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.
New stem cell controversy: Possibility of stem cells in ovarian eggs could revolutionize in vitro
Are women born with all the eggs they will ever have, or do they possess the ability to make more? ...
Magnetic tracer safe for stem cell therapies
Cardiac stem cells and other cell-based therapies can be tracked to their destination by adding tiny magnetic particles visible on ...
First stem-cell fraud case enters courts
Stem cell tourism may be on its last legs. Six Los Angeles residents are suing South Korean company RNL Bio ...
Stem cells restore toddler’s hearing
Madeleine Connor, 2, underwent an experimental procedure using her own cord blood stem cells to repair damaged tissue in her ...
Personalized genomic medicine faces many hurdles
When the human genome project was completed in 2003, some expected it to herald a new age of personalized genomic ...
Should genetic screening be more supervised?
Thirteen-day-old Boxi is a "designer baby", genetically selected as her stem cells can be used to save her sister. We ...
Newly isolated ‘Beige fat’ cells could help fight obesity
Scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have isolated a new type of energy-burning fat cell in adult humans which they say ...
Cells derived from burn tissue may be useful for tissue engineering
A research team in the Netherlands has found that cells from burn eschar, the non-viable tissue remaining after burn injury ...
Scientists identify rare gene mutation that protects against Alzheimer’s
After years of studying genes that increase risk for Alzheimer’s disease, scientists report the promising discovery of DNA that does ...
New GM apple that won’t turn brown stirs concerns from NGOs, conventional growers
A genetically engineered apple that does not turn brown when sliced or bruised is in development. But it has much ...
Article addresses tremendous impact of genetic testing for Alzheimer’s
Genetic tests exist to identify risk for the rare inherited form of early-onset Alzheimer's disease (AD) and to predict susceptibility ...
Bacterial gene ‘therapy’ to combat cholera
Cholera is an extremely virulent intestinal infection caused by ingestion of the bacterium Vibrio cholerae (V. cholerae). EU researchers elucidated ...
Skin cancer-promoting gene discovered
Researchers have discovered a gene that plays a central role in black skin cancer, also known as melanoma. Suppressing this ...
Some insurers hesitate to embrace genetic testing
"For some people, the first symptom of this is cardiac arrest — they drop dead on the soccer field, the ...
Pediatric tumors traced to stem cells in developing brain
Stem cells that come from a specific part of the developing brain help fuel the growth of brain tumors caused ...
DNA mapping of Alzheimer’s patients gives deep dive view
Over the past 18 months, 81-year-old Bill Bunnell has visited the doctor a half-dozen times to take memory tests, provide ...
Virus-free gene therapy for HIV shows promise
An experimental gene therapy for HIV may actually be easier—and even safer—than experts originally hoped. Experimenting with zinc finger nucleases ...
Epigenetics I: Turning a DNA packaging problem into a developmental control system
Two postings back, I promised a commenter called Sierkovitz that I would discuss epigenetics. This is an important subject with ...
In Israel, ethnic origin category scrapped for genetic testing
Jews should no longer be categorized by their ethnic origin when being tested for hereditary conditions, says the Health Ministry ...
Virginia governor issues executive order for newborn screening
Critical congenital heart disease (CCHD) affects 300 infants in Virginia each year. Gov. Bob McDonnell has directed a work group ...
Epigenetics alters genes in rheumatoid arthritis
A research team at the University of California, San Diego – led by Gary S. Firestein, professor in the Division ...
Scientists develop genetically modified dairy cows
Chinese scientists have genetically modifying dairy cows to produce milk with different properties, the U.K.’s Daily Mail reports ...
Melon genome obtained
A consortium of nine research centres has obtained the melon genome, a horticultural specie with high economic value around the ...
Genes for breast size found
Researchers have identified seven genetic markers linked with a woman's breast size, according to a new study. While it's was ...
A community’s twist on genetic tests
In Williamsburg, a bustling Brooklyn enclave across the East River from Manhattan, a sect of ultra-Orthodox Jews dresses in garb ...
A topically applied skin lotion that modifies your genes
Future genetic therapy could be as simple as applying a topical lotion, with nanoscale compounds soaking through your epidermis to ...
Rewiring DNA circuitry could help treat asthma
Reprogramming asthma-promoting immune cells in mice diminishes airway damage and inflammation, and could potentially lead to new treatments for people ...
