Month: July 2015
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Surfing the web of life
By Peggy Townsend, UCSC Public Information Office In the dark hour that is 3:30 a.m., Bill Saxton will often rise from his bed, pull on a wetsuit, and head for the surf spot called Steamer Lane. There, the UC Santa Cruz professor of molecular, cell and developmental biology will slip into the water and, against…
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Keck Foundation awards UC Santa Cruz $2 million for human genome variation project
By Tim Stephens, UCSC Public Information Office The UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute has received a $2 million grant from the W. M. Keck Foundation for ongoing research to develop a comprehensive map of human genetic variation. The Human Genome Variation Map will be a valuable new resource for medical researchers, as well as for…
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Why you should share your genetic profile
By David Haussler This first appeared in the Opinion section of the San Francisco Chronicle on July 16, 2015 Fifteen years ago, a scrappy team of computer geeks at UC Santa Cruz assembled the first complete draft of the human genome from DNA data generated by a global consortium, giving humanity its first glimpse of…
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UC Santa Cruz pediatric cancer project receives $250,000 to fight high-risk neuroblastoma
By Kayla Bernard and Branwyn Wagman Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation (ALSF) has awarded the UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute an innovation grant of $250,000 over two years to advance research on two groundbreaking approaches for identifying treatment options for children with neuroblastoma. “Neuroblastoma is one of the most enigmatic pediatric cancers,” said postdoctoral scholar Olena…
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Banana slug genome project makes progress
By Branwyn Wagman Can a class of 17 graduate students and undergrads make a continuous genome from the A’s, C’s, T’s, and G’s that comprise the banana slug genome? The short answer: partially. The banana slug genome seems to be as quirky as the banana slug itself and has already yielded curious findings. In spring…
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Pediatric advocacy group supports UC Santa Cruz childhood cancer genomics initiative
By Branwyn Wagman The Treehouse Childhood Cancer Project, part of the UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute, has received $30,000 from Unravel Pediatric Cancer to pave the way for accepting individual patient genomes for analysis. Treehouse Project scientists are developing a genome comparison method that can suggest new treatment leads for childhood cancer patients currently considered…