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.
Is choosing a sperm donor a roll of the genetic dice?
Sharine and Brian Kretchmar of Yukon, Okla., tried a number of medical treatments to conceive a second child. After a ...
Long-held genetic theory doesn’t quite make the grade, biologists find
New York University biologists have discovered new mechanisms that control how proteins are expressed in different regions of embryos, while ...
Study shows how mitochondrial genes are passed from mother to child
Research conducted at the Oregon National Primate Research Center at Oregon Health & Science University helps answer some long-standing questions ...
Pluristem stem cells save girl’s life
Pluristem Therapeutics Ltd. (Nasdaq:PSTI; DAX: PJT: PLTR)has announced that a seven year-old girl suffering from an aplastic bone marrow whose ...
Sourcing stem cells from breast milk
A solution to the ethical dilemma of using human embryonic stem cells to treat human diseases could be staring us ...
Should we outlaw genetic discrimination?
The late US law Professor Paul Miller reflected recently that Beethoven, Stephen Hawking and Elton John were examples of individuals ...
Environmental influence on epigenetics
It is called epigenetics. This is where at the microscopic level the genes should function normal but something in the ...
Stem cells shield can protect patients from chemotherapy
It may be possible to use "stem cell shielding" to protect the body from the damaging effects of chemotherapy, early ...
Wolf found in New Brunswick for first time in 150 years, testing confirms
Genetic testing has confirmed that an animal fatally shot last month by a hunter in northern New Brunswick was a ...
FDA approves experimental stem cell therapy to help deaf ear repair itself
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recently approved a groundbreaking trial by the University of Texas Medical School at ...
Going hostile with $2.6 billion Human Genome offer
GlaxoSmithKline will take its $2.6 billion bid for long-time partner Human Genome Sciences direct to shareholders this week, after its ...
As gene mapping nears $1,000, will it improve our health?
The cost of mapping a person's full genetic profile has been dropping quickly. Now, doctors are struggling with a new ...
Tilghman reflects on DNA study
A solution to the ethical dilemma of using human embryonic stem cells to treat human diseases could be staring us ...
Fighting breed-related diseases
The refinement of purebred dogs over the past four or five centuries has created interesting versions of Canis familiaris, such ...
Researchers report a gene-therapy success
For a quarter of a century, gene therapy has been stymied, largely because the patient's immune system attacks the treatment ...
Geneticist develops tool to identify genes important in disease, tailoring individual treatment
Though the human genome has been sequenced, scientists are still trying to figure out how the accomplishment can help people, ...
Google founder targets cure for Parkinson’s disease
Sergey Brin, the 38-year-old co- founder of Google Inc. (GOOG), is making strides in his quest to find a cure ...
University study finds mixed reception of genetic testing
Researchers at Loyola University Chicago’s Stritch School of Medicine have found that patients see both benefits and risks from direct-to-consumer ...
Toothless no more- Researchers using stem cells to grow teeth
It may be hard to remember what it was like to lose a tooth as a child, but many adults ...
Does patenting genes stifle innovation and health care access?
Three years in the making, the now highly publicized American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit against Myriad Genetics is still hanging ...
Risk and DNA: In search of the money gene
What makes someone want to start a business? That was what the young economist Philipp Koellinger was trying to figure ...
International study hopes to identify genetic markers to predict response to antidepressants
A group of research centers spanning five continents is in the middle of a clinical trial intended to identify genetic ...
Genetics of homosexuality: “Don’t ask, don’t tell, don’t publish”?
Critics of homosexuals portray it as a “deviant” lifestyle choice and a violation of God’s will. Some religious conservatives argue ...
Enzyme corrects more than one million faults in DNA replication
Scientists from the Medical Research Council (MRC) Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine (IGMM) at the University of Edinburgh have ...
Test-tube’ babies have more birth defects?
Test-tube babies have higher rates of birth defects, and doctors have long wondered: Is it because of certain fertility treatments ...
Minnesotans weigh pros and cons of breakthrough genetic testing technology
Lynn is a Minneapolis artist, inspired by international science. “I have a real curiosity,” she says, as a string of ...
What is life? Follow the bits
The debate over the definition of life is getting messier and messier, but one of the pioneers on the biochemical ...
