Apr 18
Remember those slightly horrifying sites that mash up two faces to tell you what your hypothetical babies might look like? With genome sequencing and "virtual embryos," we might actually be able to do that—using science.
Nov 07
Deep within our bodies are all kinds of genes that turn on and off over the years, including the very genes that make you grow a body in the first place. This is where scientists are looking for the magical code that could enable us to regrow organs and regenerate limbs. A Harvard researcher thinks he might’ve found it.
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Oct 07
Scientists have developed a new technique which allows them to visualize gene activity in thousands of cell, simultaneously. That will allow them to understand how our cells function like never before—and it looks damn pretty, too.
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Aug 08
Family of Henrietta Lacks finally gets rights to her cells, 62 years after they were taken
Posted in: Today's Chili
While 31-year-old Henrietta Lacks laid in a hospital bed, dying of cervical cancer, doctors took two samples of the tumor cells growing inside her. 62 years later, those cells are still growing and have served as the foundation for countless experiments, including vaccine development and drug safety trials. Problem is, Henrietta Lacks had no idea this had happened, and neither did her family until 1973, when a scientist called to ask for blood samples from her children as part of a genetic experiment. For the last 40 years not much has changed, researchers have continued to cultivate millions, if not billions or trillions, Mrs. Lacks’ cells, while her family has sought information, a portion of the proceeds and, most importantly, control over her genetic legacy. Now, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has returned control of the cell line to her descendants, including granddaughter Jeri Lack Whye.
The primary impetus was the family’s privacy. One scientist managed to generate a rather full report of personal information about Lacks and her family after just a few minutes with some of her endlessly reproducing cells. This prompted the NIH to work out an agreement with her family that gives them partial control over the cell line. When companies request access to the genome, which is stored on NIH servers, the family will be consulted and asked for their consent before the data is delivered. There will be no financial compensation for the decades of profit made by medical institutions off their genetic heritage, but at least they’ll have some say in whether just who can go poking around in the family genes.
Photo courtesy of The Henrietta Lacks Foundation
Via: The Verge
Source: Reuters, New York Times
Aug 07
Step one in any project involving genetic modification is to get the genes you want into the cells you want changed. Traditionally, this meant shooting microscopic DNA-coated bullets at the cells and hoping the DNA got inside without blowing the cells to smithereens. It sounds messy, and it is. Now, researchers in South Korea have devised a super-precise method for inserting DNA into cells, and it’s powered by lasers.
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Jul 18
One in every thousand or so babies born today will suffer from Down Syndrome, a genetic disorder caused by the presence of a third copy of chromosome 21 that results in learning disabilities, a heightened risk of bowel and blood diseases, and a severely heightened risk of dementia later in life. But a radical new genome treatment method could hold the key to turning off that extra chromosome 21 like a light.
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May 16
Previous work on using organisms as circuitry has usually involved shoehorning parts of the digital world into a very analog environment. MIT has just found an approach that uses the subtlety of the natural world to its advantage: the circuits themselves are analog. By combining genes that produce similar molecules in response to different inputs, the school’s scientists have created bacterial cells that perform basic math — the exact quantity or ratio of a given molecule is the answer. The approach offers a much wider range of results than a binary circuit (10,000 versus 2), and it exploits the cell enzymes’ inherent ratio awareness to do some of the hard work. MIT wants more variety in genetic ingredients before it can produce a truly universal system, but its work could lead to organic sensors that are much simpler and more precise than their digital peers.
Filed under: Science
Via: ExtremeTech
Source: MIT
Oct 24
The Placebo Effect May Be Genetic
Posted in: Today's Chili
The placebo effect seems to make little sense: get ill, take a dummy pill, and you’ll recover in much the same way as someone taking real drugs. While there have been many theories bandied about over the years to explain how it works, new evidence suggests that it may be genetic. More »
Sep 12
Scientists have had a hunch for some time that cilantro hating might be partly inherited. But now a genetic survey of nearly 30,000 people has given us a definitive answer: hating cilantro is hard-wired into your genes. More »
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