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.
Genomic epidemiology: Tracking superbugs to their source
As concern grows over an increasing risk of deadly antibiotic-resistant bacteria, a budding field of microbial research, ‘genomic epidemiology’, may ...
Parents grapple with delving into their kids’ DNA
This week’s TIME cover story (available to subscribers here) asks a simple question with a complicated answer. Sophisticated DNA testing ...
We don’t know why Ethiopians breathe easy
Most people are aware that altitude imposes constraints on individual performance and function. Much of this is flexible; athletes who ...
National Institute of Public Health: ENCODE project biggest research advance of 2012
1. ENCODEFor sheer scientific shock value this year, nothing beat the prosaically-named ENCyclopedia Of DNA Elements (ENCODE) project. ENCODE, funded by ...
Efficacy of tobacco taxes tied to genes
Tobacco use has declined sharply since the 1960s, but for the past 20 years about 20 percent of the population ...
Homosexuality linked to epigentics
As long as natural selection has been an accepted scientific theory, homosexuality has been a riddle for scientists. If a ...
Amgen buys deCODE: What are the implications for genetic testing customers?
The big biotech news of the day is the $415 million sale of deCODE Genetics to Amgen. Coverage of the ...
Genetic testing helps to preserve Samaritan way of life
Samaritans, who trace their roots back about 2,700 years, are best known for clinging to strict biblical traditions that have ...
Drag-and-drop DNA builds cancer-combating drug
A drug has been developed to combat a lethal brain cancer using a drag-and-drop DNA-self assembly technique. A team from Parabon Nanolabs ...
The benefits of DNA science should be shared across social and class lines
Sharing the benefits of DNA science across social and class lines is one of the next big challenges facing genome ...
Does whole genome sequencing circumvent gene patents?
What happens when, during the course of whole-genome sequencing (WGS) a patient or research subject, an investigator sequences and analyzes ...
DNA evidence shows gypsies came from India
The GuardianDNA Evidence Shows Gypsies Began Their Exodus From India 1500 Years AgoScience 2.0While the Middle East and Caucasus regions ...
How accurate is 23andMe?
My initial inclination in this post was to discuss a recent ordering snafu which resulted in many of my friends ...
UK to map genomes of 100,000 people
Government hopes public health programme will revolutionise the treatment and prevention of cancer and other diseasesUp to 100,000 people in ...
Should the FDA regulate DTC genome sequencing?
The Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) gene testing industry has generated a lot of press over the last five or six years. But ...
Genetically reprogrammed AIDs virus rescues girl from cancer
In the first of its kind experimental treatment, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia used a disabled form of the virus that ...
Expert tours own exome, finds mainly false alarms
When 23andMe offered a few select clients the opportunity to have the protein-encoding portion of their genome sequenced, Gabe Rudy ...
Prenatal diagnosis story shows challenge of genetics reporting
The New England Journal of Medicine reported this week that prenatal diagnosis with gene chips is superior to conventional chromosome ...
We all have hundreds of DNA flaws
Everyone has on average 400 flaws in their DNA, a UK study suggests. Most are "silent" mutations and do not affect ...
Genetics traces Gypsies to ancient Indian origin
The Romani people—once known as “gypsies” or Roma—have been objects of both curiosity andpersecution for centuries. Today, some 11 million Romani, ...
Gene therapy on the mend
Last month, Europe’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use approved a gene therapy for a rare genetic disease, the ...
New prenatal genetic test offers parents more answers
Three studies released Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine highlight the use of microarray testing as the latest technology ...
UK could miss out on the genomics revolution
The UK has a huge opportunity to lead the world in disease discovery, treatments and cures. But support from the ...
Genes should not be patentable
The Supreme Court will decide whether human genes can be patented. If the Supremes allow genes to be patented, that ...
Advanced genetic tests spot more defects before birth
Birth defects can be spotted more precisely with advanced genetic tests that are performed on a fetus than with current ...
Geneticists and physicists collaborate on a DNA dark matter detector
DNA may help out in the hunt for dark matter, the mysterious substance that makes up 25 percent of the ...
Direct-to-consumer genetic testing: What it means for the general practitioner
From a medical perspective, I advise people who are thinking about DTC genetic testing to think of it like the ...
