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.
Scientists published Henrietta Lacks’ genome without the consent of her family
The following is an excerpt. In 1951, Henrietta Lacks, a poor black mother of five living near Baltimore, died from ...
Gene therapy cures leukaemia in eight days
The following is an excerpt. Within just eight days of starting a novel gene therapy, David Aponte's "incurable" leukaemia had ...
Bioinformaticians share their own DNA in personal genomics textbook
The following is an edited excerpt. When bioinformaticians Joel Dudley and Konrad Karczewski set out to write a new text ...
Old mice, young blood: Reprogrammed stem cells rejuvinate blood
The following is an edited excerpt. The blood of young and old people differs. In an article published recently in ...
How a homely lemur’s genome may help save it
The following is an edited excerpt. With its wide-set yellow eyes, oversize ears and long, skeletal fingers, the aye-aye is ...
The Henrietta Lacks genome: Consent, trust, and common decency
The following is an edited excerpt. In today’s New York Times, Skloot commentson a recently published paper (PDF) detailing the complete genomic DNA sequence of ...
The genetic information you didn’t ask for
Geneticists are urging doctors who sequence a patient's genome to also test them for 24 genetic conditions, and to alert ...
Cold-case prosecutors seek DNA from dead California inmates
The following is an edited excerpt. Opening a new frontier for solving cold cases, California prosecutors are hunting for DNA ...
Schizophrenia about genetics
The following is an edited excerpt. The genetics of schizophrenia is a fertile if fraught topic. But I won’t be discussing that ...
Who wants to live alongside sabre-toothed tigers?
The following is an excerpt. A few weeks back I chanced across a post by Carla Sinclair at BoingBoing in which she ...
Gene therapy could treat cancer
The following is an excerpt. A clinical trial using a patient's own immune system to produce remissions in adults with ...
Mutations behind inflammatory disease were an adaptation
The following is an excerpt. Multiple sclerosis, Crohn's disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and other inflammatory diseases may result from mutated genes that were once positive ...
Pigmentation: the simplest of complex traits not so simple?
The following is an excerpt. One of the pitfalls about talking about genetics, especially human genetics, is that the public wants ...
Intense terahertz radiation causes DNA damage and repair
The following is an excerpt. Short yet powerful bursts of terahertz radiation can damage DNA and also increase the production ...
DNA damage occurs as part of normal brain activity
The following is an excerpt. Scientists have long known that DNA damage occurs in every cell, accumulating as we age ...
Doctors should tell patients about some — not all — unexpected genetic findings
The following is an excerpt. On Thursday [21 March 2013], the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics recommended that doctors tell ...
Enzymes swap DNA information with exotic molecules
The following is an edited excerpt. The discovery of the Rosetta Stone resolved a longstanding puzzle, permitting the translation of ...
The super protein that can cut DNA and revolutionize genetic engineering
The following is an edited excerpt. When scientists Phillipe Horvath and Rodolphe Barrangou set out to find a better way ...
Disease-fighters disrupt mosquito’s genes with molecular scissors
The following is an edited excerpt. Scientists at Virginia Tech have disrupted the genes that control eye color in mosquitoes, ...
The genetics of emergent phenotypes
The following is an edited excerpt. There is now compelling evidence that disorders like epilepsy, schizophrenia and autism can be caused by ...
Genetically engineered immune cells rapidly clear leukemia tumors
The following is an edited excerpt. The new therapy for acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a swift-growing cancer that tends to kill ...
GM bacteria produce valuable compounds
The following is an edited excerpt. When Michigan State University artist Adam Brown learned of a type of bacteria,Cupriavidus metallidurans, ...
Three parents? Five parents? All that really matters is healthy babies
The following is an edited excerpt. If you are the parent of a baby with an incurable mitochondrial disease, each ...
Chinese eugenics?
The following is an excerpt. In modern American society, few terms carry the negative and socially disreputable ring of “eugenics,” ...
Don’t fear babies made with genes from three parents
The following is an excerpt. NOBODY knows how many of them there are, but we know they exist. They are ...
Gene therapy spurs leukemia hope
The following is an excerpt. Researchers reported fresh evidence Wednesday that using gene therapy to manipulate the immune system is ...
Neanderthal genome is finished and free
The following is excerpt. Three years after an international team of experts led by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for ...
