Paleo Primal Diet - Unlocking your Body #39;s Dormant Genetics
http://101how.com/PaleoBurn Paleo Primal Diet. I #39;ll reveal specific foods which trigger your body to release a FLOOD of fat-melting hormones - hormones that ...

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Paleo Primal Diet - Unlocking your Body's Dormant Genetics - Video

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Let #39;s Play The Sims 3 - Perfect Genetics Challenge - Episode 20
My Sims 3 Page: http://mypage.thesims3.com/mypage/Llandros2012 My Blog: http://Llandros09.blogspot.com My Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Llandros09?ref=t...

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Scientific Proof about Genetics and Evolution
What does Observed Population Genetics say about Evolution? Is Evolution a scientific fact or a fairy tale? Liston to what a professor in population genetics...

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Scientific Proof about Genetics and Evolution - Video

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Genetics in Cancer Prevention
University of Puerto Rico, Medical Sciences Campus Cancer Genetics Course A 5-day intensive course in the genetics of cancer for upper level undergraduates, ...

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Genetics in Cancer Prevention - Video

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Paw Print Genetics New Commerical
Check out Paw Print Genetics new commercial airing this fall.

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Paw Print Genetics New Commerical - Video

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Newswise Culminating an extensive national search, Tony Wynshaw-Boris MD, PhD, accomplished researcher and expert in genetics, genomics and neurologic disorders, has been named chair of the Department of Genetics and Genome Sciences at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and University Hospitals (UH) Case Medical Center. Wynshaw-Boriss appointment will become official with final approval from the Case Western Reserve Board of Trustees.

Highly accomplished as both a clinician and a scientist, Wynshaw-Boriss research centers on how neurogenetic disorders evolve during early human development. Recent research has concentrated on autism and developing a further understanding of the pathophysiological mechanisms that result in the highly inheritable disorder.

Tony is someone with whom both [UH Case Medical Center President] Fred Rothstein and I have had the pleasure to work with during his initial stints at Case Western Reserve and University Hospitals, said Pamela Davis, MD, PhD, dean of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. Our firsthand knowledge of his work makes us all the more excited to have him back in Cleveland, but it is his extraordinary accomplishments since then that represent the greatest reason to recruit him.

Last year, Wynshaw-Boris was elected as a fellow to the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences. He has also been elected to the American Pediatric Society, the Association of American Physicians and the American Society of Clinical Investigation. He was included in Discover magazines Top 100 Science Stories regarding the social behavior of mutant mice, received the National Institutes of Health Directors Award, and won a special achievement award from the National Human Genome Research Institute.

Since 2008, the Cleveland native has served as the Charles J. Epstein Professor of Human Genetics and Pediatrics at the School of Medicine of the University of California at San Francisco as well as Chief of the Division of Genetics in the UCSF Department of Pediatrics. For the preceding eight years, he was at the School of Medicine at the University of California, San Diego and Rady Childrens Hospital San Diego. Dr. Wynshaw-Boris serves as the executive editor of the journal Human Molecular Genetics.

Tony embodies the mission of our academic medical center an innovative researcher, a dedicated educator, and an outstanding physician, says Fred C. Rothstein, MD, President of UH Case Medical Center. He is an internationally known leader in his field and as Chairman he will further enhance our Department of Genetics and Genome Sciences.

The appointment allows Wynshaw-Boris to expand his research beyond his lab. He sees the Department of Genetics and Genome Sciences as an area of study that can advance projects across the university and hospital - ultimately benefitting patients. He also believes scientific and technological advancements make unprecedented breakthroughs possible; the challenge is to engage colleagues across disciplines and skill sets in complementary ways.

I do think genetics and genomics are the organizing principle for all medicine and all of biology, so we should be the center of whats going on in the School of Medicine and in the hospital, Wynshaw-Boris said. Im going to do all that I can to make sure that that happens, building on what we have now.

Wynshaw-Boris earned his medical degree and doctorate in biochemistry from Case Western Reserve. He completed a residency at Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital and a fellowship at Children's Hospital of Boston and Harvard University. He also completed a prestigious Howard Hughes Medical Institute postdoctoral fellowship, where he studied mouse models of birth defects and developmental disorders.

Among the nations leading academic medical centers, University Hospitals Case Medical Center is the primary affiliate of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, a nationally recognized leader in medical research and education.

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Wynshaw-Boris Named Chair of Genetics and Genome Sciences

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SEATTLE, WA--(Marketwired - Jul 2, 2013) - Atossa Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATOS), The Breast Health Company, announced today that Michael H. Kalnoski, M.D., has joined the Company as Medical Director, a newly created position. Dr. Kalnoski's primary focus will be overseeing all operations of the Company's National Reference Laboratory for Breast Health, including quality management from the handling of nipple aspirate fluid specimens coming into the lab, to generating reports for doctors and patients, to developing new assays. He reports to Dr. Steven Quay, Chairman, CEO & President.

Dr. Kalnoski, a board certified pathologist, brings 10 years' experience as a medical director and medical consultant at a number of companies and institutions including the Puget Sound Institute of Pathology in Seattle, the Auburn Regional Medical Center in Auburn, Washington, the Valley General Hospital in Monroe, Washington, the Petersburg Medical Hospital in Petersburg, Alaska, and the Forks Medical Center in Forks, Washington. Earlier, Dr. Kalnoski was also a medical consultant at Hematologics Inc., Seattle, and medical director of Quest Diagnostics Inc., Seattle, and PacLab Inc., Renton, Washington.

"The nationwide marketing efforts we are undertaking for the ForeCYTE Breast Health Test are leading to greater awareness among doctors and an increasing number of samples coming to our lab on a daily basis," said Dr. Quay. "As the number of samples processed in the lab continues to grow, Dr. Kalnoski's extensive experience as a medical director and medical consultant will be invaluable in helping us operate the lab smoothly and efficiently, enabling us to achieve our ambitious growth objectives. I look forward to working with Michael during this exciting time."

"Atossa Genetics is a very innovative company that has the potential to significantly reduce the incidence of breast cancer through superior risk assessment tools and treatments," said Dr. Kalnoski. "I look forward to working with Dr. Quay and the outstanding team at Atossa and the National Reference Laboratory for Breast Health to help drive adoption of the ForeCYTE Breast Health Test through superior services at the laboratory level."

Dr. Kalnoski received his M.D. in 1997 from the Saint Louis University School of Medicine. He completed post graduate medical training at the University of Washington and is Board Certified in Hematopathology and Board Certified in anatomic and clinical pathology (AP/CP). Earlier Dr. Kalnoski attended the University of Washington and earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry. Dr. Kalnoski has co- authored 11 peer-reviewed, published articles.

He is a member of the American Medical Association, Pierce County Medical Society, the College of American Pathologists, the American Society of Clinical Pathology and a member the Washington State Medical Association.

About Atossa Genetics, Inc.

Atossa Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATOS), The Breast Health Company, based in Seattle, WA, is focused on preventing breast cancer through the commercialization of patented, FDA-designated Class II diagnostic medical devices and patented, laboratory developed tests (LDT) that can detect precursors to breast cancer up to eight years before mammography.

The National Reference Laboratory for Breast Health (NRLBH), a wholly owned subsidiary of Atossa Genetics, Inc., is a CLIA-certified high-complexity molecular diagnostic laboratory located in Seattle, Washington.

For additional information on Atossa and the ForeCYTE test, please visit http://www.atossagenetics.com. For additional information on the National Reference Laboratory for Breast Health, please visit http://www.nrlbh.com.

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Michael H. Kalnoski, M.D., Joins Atossa Genetics as Medical Director

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What are the most exciting science developments? - Cheltenham Science Festival 2013 - Head Squeeze
We asked the biggest science brains at Cheltenham Science Festival 2013 what scientific developments they are most excited about! We chatted to Kevin Fong, M...

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Factors Preventing Gene Therapy From Being Effective
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Social and Ethical Considerations of Gene Therapy
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PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

The Vaccine & Gene Therapy Institute of Florida (VGTI Florida) is pleased to announce the appointment of Richard Jove, Ph.D., as the new director of the Institute. Dr. Jove will take up his new position beginning July 1, 2013.

Dr. Jove brings to VGTI Florida the scientific leadership, research expertise, and a translational philosophy that will bring us to the next level in terms of basic and clinical research and the related improvement of health outcomes, said Jay Nelson, Ph.D., CEO of VGTI Florida.

As an external member of the Scientific Advisory Board for VGTI Florida, Dr. Jove has already assisted the Institute in planning its research strategy for cancer and infectious disease. I am very excited now to become a member of the internal leadership team at VGTI Florida as their mission of `Translating Research into Health' has always been a guiding principle in my own research career, said Dr. Jove. Having the opportunity to contribute what I have learned, and to work closely with the talented researchers and staff at VGTI Florida, will help us bring new scientific discoveries to benefit patients in the clinic.

Richard Jove has most recently served as the director of the Beckman Research Institute at City of Hope and deputy director of its Comprehensive Cancer Center in Los Angeles County, California. His work has been focused on developing more effective and safer therapies for the treatment of cancer. One of his primary roles has been encouragement of collaboration between scientists and clinical investigators for the development of scientific discoveries into novel cancer therapies for early phase clinical trials.

Prior to joining the City of Hope Dr. Jove held various leadership positions at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida, following his establishing the Molecular Oncology Program at the University of Michigan Cancer Center in Ann Arbor.

Dr. Jove is a welcome addition to the VGTI Florida team and we all look forward to his leadership and scientific background contributing to the growth of the institute. With his global perspective and reach he is ideally suited to expand the depth and breadth on an international basis enhancing VGTI Floridas worldwide translational research healthcare platform, said Mel Rothberg, Chief Operating Officer of VGTI Florida.

Its not just about the science, more importantly its about the patients, said Dr. Jove. VGTI Florida is an Institute that is not only doing the research, but developing the therapies, and I look forward to leading the institute and the recruitment of top researchers that will expand our focus on cancer.

About VGTI Florida:

VGTI Florida is an independent immunological research institute that is on an urgent mission to transform scientific discoveries into novel treatments and cures for existing and emerging infectious diseases, influenza and cancer. VGTI Florida is an independent non-profit 501(c)(3) organization located in the Tradition Center for Innovation in Port St. Lucie, Florida. For more information, please visit http://www.VGTIFL.org. VGTI Florida and Translating Research into Health are Registered Trademarks of the Vaccine & Gene Therapy Institute of Florida.

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Dr. Richard Jove Joins VGTI Florida as the New Institute Director

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Newswise Researchers at UCLAs Eli & Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine & Stem Cell Research have successfully established the foundation for using hematopoietic (blood-producing) stem cells (HSC) from the bone marrow of patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) to treat the disease. The study was led by Dr. Donald Kohn, professor of pediatrics and microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics in the life sciences.

Kohn introduced an anti-sickling gene into the HSC to capitalize on the self-renewing potential of stem cells and create a continual source of healthy red blood cells that do not sickle. The breakthrough gene therapy technique for sickle cell disease is scheduled to begin clinical trials by early 2014. The study was published online ahead of press today in Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Gene Therapy Kohns gene therapy approach using HSC from patients own blood is a revolutionary alternative to current SCD treatments as it creates a self-renewing normal blood cell by inserting a gene that has anti-sickling properties into HSC. This approach also does not rely on the identification of a matched donor, thus avoiding the risk of rejection of donor cells. The anti-sickling HSC will be transplanted back into the patients bone marrow and multiplies the corrected cells that make red blood cells without sickling.

The results demonstrate that our technique of lentiviral transduction is capable of efficient transfer and consistent expression of an effective anti-sickling beta-globin gene in human SCD bone marrow progenitor cells, which improved the physiologic parameters of the resulting red blood cells. Kohn said.

Kohn and colleagues found that in the laboratory the HSC produced new non-sickled blood cells at a rate sufficient for significant clinical improvement for patients. The new blood cells survive longer than sickled cells, which could also improve treatment outcomes. The success of this technique will allow Kohn to begin clinical trials in patients with SCD by early next year.

Sickle Cell Disease Affecting more than 90,000 patients in the US, SCD mostly affects people of Sub-Saharan African descent. It is caused by an inherited mutation in the beta-globin gene that makes red blood cells change from their normal shape, which is round and pliable (like a plastic bag filled with corn oil), into a rigid sickle-shaped cell (like a corn flake). Normal red blood cells are able to pass easily through the tiniest blood vessels, called capillaries, carrying oxygen to organs such as the lungs, liver and kidneys. But due to their rigid structure, sickled blood cells get stuck in the capillaries and deprive the organs of oxygen, which causes organ dysfunction and failure.

Current treatments include transplanting patients with donor HSC, which is a potential cure for SCD, but due to the serious risks of rejection, only a small number of patients have undergone this procedure and it is usually restricted to children with severe symptoms.

CIRM Disease Team Program This study was supported in part by a Disease Team I Award from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), the states stem cell research agency created by voter initiative in 2004. The purpose of the disease team program is to support research focused on one particular disease that leads to the filing of an investigational new drug application with the FDA within four years. The program is designed to encourage translational research, which means to take scientific discoveries from the laboratory to the patient bedside as quickly as possible. This requires new levels of collaboration between basic laboratory scientists, medical clinicians, biotechnology experts and pharmacology experts, to name a few.

Other support came from the UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center and Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award.

The stem cell center was launched in 2005 with a UCLA commitment of $20 million over five years. A $20 million gift from the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation in 2007 resulted in the renaming of the center. With more than 200 members, the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research is committed to a multi-disciplinary, integrated collaboration of scientific, academic and medical disciplines for the purpose of understanding adult and human embryonic stem cells. The center supports innovation, excellence and the highest ethical standards focused on stem cell research with the intent of facilitating basic scientific inquiry directed towards future clinical applications to treat disease. The center is a collaboration of the David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLAs Jonsson Cancer Center, the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science and the UCLA College of Letters and Science. To learn more about the center, visit our web site at http://www.stemcell.ucla.edu

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UCLA Stem Cell Gene Therapy for Sickle Cell Disease Advances Toward Clinical Trials

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Public release date: 2-Jul-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Ftima Bosch Fatima.bosch@uab.cat 34-935-814-182 Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona

Sanfilippo Syndrome type A, or Mucopolysaccharidosis type IIIA (MPSIIIA), is a neurodegenerative disease caused by mutations in the gene that encodes the enzyme sulfamidase. Mutations in this gene lead to deficiencies in the production of the enzyme, which is essential for the breakdown of substances known as glycosaminoglicans. If these substances are not broken down, they accumulate in the cells and cause neuroinflammation and organ dysfunction, mainly in the brain, but also in other parts of the body. Children born with this mutation are diagnosed from the age of 4 or 5. They suffer neurodegeneration, causing mental retardation, aggressiveness, hyperactivity, sleep alterations, loss of speech and motor coordination, and they die in adolescence.

A team of researchers headed by the director of the UAB's Centre for Animal Biotechnology and Gene Therapy (CBATEG), Ftima Bosch, has developed a gene therapy treatment that cures this disease in animal models, with pre-clinical studies in mice and dogs. The treatment consists of a single surgical intervention in which an adenoassociated viral vector is injected into the cerebrospinal fluid, the liquid that surrounds the brain and the spinal cord. The virus, which is completely harmless, genetically modifies the cells of the brain and the spinal cord so that they produce sulfamidase, and then spreads to other parts of the body, like the liver, where it continues to induce production of the enzyme.

Once the enzyme's activity is restored, glycosaminoglican levels return to normal for life, their accumulation in cells disappears, along with the neuroinflammation and dysfunctions of the brain and other affected organs, and the animal's behaviour and its life expectancy return to normal. While mice with the disease lived only up to 14 months, those given the treatment survived as long as healthy ones.

This is a joint project between the UAB and the pharmaceutical company Esteve. The study has been published in the online edition of The Journal of Clinical Investigation.

###

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

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Gene therapy cures a severe paediatric neurodegenerative disease in animal models

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

July 1, 2013 Researchers at UCLA's Eli & Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine & Stem Cell Research have successfully established the foundation for using hematopoietic (blood-producing) stem cells (HSC) from the bone marrow of patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) to treat the disease. The study was led by Dr. Donald Kohn, professor of pediatrics and microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics in the life sciences.

Kohn introduced an anti-sickling gene into the HSC to capitalize on the self-renewing potential of stem cells and create a continual source of healthy red blood cells that do not sickle. The breakthrough gene therapy technique for sickle cell disease is scheduled to begin clinical trials by early 2014. The study was published online in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Gene Therapy

Kohn's gene therapy approach using HSC from patient's own blood is a revolutionary alternative to current SCD treatments as it creates a self-renewing normal blood cell by inserting a gene that has anti-sickling properties into HSC. This approach also does not rely on the identification of a matched donor, thus avoiding the risk of rejection of donor cells. The anti-sickling HSC will be transplanted back into the patient's bone marrow and multiplies the corrected cells that make red blood cells without sickling.

"The results demonstrate that our technique of lentiviral transduction is capable of efficient transfer and consistent expression of an effective anti-sickling beta-globin gene in human SCD bone marrow progenitor cells, which improved the physiologic parameters of the resulting red blood cells." Kohn said.

Kohn and colleagues found that in the laboratory the HSC produced new non-sickled blood cells at a rate sufficient for significant clinical improvement for patients. The new blood cells survive longer than sickled cells, which could also improve treatment outcomes. The success of this technique will allow Kohn to begin clinical trials in patients with SCD by early next year.

Sickle Cell Disease

Affecting more than 90,000 patients in the US, SCD mostly affects people of Sub-Saharan African descent. It is caused by an inherited mutation in the beta-globin gene that makes red blood cells change from their normal shape, which is round and pliable (like a plastic bag filled with corn oil), into a rigid sickle-shaped cell (like a corn flake). Normal red blood cells are able to pass easily through the tiniest blood vessels, called capillaries, carrying oxygen to organs such as the lungs, liver and kidneys. But due to their rigid structure, sickled blood cells get stuck in the capillaries and deprive the organs of oxygen, which causes organ dysfunction and failure.

Current treatments include transplanting patients with donor HSC, which is a potential cure for SCD, but due to the serious risks of rejection, only a small number of patients have undergone this procedure and it is usually restricted to children with severe symptoms.

CIRM Disease Team Program

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Stem cell gene therapy for sickle cell disease advances toward clinical trials

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

The first technology innovations inspired by Cambridge researchers from a new European-leading bioscience campus in the UK have emerged.

The programme gives university researchers access to the drug development expertise of GSK and other pharmaceutical companies, while giving industry access to Cambridge research and know-how to accelerate the development of new medicines.

There are now two University research projects in place at SBC. Professor Peter McNaughton of the Department of Pharmacology is working on a novel new approach to the pain associated with heat.

Billions of dollars are spent each year on the treatment of pain, but there is currently no effective treatment for the extreme pain associated with hypersensitivity to heat.

Professor Robin Franklin of the Wellcome Trust-Medical Research Council Cambridge Stem Cell Institute is developing a new regenerative therapy for multiple sclerosis (MS). MS affects almost 100,000 people in the UK, 400,000 in the United States and several million worldwide.

This is a groundbreaking approach to early-stage drug discovery, which is typically enormously time-consuming and expensive, said Professor McNaughton.

The exchange of scientific ideas and overall atmosphere of collaboration at SBC can help us as researchers, as well as our industrial colleagues, become more efficient in developing new ideas which will lead to better drugs and improved clinical treatments.

Cambridge is the first university to establish this type of arrangement. Recently, the university, in a bid led by University College London, was awarded a share of 50 million in funding from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) to enable the two universities to work together at SBC, in part to establish a range of collaborative training programmes to develop the next generation of entrepreneurial researchers, particularly in drug discovery.

The collaboration is directly supported by the National Institute for Health Research University College London Hospitals' Biomedical Research Centre, and will be further expanded through UCLPartners.

Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, the Universitys Vice-Chancellor, said: Cambridge generates world-leading medical research and clinical insight, and in order to develop that research to the point where it can benefit patients, we work in partnership with industry.

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Revolution starts at bioscience campus

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TEDxUConn 2013-The Personal Side of Personalized Medicine-Christine Doherty

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TEDxUConn 2013-The Personal Side of Personalized Medicine-Christine Doherty - Video

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Canadian-led study will help scientists identify key genomic regions in canola, other food plants

TORONTO,ON What allows certain plants to survive freezing and thrive in the Canadianclimate, while others are sensitive to the slightest drop in temperature? Thosethat flourish activatespecific genes at just the right time but the waygene activation is controlled remains poorly understood.

Amajor step forward in understanding this process lies in a genomic map producedby an international consortium led by scientists from the University of Toronto(U of T) and McGillUniversity and published online today in the journalNature Genetics.

Themap, which is the first of its kind in plants, will help scientists to localizeregulatory regions in the genomes of crop species such as canola, a major cropin Canada, according to researcherswho worked on the project. The team hassequenced the genomes of several crucifers (a large plant family that includesa number of other food crops) and analyzed them along with previouslypublishedgenomes to map more than 90,000 genomic regions that have been highly conservedbut that do not appear to encode proteins.

Plants are complicated organisms, and they have many types of cells and structures, said Dr. Annabelle Haudry, one of the studys lead authors and former U of T postdoctoral fellow. We found that genes involved in defining how these cells and structures grow as the plant develops from a seed and how it responds to environments stimuli are surrounded by many of these switches.

Amazingly,similar organization of switches was found for the genes that control earlyhuman development from an embryo an example of convergent evolution, saysRobert Williamson, Uof T PhD student and study coauthor. (Convergent evolutionis the scientific term for biological traits that arrive through differentevolutionary lineages.) Work is currently underway toidentify which of thoseregions may be involved in controlling traits of particular importance tofarmers.

Thestudy also weighs in on a major debate among biologists, concerning how much ofan organisms genome has important functions in a cell, and how much is junkDNA, merely along forthe ride, says U of Ts Professor Alan Moses, also involved in the study. While stretches of the genome that code for proteins arerelatively easy to identify, many other noncoding regionsmay be importantfor regulating genes, activating them in the right tissue and under the rightconditions.

Whilehumans and plants have very similar numbers of protein-coding genes, the mappublished inNature Geneticsfurthersuggests that the regulatory sequences controlling plant genes are farsimpler,with a level of complexity between that of fungi and microscopic worms. Plantsseem to have a large fraction of their genome that is junk DNA, says U of TsProfessor StephenWright, another leader of the study. But our analysis allowsfor identification of the tens of thousands of needles in the haystack thatare important for gene regulation.

Fundingfor the research was provided by Genome Canada and Gnome Qubec, along withthe European Regional Development Fund, the Czech Science Foundation, and theNational ScienceFoundation.

-30-

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A genomic atlas of gene switches in plants provides a roadmap for crop research - Canadian-led study will help ...

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Public release date: 30-Jun-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Ueli Schibler ueli.schibler@unige.ch 41-223-796-175 Universit de Genve

Most of our physiological functions fluctuate throughout the day. They are coordinated by a central clock in the brain and by local oscillators, present in virtually every cell. Many molecular gearwheels of this internal clock have been described by Ueli Schibler, professor at the Faculty of Science of the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland. To study how the central clock synchronizes subordinate oscillators, the researcher's group used a variety of genetic and technological tools developed in collaboration with a team of UNIGE physicians. In this way, the scientists were able to directly observe the bioluminescence emitted by 'clock genes' in mice for several months. This biotechnology is applicable to numerous sectors of biomedical research, which attracted the attention of the editors from the journal "Genes & Development".

In mammals, there are many behaviors and biological functions that are regulated by internal clocks. Most of our cells have one, made from a family of 'clock genes', whose cyclic activity reaches a specific peak in 24 hours. These local oscillators are synchronized by a central 'pacemaker' in the brain which adjusts to light.

The firefly lights the way

The use of genetic engineering techniques enabled the study of molecular mechanisms that activate clock genes directly in cultured mammalian cells: 'We have coupled several of these genes to that of luciferase, the enzyme used by the female firefly for producing green light to attract males,' explained Ueli Schibler, member of the National Research Center Frontiers in Genetics. When a specific clock gene is activated in a cell that was transformed in this way, the light signal emitted can be measured using a highly sensitive bioluminescence detector. However, this device, which is capable of detecting signals on the order of a few photons, cannot be used for studying whole organisms. The contribution of Andr Liani's mechanical workshop, along with Jean-Pierre Wolf's and Luigi Bonacina's teams from UNIGE's Group of Applied Physics, was thus essential. These scientists developed a customized device that can accommodate mice for several months: 'We equipped it with reflective walls to deflect photons toward a highly sensitive photomultiplier tube to capture bioluminescence,' says Andr Liani.

Follow the daily expression of clock genes live

In collaboration with the University of Ulm and the Center for Integrative Genomics (CIG) of Lausanne, the biologists studied how the central clock synchronizes subordinate oscillators in mice. Various clock genes, coupled with the luciferase gene for light emission, were inserted into liver cells using a molecular vector. The time these rodents spent in the bioluminescent device allowed to demonstrate that the central clock generates signals, some of which act directly on the liver oscillators, and others which synchronize them indirectly by controlling the cycles of food intake.

or the effect of a medication in mice

'This technology enables a drastic reduction in the number of mice needed for this type of experiment, and furthermore, it is applicable to many areas of biomedical research,' says Camille Saini, researcher in the Department of Molecular Biology at UNIGE and first author of this article. These complementary genetic and engineering technology tools could be used to directly follow certain biochemical effects of metabolites like cholesterol or glucose, as well as the response to potential treatments of diseases such as hypercholesterolemia or diabetes. Monitoring the response to various hormones, neurotransmitters and other biochemical messengers is also part of this application range.

Originally posted here:
Observing live gene expression in the body

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

June 30, 2013 What allows certain plants to survive freezing and thrive in the Canadian climate, while others are sensitive to the slightest drop in temperature? Those that flourish activate specific genes at just the right time -- but the way gene activation is controlled remains poorly understood.

A major step forward in understanding this process lies in a genomic map produced by an international consortium led by scientists from McGill University and the University of Toronto and published online today in the journal Nature Genetics.

The map, which is the first of its kind for plants, will help scientists to localize regulatory regions in the genomes of crop species such as canola, a major crop in Canada, according to researchers who worked on the project. The team has sequenced the genomes of several crucifers (a large plant family that includes a number of other food crops) and analyzed them along with previously published genomes to map more than 90,000 genomic regions that have been highly conserved but that do not appear to encode proteins.

"These regions are likely to play important roles in turning genes on or off, for example to regulate a plant's development or its response to environmental conditions," says McGill computer-science professor Mathieu Blanchette, one of the leaders of the study. Work is currently underway to identify which of those regions may be involved in controlling traits of particular importance to farmers.

The study also weighs in on a major debate among biologists, concerning how much of an organism's genome has important functions in a cell, and how much is "junk DNA," merely along for the ride. While stretches of the genome that code for proteins are relatively easy to identify, many other 'noncoding' regions may be important for regulating genes, activating them in the right tissue and under the right conditions.

While humans and plants have very similar numbers of protein-coding genes, the map published in Nature Genetics further suggests that the regulatory sequences controlling plant genes are far simpler, with a level of complexity between that of fungi and microscopic worms. "These findings suggest that the complexity of different organisms arises not so much from what genes they contain, but how they turn them on and off," says McGill biology professor Thomas Bureau, a co-author of the paper.

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Genomic atlas of gene switches in plants provides roadmap for crop research

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

27 June 2013 Last updated at 21:45 ET

Research into the genetic risks for asthma could lead to a test which predicts which children will never grow out of it, says a study in The Lancet.

Scientists found that those at higher genetic risk of asthma were 36% more likely to develop serious, life-long asthma than those with lower risk.

But they said it was too soon to be used as a reliable clinical test.

Asthma UK says the findings could help identify people whose asthma could become severe.

Earlier studies had linked several genes to small increases in asthma risk.

This study, led by researchers from Duke University in North Carolina, identified 15 separate locations in the human genome which are associated with asthma.

Using this knowledge combined with data from a major New Zealand health study of more than 1,000 people since birth, the researchers were able to calculate the genetic risk score for 880 individuals.

They then tracked the development and progression of their asthma from early childhood through to their late 30s.

Genetic risk prediction for asthma is still in its infancy.

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Asthma research in gene test hope

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

30 June 2013

Federated Farmers should back local farmers

Federated Farmers are backing the wrong side with their decision to support Environment Minister Amy Adams intention to block local councils from being able to regulate for genetic engineering in their local communities, the Green Party said today.

By supporting the Minister, Federated Farmers is misrepresenting rural New Zealand, many of its own members, and the majority of New Zealanders who do not want genetic engineering (GE) in their farming systems, environment or food supply, said Green Party GE spokesperson Steffan Browning.

Instead of protecting the best interests of local farming families, Federated Farmers is supporting a move that flies in the face of the international experience of GE, litigation, lower yields and unnecessary herbicide use.

Local councils need to represent their communities in the absence of government regulation. Its currently up to councils to ensure a genuinely precautionary approach to the risks of contamination, litigation, economic loss, and environmental damage from GE.

Government legislation, such as the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms (HSNO) Act and agencies such as the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), the Ministry for Primary Industries and the Ministry for the Environment, consistently fail. GE proponents seem very happy to see inept legislation and compliance as a means towards the introduction of GE, regardless of the effects on New Zealand's clean green 100% Pure brand.

Federated Farmers has also discouraged suspension of the neonicitinoid poisons that threaten the important pollination activity of honey bees and other insects.

It is vital that spokespeople for primary production in New Zealand, like Federated Farmers, represent the best interests of family farmers and sustainable farming systems, not the corporate interests of the life sciences and agrichemical industry giants.

Federated Farmers grains council has previously been concerned at the risks of GE contamination in exports to Japan and elsewhere, and the honey industry knows that the EU and other markets don't want GE in a speck of their pollen or honey products.

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Federated Farmers should back local farmers

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Federated Farmers are backing the wrong side with their decision to support Environment Minister Amy Adams intention to block local councils from being able to regulate for genetic engineering in their local communities, the Green Party said today.

"By supporting the Minister, Federated Farmers is misrepresenting rural New Zealand, many of its own members, and the majority of New Zealanders who do not want genetic engineering (GE) in their farming systems, environment or food supply," said Green Party GE spokesperson Steffan Browning.

"Instead of protecting the best interests of local farming families, Federated Farmers is supporting a move that flies in the face of the international experience of GE, litigation, lower yields and unnecessary herbicide use.

"Local councils need to represent their communities in the absence of government regulation. Its currently up to councils to ensure a genuinely precautionary approach to the risks of contamination, litigation, economic loss, and environmental damage from GE.

"Government legislation, such as the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms (HSNO) Act and agencies such as the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), the Ministry for Primary Industries and the Ministry for the Environment, consistently fail.

"GE proponents seem very happy to see inept legislation and compliance as a means towards the introduction of GE, regardless of the effects on New Zealand's clean green 100% Pure brand.

"Federated Farmers has also discouraged suspension of the neonicitinoid poisons that threaten the important pollination activity of honey bees and other insects.

"It is vital that spokespeople for primary production in New Zealand, like Federated Farmers, represent the best interests of family farmers and sustainable farming systems, not the corporate interests of the life sciences and agrichemical industry giants.

"Federated Farmers grains council has previously been concerned at the risks of GE contamination in exports to Japan and elsewhere, and the honey industry knows that the EU and other markets don't want GE in a speck of their pollen or honey products.

"GE contamination has had a significant cost on rural communities world wide. The Environment Minister and Federated Farmers should stop pretending that New Zealand legislation can prevent the same here.

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Federated Farmers should back local farmers - Green Party

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Asthma Health Home>>Asthma>>Health news Written by: QMI Agency Jun. 29, 2013 A child uses an inhaler. Image from Fotolia

A genetic test might be able to predict whether children with asthma are likely to grow out of it by the time they become adults, new research says.

The study, led by researchers from Duke University in North Carolina, was published Friday in the online issue of The Lancet Respiratory Medicine.

The researchers say they looked at the results of a huge genetic study of asthma, drafted a profile of asthma risk genes and tested it against a leading asthma research database of individuals that have been followed from birth to their 30's.

The team says individuals who had the highest genetic risk scores were the ones most likely to develop asthma, developed it earlier, and tended to have more severe asthma.

Another important result from the study was that "the genetic risk profile was able to give more information about asthma risk than you could get from looking at family history of the disease," the researchers said.

They emphasized that although the study shows it is possible to use a genetic risk profile to predict which children with asthma will grow out of it and which will have the persistent form of the disease, "more work needs to be done before it can be used with patients."

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Genetic test may predict who'll outgrow asthma

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Jennifer Estep has never been diagnosed with breast or ovarian cancer. Yet, the 37-year-old mother of two has had her breasts and ovaries surgically removed.

Estep, of Cooper City, is one of many women who have had preventive, or prophylactic, surgery after a test showed they carried a genetic mutation that significantly increased their risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer.

Indeed, a study of 2,677 women in nine countries who tested positive for BRCA 1 or BRCA 2 gene mutations that significantly increase a womans risk of developing breast or ovarian cancer showed that many American women chose to have their breasts or ovaries removed once they learned they carried the genes.

Genetic testing and the BRCA gene mutations were thrust into the spotlight after actress Angelina Jolie revealed in a May 14th op-ed column in The New York Times that she had a preventive double mastectomy because she carried the BRCA 1 mutation. Jolie, 38, like many other BRCA-positive women, has a family history of breast and ovarian cancer. Her mother died in 2007 of ovarian cancer and her aunt recently passed away from breast cancer.

That genetic test made all the difference in the world for me, Estep said. Without it, I would be sitting and waiting to get breast cancer.

Maxine Chang-Chin, a cancer risk assessment counselor at Memorial Healthcare System in Broward, said Jolies choice has increased awareness about genetic testing.

It opens up that conversation. Some patients heard about it and now called and said they want to have genetic testing done, said Chang-Chin, who said at least five patients called recently to talk about genetic testing. They are also saying, You know what, I am more comfortable removing my breasts than I was before. Its making them feel more comfortable because Angelina Jolie is young as well.

Dr. Olaf Bodamer, medical director at the Dr. John T. Macdonald Foundation Department of Human Genetics at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, said his laboratory has been getting a number of calls by women seeking genetic testing.

I think there was an immediate spike following the story in The New York Times, Bodamer said.

But, Chang-Chin and Bodamer noted, genetic testing is not for everyone.

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Opening up the conversation about BRCA genetic testing

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

FRIDAY, June 28 (HealthDay News) -- People with more genetic risks for asthma are not only more likely to develop the disease in childhood, but also more likely to continue to have asthma into adulthood, according to a new study.

Previous studies have linked several genes to increased asthma risk, so the researchers wanted to investigate the cumulative effect of those genes.

For the study, they analyzed data from 880 people in New Zealand who have been followed since they were born in 1972 or 1973. Those with more genetic risks for asthma developed asthma earlier in life than those with fewer genetic risks. Among study participants who developed asthma in childhood, asthma that persisted into adulthood was more likely in those with more genetic risks.

These patients also had more allergic reactions associated with severe and persistent asthma and developed lung function problems. Their quality of life also suffered because they missed work and school more often and were admitted to hospital more often due to asthma.

The study appears June 28 in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine.

"We've been able to look at how newly discovered genetic risks relate to the life course of asthma at an unprecedented level of resolution," Daniel Belsky, a postdoctoral fellow at the Duke Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy and the Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development, said in a university news release.

However, much more research is needed before it may be possible to use genetic risk scores for asthma in patients, he noted.

"It will be important to explore how these genetic risks play out in environments that differ in terms of air pollution or other important, modifiable factors," Belsky said.

He added that the study could lead to a better understanding of the biology of asthma and help efforts to develop new ways to prevent and treat asthma, which affects 26 million people in the United States.

-- Robert Preidt

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Genetic Risks for Asthma May Persist Into Adulthood

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith