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.
Biotech a drug discovery engine
We sometimes hear about diminishing returns in cancer research and development in the big pharmaceutical companies. They tell us, traditional ...
Do obesity genes influence our eating habits?
Is there an obesity gene? Or at least a genetic trigger that drives some people to eat more than others? ...
Researchers find a way to delay aging of stem cells
Now, researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have uncovered a series of biological events that implicate the stem ...
Stem cells curb chronic pain in mice, will it work for humans?
Replacing dead or dysfunctional nerve cells with new, healthy ones derived from stem cells eases chronic pain in mice, a ...
Stem cell function loss can be delayed by finding their niche
Stem cells often lose their effectiveness when removed from their normal microenvironment in the body -- the "niche", as it's ...
Size and stickiness predict stem cell future
The size and consistency of fat-derived stem cells can predict what type of cell they will become—findings that could lead ...
Study finds voter genetics may predict election outcomes
New studies led by researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) shows specific genetic traits may predispose people to ...
Genetic marker may predict smoking quantity in African Americans
In a step toward understanding possible genetic differences in smoking behaviors, a team of researchers co-led by SRI International has ...
How environmental effects regulate genes
Swiss researchers provide evidence that a protein in the cell nucleus responds to environmental stimuli like a kind of sensor, ...
From stem cell to brain cell: New technique mimics the brain
A new technique that converts stem cells into brain cells has been developed by researchers at Lund University. The method ...
Stem cells to optimize match between patient and medication
One of the biggest barriers to the development of new medical therapies is the cost of taking a new drug ...
Radical life extension is already here, but we’re doing it wrong
Over the past twenty years, biologists have begun to set their sights on the aging process itself, in part by ...
Stem cells to optimize match between patient and medication
One of the biggest barriers to the development of new medical therapies is the cost of taking a new drug ...
Rapid DNA sequencing may soon be routine part of each patient’s medical record
Rapid DNA sequencing may soon become a routine part of each individual's medical record, providing enormous information previously sequestered in ...
Mechanical properties of stem cells can foretell what they will become
To become better healers, tissue engineering need a timely and reliable way to obtain enough raw materials: cells that either ...
Scientists deploy genetics in search for bigfoot
Scientists are turning to genetic testing to see if they can prove the existence of the elusive hairy humanoid known ...
Personalized genetic testing not ready says medical group
Getting personalized genetic tests that can pinpoint your risk of developing a number of diseases like cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer's or ...
Could stem cells cure MS?
Human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) have become a popular potential therapy for numerous autoimmune and neurological disorders. But while these ...
Does Transhumanism create new social relations?
After a near decade of following the spread of Transhumanism, I finally began a PhD project to find out some ...
What rights should you have to your own DNA?
Things you own: Your clothes. Your car. Your body parts. Your DNA? A new bill under consideration by the the ...
Central nervous system stem cells shed light on mechanism that controls cell division
Animals consist of many distinct cell types, all of which originate during development from a single cell: the fertilized egg ...
Delivery system for gene therapy may help treat Arthritis
A DNA-covered submicroscopic bead used to deliver genes or drugs directly into cells to treat disease appears to have therapeutic ...
California considers DNA privacy law
California lawmakers are weighing a bill aimed at protecting their state's citizens from surreptitious genetic testing but scientists are voicing ...
Seeing color traced back to genetic mutations
Why do we see the colors we do? Some of it goes back to the types of color-absorbing pigments that ...
New drug shows we must overcome taboos about stem-cell research
I'll be the first to admit that stem-cell research, as we typically view it, troubles me in many ways. The ...
New approach to ‘spell checking’ gene sequences
A PhD student from CSIRO and the University of Queensland has found a better way to 'spell check' gene sequences ...
Placental stem cells with key therapeutic properties can be harvested
Scientists at Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute (CHORI) led by Vladimir Serikov, MD, PhD, and Frans Kuypers, PhD, report in ...
