Tag: genetics
The automatic-design tools that are changing synthetic biology – Nature
Blockchains Won’t Fix the Problem with Genomics – NeoLife

Illustration by Igor Bastidas
This is shaping up to be the year of DNA for cryptocurrency. One startup after another is offering to pay you in bitcoin-like tokens for sharing your genetic data.
But it’s hard to see how using blockchains and cryptocurrencies will substantially increase demand for genome sequencing. That’s a vexing problem because too few genomes have been sequenced and analyzed to generate as many meaningful insights as scientists had hoped.
New method taps family trees for clues about conditions – Spectrum

Genetic puzzle: A new approach for finding risk variants considers data from multiple generations of a family. Hero Images/Getty Images
Asking participants in genetic databases about their family’s medical history can help researchers uncover genetic variants tied to uncommon conditions. Because people share 50 percent of their DNA with each of their parents, siblings and children, the DNA of the participants holds clues to the conditions of these relatives.
Tasmanian devils show signs of resistance to devastating facial cancer – Nature
Scientists track last 2,000 years of British evolution

Kurt Hutton/Getty Images
Humans may be members of an advanced species, but we haven’t stopped evolving. Over the past 2,000 years, British people have adapted to become taller and blonder, more likely to have blue eyes and better able to digest milk, according to researchers who have developed a technique to track very recent changes in the human genome.
Tooth plaque may hold clues about ancient life – National Geographic

Image credit: Dr. Christina Warinner
A nuisance to dentists is now a boon for archaeologists. Researchers have successfully sequenced DNA from fossilized plaque on 700-year-old teeth.
Solidified plaque—called calculus, tartar, or that chalky stuff the dentist scrapes off—contains a whopping 25 times more DNA than ancient tooth or bone.
Short-lived fish hints at genetic secrets of longevity

Image credit: Leibniz Institute on Aging
A fish with the briefest of lifespans may just end up teaching us how to live longer. Inhibiting the effects of certain genes turns out to lengthen their lifespan by as much as 15 per cent.
One man’s race to edit muscular dystrophy gene for friend’s son

Image credit: Kerry Rosenfeld
The clock is ticking for Ronald Cohn. He wants to use CRISPR gene editing to correct the genes of his friend’s 13-year-old son.
First trial of gene-editing treatment for haemophilia

Image credit: James St. John/CC BY 2.0
The first attempt to edit the genes of cells inside the human body is about to take place. The technique being trialled aims to cure haemophilia B, a clotting disorder that can result in spontaneous internal bleeding.
The trial was announced in Washington DC this week at the International Summit on Human Gene Editing.