-source Personal Genome Project looks at all aspects of human experience
Abigail Wark wants to see your areolas. But only if you are a participant in the Personal Genome Project, a ...
Effect of large mammal extinction: Humans become preferred vectors
Save the Rhinos! Save the Elephants! Save the humans?! It seems strange to be connecting our own fate to that ...
DNA test claims to determine village of origin of our ancestors
For centuries, scientists have sought a biological method for tracing a person's geographic origin. Now, a group of researchers has ...
Pre-conception diet affects child’s DNA
A woman's diet at the time of conception might cause lasting changes in the DNA of her children, potentially influencing ...
Privacy for our electronic genomes: Who’s responsible? What’s at stake?
The level of security and anonymity provided to genetic information depends on the research project, direct to consumer company or ...
Drug developed first in mice may help elderly keep muscle mass
In 1997, scientist Se-Jin Lee genetically engineered "Mighty Mice" with twice as much muscle as regular rodents. Now, pharmaceutical companies ...
Neanderthals and modern humans: It’s personal
I never met my paternal grandfather. He died of the Spanish flu in 1919 at the age of 30, before ...
Stem cell scientist outlines his top five challeges for embryonic stem cell nuclear transfer
It was intriguing last week to read about another advance in somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT)-based therapeutic cloning of human ...
‘Electronic genomes’ vulnerable to attack
In a digital world, even our most sensitive information is vulnerable to hacking. In the case of DNA, people can ...
Engineered skin cells may replace animals in cosmetic testing
An advanced 3D skin model developed at King's College London (KCL) may reduce the need for animal models in cosmetic ...
Stem cell trial for ALS patients approved
BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the start of a mid-stage clinical trial of its ...
DNA contamination implicates suspect in murder committed after death
It was a real-life mystery that could have come straight from the pages of a modern-day detective novel. A woman ...
Gene threapy postdoc guilty of misconduct, has six papers retracted
A former postdoc who studied gene therapy at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York is guilty of ...
Population size may be clue to why Neanderthals suffered and Neo-African humans survived
A new paper in PNAS, Patterns of coding variation in the complete exomes of three Neandertals, reiterates what seems to ...
