Molecules, Digits, and the Fountain of Youth

Genomic and Molecular Medicine After many attempts over the past two decades, genetically modified mosquitoes may finally have a chance of helping to eradicate the dengue fever with which mosquitoes annually infect 100 million people and cause 500,000 cases of dengue hemorrhagic fever and 22,000 deaths, mostly among children. For the disease of choroideraemia (rarer […]

Genomics and Bionics

On October 23, 2011, in Bionics Genomics

A well-designed and -implemented study has shown that our descendants will live longer if we take the right steps to live longer ourselves. Healthier behavior can change gene expression in an individual, and the life-prolonging results of that change are passed on the individual’s descendants—even though, perplexingly, the epigenetic change itself is not passed on. […]

The Week in Tweets, Oct. 9-16, 2011

On October 17, 2011, in Bionics Genomics Regenerative Medicine

Here’s our weekly summary of tweets from @hfdigest, and their significance. Genomic and Regenerative Medicine Until now, the known genetic markers for melanoma have all been associated with skin pigmentation or moles. Now, three have been found that are not associated in that way, which means that people with those markers may be at even […]

Weekly Digest of Tweets

Here’s our weekly summary of tweets from @hfdigest, and their significance. Aging We have known for some time that adult stem cells age, as do all our cells. But until recently we did not know we can rejuvenate them—in the petri dish, anyway. This extraordinary breakthrough could make us younger, and not merely stop growing […]

Genomics – Sequencing & Tests

On November 1, 2010, in Genomics

Sequencing The target of $1,000 for a complete individual DNA sequence—an individual’s genome—has long been touted as a Holy Grail, an amount assumed to be affordable to individuals at least in the rich countries. Whether that’s true or not, absent market manipulation there is no reason for sequencing cost to stabilize at $1,000. Quite the […]

Genomics

On December 15, 2009, in Genomics

ere have been so many articles on genomics-related topics in recent months that this issue of the Digest would need to be very long indeed to present even the tightest summary. However, the articles seemed to fit more or less nicely into one of three categories: The accelerating development of genomics technologies and initiatives, the […]

Genomics – Gene Therapy

On December 1, 2009, in Genomics

Progress in Gene Therapies In the November issue, we examined the acceleration in genome sequencing and the development of tests for genetic markers in people. Our focus this month is on achievements in therapies to cure or overcome genetic abnormalities and the diseases to which they give rise, as reported in the past year. Though […]

Genomics

On November 15, 2009, in Genomics

There have been so many articles on genomics-related topics in recent months that this issue of the Digest would need to be very long indeed to present even the tightest summary. However, the articles seemed to fit more or less nicely into one of three categories: The accelerating development of genomics technologies and initiatives, the […]

Genomics

On January 15, 2009, in Genomics

This is the third of a three-part series that digests voluminous genomics-related articles published in recent months. The first of the series (November issue) covered the accelerating development of genomics technologies and initiatives. The second (December) covered the impact this acceleration is having on genomics understanding. This third issue illustrates the impact our understanding is […]

Genetics/Genomics

On January 21, 2006, in Genetics Genomics

As one major genetics project ends, another pops up. The HapMap Project has been just about completed, with some positive results for medicine. The significance of the new project — the Cancer Genome Atlas (CGA) — is not just that it is likely to be the final offensive in the war on cancer, but also […]