The DNA Network |
| Parallel Dataverses: Doppelgangers in Medicine and Recreation [The Personal Genome] Posted: 11 Jul 2008 04:07 PM CDT
Some regulatory regimes in the United States, like those in the state of New York, require laboratories that receive and analyze any tissue specimen for any purpose to adhere to standards of clinical medicine. The laboratories are, for example, required to follow quality measures defined by the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA). Furthermore, individual citizens are prohibited from ordering laboratory services directly. They must, instead, work through a state-appointed and licensed physician if they seek to obtain personal biological data. This restriction does not depend on the intended use of the data. An individual who wants to have the DNA in their saliva analyzed for recreational purposes, like genealogy or ancestry or education, still must work through a physician. This has resulted in the paradoxical situation of non-clinical, clinical genetic testing. “Don’t cross the streams,” Dr. Egon Spengler would say. Well, the streams are already crossed and its time, I think, to uncross them. Biological data for non-medical purposes needs a paradigm distinct from the medical domain. Here are a few reasons why this proposal should be strongly considered:
So, what do you think? Should uncrossing the streams be an initiative we support? What are other reasons why this may or may not be a good idea? DAT, Genomic Data, policy |
| Bayblab in the BMI Bulletin [Bayblab] Posted: 11 Jul 2008 02:29 PM CDT Recently, the Bayblab (Bayman in absentia)were interviewed by the BMI bulletin, the Grad Student Association's newsletter. Check it out here. (Issue #68, direct link to pdf) |
| Do you get permission to engineer your microbe? [The Tree of Life] Posted: 11 Jul 2008 01:00 PM CDT Well, lots of researchers manipulate microbes in various ways in the lab. They delete genes. They make mutants They insert genes. Sometimes, they insert antibiotic resistance genes to help with the genetic manipulations they are doing. Do researchers always think about the potential risks of what they are doing? Well, probably not. Most of the time that is OK as the risks are negligible. But some of the time, there are real risks to consider. One example of a real risk is the introduction into some pathogen of genes encoding a form of antibiotic resistance not seen normally in that pathogen. If that strain escapes from the lab, it could, in theory, spread into the real world and make treating infections by that pathogen more difficult. All Things Considered had a very interesting story on "Making Drug-Resistant Germs In The Lab" about exactly this issue a few days ago where they discussed how one researcher submitted to an NIH oversight panel a request to carry out this type of experiment. It seems as though very few researchers actually submit requests to carry out these experiments, even though many are doing it. NPR also discussed how the CDC reviews requests to manipulate certain really nasty pathogens and that most of the requests have been granted. Unfortunately, I cannot find a transcript for this story to quote, but it is really worth listening to. |
| Posted: 11 Jul 2008 12:36 PM CDT  I've ran across a story on the internet about folk remedies for uterine prolapses that include lodging objects into the vagina as a pessary. One particularly colorful tale involved a Russian woman using a potato which subsequently germinated. Here is what snopes has to say:Status: undetermined Story: "An elderly female comes to the Emergency Department complaining: "I got the green vines in my virginity." The patient reports a two-week history of a vine growing from her vagina. On physical examination it is discovered that she does indeed have a vine growing out of her vagina, about six inches in length. A pelvic exam reveals a mass which is easily removed from the vaginal vault, vine still attached. Upon extraction, the patient reports that her uterus had been falling out and that she "put a potato in there to hold it up" and subsequently forgot about it." Bayblab verdict: The story seems to have many variants on the web, so there may be a lot of embellishment. I have no doubt that someone out there has used a potato as a home remedy for prolapsed uterus. I have seen some weird stuff when i was hanging out in OB/Gyn but I'm not sure anything could germinate in the acidic environment of the vagina ~pH 4.0 . Perhaps we could test whether a potato would grow at that pH. |
| Around The Blogs [Bitesize Bio] Posted: 11 Jul 2008 12:35 PM CDT In this week’s around the blogs - biorap, one-ton tomatoes and a PCR machine that fits into your pocket. You still have to do the experiments. Thomas writes about how even in this data-rich, high-throughput-screen driven “pentabyte age” the old hypothesize-model-test approach is still relevant. That’s a lot of ketchup. Could a genetically engineered one-ton tomato could be on the cards, asks Keith at Omics!Omics!? Rap it up. At ScienceRoll, Berci flags up two video clips. One is an amazing bio animation from Hybrid Medical Animationand the other, a not so amazing bio-rap, which I suppose could get into the lower reaches of our biopop top 10!. The Dirty Dozen’t. David Bradley at ScienceBase comments on public “chemophobia” and how the UNEP Dirty Dozen Chemicals list, doesn’t help. Superficial science. This great article at Adaptive complexity suggests that the fragmenting your working day by doing many things at once is a poor approach to science. We agree. Protein mobility. At Life of a Lab Rat, The Black Knight is viewing protein structures on his iPhone. Whatever next? and finally… PCR-pod. Check out this Aminopop post about an amazing palm-sized PCR machine that has just come onto the market. Available in three colors! |
| Call for Cancer Posts [Bayblab] Posted: 11 Jul 2008 12:14 PM CDT  Head over to /weblog who will be hosting the 12th edition and has put out a call for submissions for the Cancer Research Blog Carnival (and who also designed the slick logo). The carnival will appear there on August 1. |
| Wanted -Microbial Genomics Lead at JGI [The Tree of Life] Posted: 11 Jul 2008 12:00 PM CDT The Joint Genome Institute, where I work part of the time, is seeking a lead scientist for their Microbial Genomics work. Sr. Research and Management Opportunity For more information see here. If you want to play a leadership role in microbial genomics, this job is for you. |
| How will I survive? iPhone Upgrade crashed ... [The Tree of Life] Posted: 11 Jul 2008 11:58 AM CDT  Well, not my normal posting here. But I have been trying to use my iPhone more and more for blogging and was excited about some of the new software upgrades that were made available today. And so I started the upgrade. And the iTunes server has apparently crashed and now my phone is stuck in "Emergency calls only" mode. So much for mobile blogging for today at least. |
| The Woodstock of Evolutionary Biology and eye rolling. [T Ryan Gregory's column] Posted: 11 Jul 2008 10:29 AM CDT In today's issue of Science there is a piece by Elizabeth Pennisi on the "Altenberg 16" who will be att |
| Genomicron content [T Ryan Gregory's column] Posted: 11 Jul 2008 09:50 AM CDT In case anyone is new to the blog, here are some ways that you can explore content. |
| Posted: 11 Jul 2008 09:30 AM CDT I have previously been pleased to announce on Genomicron the release of the first two issues of Volume 1 of Read More... |
| The problems with genome-wide association scans [Yann Klimentidis' Weblog] Posted: 11 Jul 2008 09:29 AM CDT Dan at Genetic Future has a great post from a few months ago that I finally read in its entirety: Why do genome-wide scans fail? It looks at the present limitations and future promises of this technique. |
| Mary Meets Dolly takes a vacation [Mary Meets Dolly] Posted: 11 Jul 2008 07:25 AM CDT Yes, even this tireless soul needs to get away once and awhile. I am taking the kids to sunny, I mean smokey, California. I will be back at the end of the month. Enjoy your summer! |
| Dirty Dozen Chemicals [Sciencebase Science Blog] Posted: 11 Jul 2008 07:00 AM CDT
It usually starts with a dose of nostalgia, pangs for a time when the world was simpler, and an aching for a natural world that we have long since lost. Unfortunately for sufferers, there never was a time of simplicity and natural living. In those halcyon days of yore, infectious disease was rife, infant mortality rates were high, and life expectancy was very low. Natural, at that time meant, inept remedies for lethal diseases such as polio, tuberculosis, bacterial infections, and plague. It meant poor harvests and widespread famine, and if disease didn’t catch you young, only those who kept their heads very low were safe from interminable wars, rock-breaking on distant sun-bleached shores, or the hangman’s noose, guilty or otherwise. Today, we may have more obesity and diabetes and certainly fare more incidences of the diseases of old age, but that’s because we have more food to eat (in the developed world, at least) and live longer. Certainly, natural does not equate to good - think snake venom, belladonna, and deadly toadstools, whereas most synthetic chemicals have a strong pedigree and have tested safety and toxicity. But throw in the fact that most chemophobics also have risk assessment blindness as well as dystatistica and we see pronouncements on all things chemical and synthetic as being bad. It is from this, that the UNEP Dirty Dozen Chemicals list emerges. Not only has it a far too conveniently tabloid name to be believed, but several of the entries are not single chemicals but whole families. Needless to say, several of these, while appearing to be the harbinger’s of doom media hyperbole would have us believe, are not necessarily as dangerous to us or the environment as you might think, and others, such as DDT could be used to help eradicate one of the biggest global killers.
These compounds are now banned under UNEP, but were not used in manufacturing before this list was created. There are other lists, such as the List of RoHO prohibited substances, which includes lead, cadmium, mercury, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyl (PBB) polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) flame retardants, which is fair enough. And, industry-specific lists, such as the Volvo manufacturing black list, which lists all the compounds that may not be used in its production lines, including CFC cooling agents, the paint hardener methylenedianiline, and the previously discussed carbon tetrachloride In a forthcoming issue of the International Journal of Sustainable Manufacturing (2008, 1, 41-57), Jack Jeswiet, of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, at Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada and Michael Hauschild of the Danish Technical University, Denmark, argue the case that market forces Greenhouse gas emissions, environmental impact, and toxic substances to be avoided must all be addressed by the EcoDesigner in any design situation, they say. The ecodesigner cannot control market forces, but must aware of them and rules should be followed to reduce the eco footprint. At the time of writing, a news release from the UK’s Royal Society’s summer science exhibition presented findings from consumers tests being carried out during the event which is open to the public. The researchers involved, from the National Physical Laboratory, are working towards producing the world’s first model that will predict how we perceive “naturalness”. They claim that the results could help manufacturers produce synthetic products that are so good they seem “natural” to our senses and are fully equivalent to the “real thing”, but with the benefits of reduced environmental impact and increased durability. Meanwhile, a new study shows that companies are significantly hijacking the language of environmentalists to their own marketing ends, presumably hoping to leverage the best out of the movement in selling their products.
A post from David Bradley Science Writer |
| Phylojeanomics and The Jeans of Life [The Tree of Life] Posted: 11 Jul 2008 07:00 AM CDT Well after the PLoS Nature dust up, I thought we needed a little humor in our lives. So here is an old Levis add with a distinct evolution theme. Maybe Jindal should propose a Levis boycott? |
| Approaching 400 again - finally. [T Ryan Gregory's column] Posted: 11 Jul 2008 06:36 AM CDT Some time ago, I lamented a precipitous drop in subscriptions to the Genomicron RSS feed from a high of more than 500 (Read More... |
| Friday Animation and DNA Rap [ScienceRoll] Posted: 11 Jul 2008 05:55 AM CDT The first animation was created by Hybrid Medical Animation and presents the micro- and macroscopic biological processes of the body (Via Gizmodo).
For more similar videos, follow the Youtube channel of Hybrid. The second video features BioRap. No comment…
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| Control switches found for immune cells that fight cancer, viral infection [Think Gene] Posted: 11 Jul 2008 01:57 AM CDT Josh: If we can learn how to selectively disable/enable these specific points on HS1, then it would really help in cancer treatment. However, a lot of precautions have to be taken; incorrectly “programming” HS1 could lead to the NK (natural killer) cells attacking the body and doing more harm than good. Medical science may be a significant step closer to climbing into the driver’s seat of an important class of immune cells, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis report in Nature Immunology. The researchers showed that a single protein, HS1, enables key functions of natural killer (NK) cells, which kill early cancers and fight off viral infections. The protein allows the NK cells to pursue their targets, latch on to them and configure the cellular machinery it uses to kill them. (more…) |
| Researchers unveil near-complete protein catalog for mitochondria [Think Gene] Posted: 11 Jul 2008 01:48 AM CDT Josh: This opens the doors for doctors provide genetic testing to new borns and babies still in the womb to diagnose mitochondrial diseases. Already, in this study, they found one mutation that is a cause of complex I disease. Imagine trying to figure out how your car’s power train works from just a few of its myriad components: It would be nearly impossible. Scientists have long faced a similar challenge in understanding cells’ tiny powerhouses — called “mitochondria” — from scant knowledge of their molecular parts. Now, an international team of researchers has created the most comprehensive “parts list” to date for mitochondria, a compendium that includes nearly 1,100 proteins. By mining this critical resource, the researchers have already gained deep insights into the biological roles and evolutionary histories of several key proteins. In addition, this careful cataloging has identified a mutation in a novel protein-coding gene as the cause behind one devastating mitochondrial disease. A full description of the work appears in the July 11 print edition of the journal Cell. (more…) |
| New Gene in Atrial Fibrillation [The Gene Sherpa: Personalized Medicine and You] Posted: 10 Jul 2008 07:53 PM CDT Did anyone see the New England Journal of Medicine? They published an article on a new gene involved in atrial fibrillation. Don't know what A-Fib is? You have 4 Chambers in your heart.....the top 2... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] |
We live in an age of chemophobia, an insidious disease that threatens our way of life, precludes R & D that might solve many of the environmental issues we face and prevents disease-stopping compounds being deployed where they are most needed in the developing world. Chemophobia is an irrational fear of all things chemical and is usually contracted by those already with naturophilia, the irrational love of all things natural.
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