India, May 26 -- The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) is set to advance stem cell research for Multiple Sclerosis (MS), a disease that attacks the central nervous system.

"A proposal will soon be sent to the Stem Cell Ethics Committee at the hospital to conduct both epidemiological and therapeutic study using conventional drugs and studies related to stem cell therapy for the disease," said Dr Rohit Bhatia, additional professor of neurology at AIIMS.

A proposal for hematopoietic stem cell transplant has already been submitted for ethics clearance and for mesenchymal stem cell therapy. The proposal will be soon sent for clearance and funding.

"We have proposed a therapeutic study for multiple sclerosis which involves removing the cells with stem cells that repopulate the body to treat the abnormality due to expansion of autoreactive cells," said Dr Kameshwar Prasad, Professor of Neurology, AIIMS.

Though it is know that multiple sclerosis is common among people from temperate or colder climes, a study conducted by AIIMS showed that such cases were increasing in India as well.

According to the study, of 101 patients at the hospital between June 2011 to December 2012, it was proved that ratio of female patients to male was 6:4 - 61 female patients and 40 male. It was also proved that 30% of the patients were moderately disabled and about 60% had episodic relapses with the rest of the cases being progressive in nature.

The patients with extreme cases were between the age group 20-40.

Published by HT Syndication with permission from Hindustan Times.

More here:
Advanced Sclerosis research at AIIMS soon

Recommendation and review posted by simmons

My Spinal Cord Injury - The full story - Dealing with Adversity - Bradley Hill
A full version of what happened to me and how I dealt with my spinal cord injury and how I rebuilt my life.

By: Bradley Hill

See more here:
My Spinal Cord Injury - The full story - Dealing with Adversity - Bradley Hill - Video

Recommendation and review posted by sam

Gene Meyer has led Lawrence Memorial Hospital through one of its most successful periods, when it expanded significantly and was recognized for everything from financial performance to cancer research.

In helping to create a high-quality medical center for people in the area, Meyer was honored with the Lawrence Kiwanis Club's Substantial Citizen Award in a ceremony Thursday at the Lawrence Country Club. Since 1960, the recognition has been bestowed annually upon residents who have made a difference in the community.

Guy Dresser, chairman of the Substantial Citizen Committee, said Meyer has done just that, helping to save lives and improve the health of Lawrencians through his solid leadership. Dresser said the committee chose Meyer "based on his professional achievement and his significant contribution to the community."

Photo by Mike Yoder

Gene Meyer, president and chief executive officer of Lawrence Memorial Hospital, left, and his wife, Carol, right, visit with Julie Hack on Thursday at the Lawrence Country Club. Meyer was presented with the 2013 Kiwanis Substantial Citizen Award at the Lawrence Kiwanis Club luncheon.

Meyer became president and CEO of Lawrence Memorial Hospital in 1997. He has since gone on to serve in several professional and civic organizations, including the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce, Lawrence Noon Rotary Club, Commerce Bank and Kansas Hospital Association.

This isn't Meyer's first award from the community or beyond. In 2011, he was inducted into the Lawrence Business Hall of Fame and got the American Hospital Association's Grassroots Champion Award. Nine years before that, Baker University named him Lawrence Business Person of the Year.

"Giving back to our community is vitally important and we all share in that mission. At LMH, we try to share in that every day," Meyer said. "We need to be a community service, and we are."

Meyer, who is married with four children and two grandkids, has helped LMH receive awards from several state and national health care organizations, including its being named a top-100 hospital in America by Truven Health Analytics. During his reign, the facility has also received marks for safety, employee satisfaction, technological capability and cancer research, as well as heart attack, pneumonia and surgical care. Last year, LMH became one of the smallest hospitals in the country to earn an A1 long-term bond rating from Moody's Investors Service.

"It's not the awards we get on the wall," Meyer acknowledged. "It's how we do when you're there for care."

Read more:
CEO Gene Meyer honored for leading Lawrence Memorial Hospital to success

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Washington, May 23 (ANI): A global team of scientists has completed the largest sequencing study of human disease to date, investigating the genetic basis of six autoimmune diseases.

The exact cause of these diseases - autoimmune thyroid disease, coeliac disease, Crohn's disease, psoriasis, multiple sclerosis and type 1 diabetes- is unknown, but is believed to be a complex combination of genetic and environmental factors.

In each disease only aproportion of the heritability is explained by the identifiedgenetic variants. The techniques used to date, have generally identified common (in the population) variants of weak effect.

In this study, using high-throughput sequencing techniques, the team led by researchers from Queen Mary, University of London, sought to identify new variants, including rare and potentially high risk ones, in 25 previously identified risk genes in a sample of nearly 42,000 individuals (24,892 with autoimmune disease and 17,019 controls).

It has been suggested - in the 'rare-variant synthetic genome-wide association hypothesis' - that a small number of rare variants in risk genes are likely to be a major cause of the heritability of these conditions.

However, the study suggests that the genetic risk of these diseasesmore likely involves a complex combination of hundreds of weak-effect variants which are each common in the population.

The authors estimate that rare variants in these risk genes account for only around three per cent of the heritability of these conditions that can be explained by common variants.

"These results suggests that risk for these autoimmune diseases is not due to a few high-risk genetic variations but seems rather due to a random selection from many common genetic variants which each have a weak effect," said David van Heel, Professor of Gastrointestinal Genetics at Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry at Queen Mary and director of the Barts and The London Genome Centre, who led the study.

"For each disease there are probably hundreds such variants and the genetic risk is likely to come from inheriting a large number of these variants from both parents. If this is the case then it may never be possible to accurately predict an individual's genetic risk of these common autoimmune diseases. However, the results do provide important information about the biological basis of these conditions and the pathways involved, which could lead to the identification new drug targets," he noted.

The research utilised high-throughput sequencing techniques performed at the Barts and The London Genome Centre and demonstrated for the first time that the sequencing can call genotypes as accurately as 'gold standard techniques' such as genotyping array platforms.

Go here to read the rest:
Largest genetic sequencing study of human disease completed

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Public release date: 24-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Mount Sinai Press Office newsmedia@mssm.edu 212-241-9200 The Mount Sinai Hospital / Mount Sinai School of Medicine

Two mutations central to the development of infantile myofibromatosis (IM)a disorder characterized by multiple tumors involving the skin, bone, and soft tissuemay provide new therapeutic targets, according to researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. The findings, published in the American Journal of Human Genetics, may lead to new treatment options for this debilitating disease, for which the only current treatment option is repeated surgical removal of the tumors.

IM is an inheritied disorder that develops in infancy or even in utero and tumors continue to present throughout life. The tumors do not metastasize, but can grow large enough to invade the tissue surrounding them causing physical limitations, disfiguration, bone destruction, intestitinal obstruction, and even death. Currently, the standard of care is to excise the tumors when possible, which can be invasive, painful, and disfiguring, and most patients require multiple surgeries throughout their lives.

Led by John Martignetti, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Genetics and Genomic Sciences, Oncological Sciences, and Pediatrics and other researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Hakon Hakonarson, MD, PhD at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, the global research team gathered blood samples from 32 people from nine different families affected by the disease and performed whole-exome sequencing, a type of genomic sequencing where all protein coding regions of the genome, called the exome, are analyzed. They identified mutations in two genes: PDGFRB and NOTCH3.

"We are very excited about the findings of this study, which started 10 years ago with the enrollment of the first family," said Dr. Martignetti. "The newest developments in sequencing technology have led to a new breakthrough in understanding this debilitating disease and we can therefore begin identifying drug-based treatments to save lives for some and avoiding the negative quality of life impact of extensive and repeated surgery in others."

PDGFRB and NOTCH3 are two genes that are targeted by existing drugs, including imatinib (GLEEVEC) and sunitinib (Sutent). Next, Dr. Martignetti and his team plans to test whether cells grown in the laboratory from myfibromatosis tumors are susceptible to these drugs. They also hope to learn why mutations in these two genes result in disease.

"If we can learn how these mutated genes get hijacked to cause cellular miscommunication, and also test existing and novel therapies to see if they shrink the tumors, we hope to improve the lives of the individuals battling this disease," said Dr. Martignetti.

###

About The Mount Sinai Medical Center

Link:
Researchers identify first drug targets in childhood genetic tumor disorder

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

May 23, 2013 Ethnic background plays a surprisingly large role in how diabetes develops on a cellular level, according to two new studies led by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

The researchers reanalyzed disease data to demonstrate that the physiological pathways to diabetes vary between Africa and East Asia and that those differences are reflected in part by genetic differences. The studies published online simultaneously May 23 in the journals PLoS Genetics and Diabetes Care.

"We have new insights into the differences in diabetes across the world, just by this new perspective applied to older studies," said Atul Butte, MD, PhD, senior author of the studies and chief of the Division of Systems Medicine and associate professor of pediatrics and of genetics. "There's more still to learn about diabetes than we knew."

The early stages of type-2 diabetes, or adult-onset diabetes, can develop when the pancreas has problems creating sufficient insulin, a hormone critical for regulating blood sugar, or when the body's cells have trouble responding to insulin, a condition called "insulin resistance." Both problems will lead to the same result: too much sugar in a person's blood stream, which is the main criterion for diagnosing diabetes. Diabetics develop both low insulin secretion and insulin resistance as the disease progresses.

In the study published in PLoS Genetics, the researchers started by studying genome information of more than 1,000 people in 51 populations from around the world. These individuals were from indigenous populations, representing the earliest groups of humans at various locations. Lead author and former graduate student in Butte's lab, Erik Corona, PhD, studied more than 100 diseases searching for genetic differences in risk across these native populations, and found a clear geographic pattern in the genetics behind type-2 diabetes. The genetic risk is highest for Africans and drops along the trajectory the first humans took when migrating out of Africa toward East Asia (primarily Japan, China and Korea), where diabetes-linked genes appear to be more protective. Based solely on what is currently known about type-2 diabetes genetics, native Africans would appear to be at higher risk for diabetes, while East Asians would appear to be protected. But East Asians are not necessarily at lower risk of diabetes than Africans. Butte pointed out that "East Asians definitely get diabetes. What we would argue is that diabetes may be a different disease" in East Asian populations.

An interactive tool that displays the results can be found at http://geneworld.stanford.edu/hgdp.html.

The genetics study's findings led Butte's team to wonder if there was clinical evidence of these differences in African and East Asian populations. For the second paper, lead author and staff engineering research associate Keiichi Kodama, MD, PhD, pulled data from more than 70 papers looking at simultaneously measured insulin secretion and insulin resistance in individuals across three different ethnic groups: Africans, Caucasians and East Asians. They found that at baseline, Africans had higher insulin resistance but were able to compensate with higher insulin secretion. East Asians were more likely to have less insulin-secretion ability, but this was compensated by having normal insulin resistance. Caucasians fell between these two groups, though they were more likely to develop problems with insulin secretion.

The researchers showed that because individuals from each ethnic group start at a different baseline position, they each reach diabetes in a different way: Africans through increased insulin resistance, and East Asians through lower insulin-secretion ability. "Africans are already pretty insulin resistant," Butte said. "They need their beta cells to work really hard. If their cells fail, that's how they head toward diabetes." East Asians, in contrast, "don't have a lot of spare capacity to secrete more insulin." The findings were published in Diabetes Care.

Butte notes that a shift in how clinicians think about diabetes could lead to more targeted therapies, much as how thinking about cancer has evolved over the past 10 years, leading to new treatments. "Other fields of medicine have undergone a radical rethinking in disease taxonomy, but this has not happened yet for diabetes, one of the world's public health menaces," he said. "If these are separate diseases at a molecular level, we need to try to understand that."

Other Stanford co-authors include past bioinformatics scientist Rong Chen, PhD; Carlos Bustamante, PhD, professor of genetics and co-director of the new Stanford Center for Computational, Evolutionary and Human Genomics; former graduate students Alexander Morgan, PhD, and Aditya Ramesh, MS; and postdoctoral scholars Chirag Patel, PhD, and Martin Sikora, PhD. Scientists at Lund University in Malmo, Sweden, and Kitasato University in Tokyo were also involved in this work.

The rest is here:
Diabetes' genetic underpinnings can vary based on ethnic background

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

GeNx vs LmDG l Epic Hardpoint ending.
Game Clip.

By: Genetics Gaming

Go here to see the original:
GeNx vs LmDG l Epic Hardpoint ending. - Video

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Introduction to Genetics

By: jlambbio

Read the original here:
Introduction to Genetics - Video

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

GENETICS Introduction by Professor Fink

By: Professor Fink

Originally posted here:
GENETICS Introduction by Professor Fink - Video

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Let #39;s Play The Sims 3 - Perfect Genetics Challenge - Episode 10
My Sims 3 Page: http://mypage.thesims3.com/mypage/Llandros2012 My Blog: http://Llandros09.blogspot.com My Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Llandros09?ref=tn_tnmn.

By: Llandros09

Continued here:
Let's Play The Sims 3 - Perfect Genetics Challenge - Episode 10 - Video

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Real-life genetics unveil a key factor of longevity
EPFL scientists in Johan Auwerx #39;s Lab (LISP) have revealed the mechanism, hidden deep within cell mitochondria, that is responsible for making organisms age. Nematodes treated with antibiotics...

By: EPFL News

Read the original post:
Real-life genetics unveil a key factor of longevity - Video

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

closing to genetics project

By: haley ballard

Read this article:
closing to genetics project - Video

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

May #39;s Musings on Pony Genetics
Mostly just an excuse for me to reread my genetics textbook and wish I #39;d gone into that field more. XD This is the video I #39;ve been trying to get done for awh...

By: MayBpony

Read more here:
May's Musings on Pony Genetics - Video

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Simulated walking for spinal cord injury
Jonathan, 6 years old.

By: Danielle Simone Williams

Read more here:
Simulated walking for spinal cord injury - Video

Recommendation and review posted by sam

Spinal cord injury,Rasing on wheelchair rollers
Arnar Helgi Lrusson sci 2002 T2/3 complete This video is since 2013 visit my website http://www.wix.com/amcorp/sci.

By: Arnar lrusson

More:
Spinal cord injury,Rasing on wheelchair rollers - Video

Recommendation and review posted by sam

Stem Cell Therapy Worldwide
http://www.placidway.com/ - Looking for best and affordable stem cell therapy? Placidway offers best and most affordable stem cell therapy with the top docto...

By: placidways #39;s channel

More here:
Stem Cell Therapy Worldwide - Video

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

LaViv stem cell therapy for acne scars
Dermatologist and cosmetic surgeon Dr. Melanie Palm of http://www.artofskinmd.com discusses and demonstrates the use of LaVIV, the first available personalized stem...

By: melaniepalm

Read more:
LaViv stem cell therapy for acne scars - Video

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Invasive procedures for removing non-melanoma skin cancers such as freezing or surgery may soon be a thing of the past.

A Queensland researcher may have found a new, less invasive way to treat the disease, which affects approximately 133,100* people in the state each year.

Dr Graham Leggatt of The University of Queensland Diamantina Institute, based at Translational Research Institute, is investigating anti-cancer immune cells as an alternative therapeutic option for non-melanoma skin cancer.

His work is being supported by a $100,000 Cancer Council Queensland research grant.

Dr Leggatt is thrilled with the announcement.

"Thanks to the support of Cancer Council Queensland, we will now be able to establish the role of immune cell therapy in clearing advanced non-melanoma skin cancers," he said.

Cancer Council Queensland CEO Professor Jeff Dunn congratulated Dr Leggatt and The University of Queensland Diamantina Institute for looking for new ways to treat non-melanoma skin cancers.

This research is particularly relevant in our country, and here in Queensland, where we have the highest rates of skin cancer in the world, he said.

As a result, non-melanoma skin cancer, which includes both squamous cell carcinoma and basal cell carcinoma, is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in Australia with approximately two per cent of the population treated for the cancer in 2002.

Current methods for treatment can be physically invasive and leave scarring. A gentler, less-invasive method of treatment would be beneficial for the long-term physical and mental recovery of the patient.

Original post:
Cell therapy to fight skin cancer

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

(MENAFN - AFP) Italian lawmakers on Wednesday gave their final approval to a law that allows limited use of a controversial type of stem cell therapy which has been condemned by many scientists but has given hope to families of terminally-ill children.

The law gives the go-ahead for therapy being carried out by the Stamina Foundation on dozens of patients to continue, and allows for an 18-month period of clinical trials for the procedure, which had previously been blocked by Italian authorities.

The bill was amended from an earlier version and states the therapy must be carried out under regulatory oversight and using cells made according to the Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) which the Stamina Foundation has not adhered to.

The Stamina Foundation says its treatment is based on mesenchymal stem cells and could treat diseases like spinal cord injury and motor neurone disease.

But leading scientists have warned that there is no evidence to suggest the treatment could work and no way to know that it will not cause harm.

Patients lobbied for the therapy to be given the go-ahead, receiving support from various celebrities including actress Gina Lollobrigida.

At one demonstration, protesters wore T-shirts with the slogan: "Yes to Stamina, Yes to Life".

The association Stem Cell Research Italy has branded the new law as "unacceptable" saying the therapy was not backed up by clinical data published in peer-reviewed academic journals.

US journal Nature said it was a "rogue" therapy.

Read the rest here:
Italy approves controversial stem cell therapy

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Javascript is currently disabled in your web browser. For full site functionality, it is necessary to enable Javascript. In order to enable it, please see these instructions. May 20, 2013 by Evan Lerner This is an illustration of a single-stranded DNA homopolymer translocating through a silicon nitride nanopore. The thickness of the membrane tapers within the nanopore, enhancing its sensitivity. Credit: University of Pennsylvania

(Phys.org) The allure of personalized medicine has made new, more efficient ways of sequencing genes a top research priority. One promising technique involves reading DNA bases using changes in electrical current as they are threaded through a nanoscopic hole.

Now, a team led by University of Pennsylvania physicists has used solid-state nanopores to differentiate single-stranded DNA molecules containing sequences of a single repeating base.

The study was led by Marija Drndi, an associate professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy in the School of Arts and Sciences, along with graduate students Kimberly Venta and Matthew Puster and post-doctoral researchers Gabriel Shemer, Julio A. Rodriguez-Manzo and Adrian Balan. They collaborated with assistant professor Jacob K. Rosenstein of Brown University and professor Kenneth L. Shepard of Columbia University.

Their results were published in the journal ACS Nano.

In this technique, known as DNA translocation measurements, strands of DNA in a salt solution are driven through an opening in a membrane by an applied electric field. As each base of the strand passes through the pore, it blocks some ions from passing through at the same time; amplifiers attached to the nanopore chip can register the resulting drop in electrical current. Because each base has a different size, researchers hope to use this data to infer the order of the bases as the strand passes through. The differences in base sizes are so small, however, that the proportions of both the nanopores and membranes need to be close those of the DNA strands themselvesa major challenge.

The nanopore devices closest to being a commercially viable option for sequencing are made out of protein pores and lipid bilayers. Such protein pores have desirable proportions, but the lipid bilayer membranes in which they are inserted are akin to a film of soap, which leaves much to be desired in terms of durability and robustness.

Solid-state nanopore devices, which are made of thin solid-state membranes, offer advantages over their biological counterpartsthey can be more easily shipped and integrated with other electronicsbut the basic demonstrations of proof-of-principle sensitivity to different DNA bases have been slower.

"While biological nanopores have shown the ability to resolve single nucleotides, solid-state alternatives have lagged due to two challenges of actually manufacturing the right-sized pores and achieving high-signal, low-noise and high-bandwidth measurements," Drndi said. "We're attacking those two challenges here."

Because the mechanism by which the nanopore differentiate between one type of base and another is by the amount of the pore's aperture that is blocked, the smaller a pore's diameter, the more accurate it is. For the nanopore to be effective at determining a sequence of bases, its diameter must approach the diameter of the DNA and its thickness must approach that of the space between one base and the next, or about 0.3 nanometers.

Go here to read the rest:
Advance in nanotech gene sequencing technique

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

May 23, 2013

Brett Smith for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online

Geneticists at theMedical College of Georgia at Georgia Regents University have identified a key regulatory gene that appears to play a role in the classic symptoms of schizophrenia.

According to a report in thejournalNeuron on the discovery targets expression of a gene known as Neuregulin-1 and could lead to promising treatments for patients with the psychological disorder.

In the study, the geneticists engineered mice to have elevated levels of Neuregulin-1 activity, replicating levels found in some patients diagnosed with schizophrenia. They observed the reduced activity of the brain messengers glutamate and GABA, a major inhibitory neurotransmitter. These mice were also seen to interact less with other animals and frequently failed certain thinking tasks, behaviors also seen in humans with schizophrenia.

The deficits reversed when we normalized Neuregulin-1 expression in animals that had been symptomatic, suggesting that damage which occurred during development is recoverable in adulthood, explained Dr. Lin Mei, a professor at the university.

While mouse models cant really do full justice to a complex brain disorder that impairs our most uniquely human characteristics, this study demonstrates the potential of dissecting the workings of intermediate components of disorders in animals to discover underlying mechanisms and new treatment targets, said Dr. Thomas R. Insel, a director at the National Institutes of Health, which funded the study.

Hopeful news about how an illness process that originates early in development might be reversible in adulthood illustrates the promise of such translational research.

The geneticists were able to measure Neuregulin-1 activity fairly easily, as blood level indicators correlate well with those in the brain. To affect the mice, the researchers put a copy of the Neureglin-1 gene into mouse DNA. In front of that gene the team put a binding protein for doxycycline, an analogue for the antibiotic tetracycline, which stains the teeth of fetuses and babies. This causes the administration of tetracycline to result in a drop in Neureglin-1 activity.

If you dont feed the mice tetracycline, the Neuregulin-1 levels are always high, said Mei, adding that normal levels of the gene are not affected by the antibiotic.

Read more here:
Controlling Schizophrenia Gene Could Help Tame The Disease

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Public release date: 23-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Vicki Cohn vcohn@liebertpub.com 914-740-2100 x2156 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News

New Rochelle, NY, May 23, 2013Detection of HIV antibodies is used to diagnose HIV infection and monitor trials of experimental HIV/AIDS vaccines. New, more sensitive detection systems being developed use microspheres to capture HIV antibodies and can measure even small amounts of multiple antibodies at one time. This novel multiplex immunoassay approach is described in an article in BioResearch Open Access, a peer-reviewed open access journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers (http://www.liebertpub.com). The article is available on the BioResearch Open Access website (http://www.liebertpub.com/biores).

The ability to detect very low levels of HIV virus is critical for early detection of HIV infection and to assess the effectiveness of an AIDS vaccine. Rebecca L.R. Powell and coauthors from the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, Brooklyn, NY, compared the microsphere-based BioPlex Suspension Array System to conventional ELISA antibody test methods for detecting simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) in SIV-infected rhesus macaques.

The specificity of the two methods were comparable. The microsphere-based test system successfully detected four key HIV antibodies simultaneously in SIV-infected animals, compared to noninfected control animals. Furthermore, in blood samples that tested negative for one or more HIV antibody using an ELISA test, the microsphere assay was often able to detect the antibody in the sample.

The findings were presented in the article "A Multiplex Microsphere-Based Immunoassay Increases the Sensitivity of SIV-Specific Antibody Detection in Serum Samples and Mucosal Specimens Collected from Rhesus Macaques Infected with SIVmac239." (http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/biores.2013.0009)

"This new method provides a significant improvement over standard ELISA techniques, allowing increased sensitivity for specific antibody detectionwhich is highly important for assessing vaccine efficacy," says BioResearch Open Access Editor Jane Taylor, PhD, MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Scotland.

###

About the Journal

BioResearch Open Access is a bimonthly peer-reviewed open access journal led by Editor-in-Chief Robert Lanza, MD, Chief Scientific Officer, Advanced Cell Technology, Inc. and Editor Jane Taylor, PhD. The Journal provides a new rapid-publication forum for a broad range of scientific topics including molecular and cellular biology, tissue engineering and biomaterials, bioengineering, regenerative medicine, stem cells, gene therapy, systems biology, genetics, biochemistry, virology, microbiology, and neuroscience. All articles are published within 4 weeks of acceptance and are fully open access and posted on PubMedCentral. All journal content is available on the BioResearch Open Access website (http://www.liebertpub.com/biores).

Excerpt from:
New microsphere-based methods for detecting HIV antibodies

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

If you want to keep your DNA to yourself, be sure not to leave any stray hairs, Q-tips or underwear lying around. There are genetic testing companies out there willing to reveal your most intimate biological secrets to anybody -- without your knowledge or permission.

And under California law, such genetic snooping is perfectly legal.

Now, legislators in Sacramento are considering a bill to change that. Senate Bill 222, which faces a key hearing Thursday, would require a donor's consent to collect, analyze or share genetic information. While the legislation might seem like a slam-dunk in the ever-evolving battle between technology and privacy, it's generating opposition from unlikely quarters: major research universities such as Stanford and the University of California, which argue that providing those protections will create unnecessary red tape and costs.

"We have privacy laws in place to protect health and financial information," said the bill's author, Alex Padilla, D-Pacoima. "But arguably the most personal information about us -- our own genetic profile -- isn't protected."

Most Californians are probably familiar with genetic testing companies such as 23AndMe that will screen customers' DNA for their predisposition to cancer, diabetes, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and a host of other diseases. But less known is that a growing number of firms are also offering paternity testing -- with or without a person's knowledge -- as well as

Padilla cites Elk Grove-based EasyDNA, which makes no attempt on its website to discourage customers from secretly sending in someone else's genetic material under its "discreet DNA samples" program.

"Sometimes it is not possible to directly obtain samples from the person who needs to be tested," says the website. "In this case, discreet samples can be submitted instead. Samples that can be used include strands of hair, blood, clothing, cigarette butts and other items that may contain traces of DNA."

EasyDNA representatives did not return repeated phone calls.

Mountain View-based 23AndMe says it has an extensive privacy policy in place -- and that the company doesn't do paternity or infidelity testing.

"We require that the person who's submitting the sample is the person who has legal authorization or consent on behalf of the person they're providing samples for," said 23AndMe spokeswoman Catherine Afarian.

See the original post:
Bill would prevent genetic-testing firms from using surreptitiously obtained DNA

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

If you want to keep your DNA to yourself, be sure not to leave any stray hairs, Q-tips or underwear lying around. There are genetic testing companies out there willing to reveal your most intimate biological secrets to anybody -- without your knowledge or permission.

And under California law, such genetic snooping is perfectly legal.

Now, legislators in Sacramento are considering a bill to change that. Senate Bill 222, which faces a key hearing Thursday, would require a donor's consent to collect, analyze or share genetic information. While the legislation might seem like a slam-dunk in the ever-evolving battle between technology and privacy, it's generating opposition from unlikely quarters: major research universities such as Stanford and the University of California, which argue that providing those protections will create unnecessary red tape and costs.

"We have privacy laws in place to protect health and financial information," said the bill's author, Alex Padilla, D-Pacoima. "But arguably the most personal information about us -- our own genetic profile -- isn't protected."

Most Californians are probably familiar with genetic testing companies such as 23AndMe that will screen customers' DNA for their predisposition to cancer, diabetes, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and a host of other diseases. But less known is that a growing number of firms are also offering paternity testing -- with or without a person's knowledge -- as well as

Padilla cites Elk Grove-based EasyDNA, which makes no attempt on its website to discourage customers from secretly sending in someone else's genetic material under its "discreet DNA samples" program.

"Sometimes it is not possible to directly obtain samples from the person who needs to be tested," says the website. "In this case, discreet samples can be submitted instead. Samples that can be used include strands of hair, blood, clothing, cigarette butts and other items that may contain traces of DNA."

EasyDNA representatives did not return repeated phone calls.

Mountain View-based 23AndMe says it has an extensive privacy policy in place -- and that the company doesn't do paternity or infidelity testing.

"We require that the person who's submitting the sample is the person who has legal authorization or consent on behalf of the person they're providing samples for," said 23AndMe spokeswoman Catherine Afarian.

Continue reading here:
California bill would prevent genetic-testing firms from using surreptitiously obtained DNA

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

May 23, 2013

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online

A new technique featured in the Journal of Visualized Experiments (JoVE) could lead to the development of a genetic thermometer that could assess a patients health in relation to other individuals.

The method developed by the laboratory of Dr. Gil Atzmon at New Yorks Albert Einstein College of Medicine measures telomere length, which serve as the caps to chromosomes. Telomeres mark the ends of genetic material and ensure that genes do not degrade as cells divide.

Think of telomere length as though it was a thermometer. It measures the health of your genetic material, Dr. Atzmon explains. It tells you how fit you are in relation to the age you are. If you have longer telomeres you are in good shape, if you have shorter telomeres you are less fit for your age and are not in good health.

Telomerase activity eclipses as people age, and as a result telomeres shorten and can be responsible for age related afflictions and some cancers. An individuals overall health can impact how quickly these telomeres degrade.

Telomere length and telomerase function impacts several realms of biological and medical research- from preventative aging models to cancer treatments. Maintaining the telomere is a pre-requisite to extending life and improving long-term health, said Dr. Kira Henderson, JoVE Editor and Director of Review.

JoVE films and edits videos of researchers performing new experimental techniques to allow students and scientists to learn them quickly. The journal has published video-protocols from an international community of over 8,000 authors in the fields of biology, medicine, chemistry and physics.

I published in JoVE because I want more people to use the technique. As we [the medical community] collect more data, we can build a better index of age and health by population, and more accurately place a patient on the right spot in a continuum, said Dr. Atzmon. He added that he hopes the publication will impact the aging community by classifying health relative to an individuals age.

Henderson hopes the research teams JoVE video-article will elucidate relationships between disease state and telomere function.

Follow this link:
Measuring The Health Of Human Genetic Material In Relation To A Patient's Age

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith