Category: News
-
Jenny Reardon among scholars speaking out on genomics and race
April 04, 2018 By Jennifer McNulty A professor of genetics at Harvard kicked up quite a storm recently when he published an opinion piece in the New York Times about genetics and race. Entitled, “How Genetics is Changing Our Understanding of ‘Race,’” the piece by David Reich provoked a swift response from scholars around the globe, including Jenny Reardon, a…
-
New ‘Pan-Cancer’ analysis reveals the common roots of different cancers
April 05, 2018 By Aylin Woodward Typically cancers are classified by where they originate in the body—think breast cancer, stomach cancer, and so on. But a collaboration called the Pan-Cancer Initiative, launched in 2012 at a meeting in Santa Cruz, California,sought to study cancers from a new angle—a molecular one. Preliminary analyses showed cancers that start…
-
How Not To Talk About Race And Genetics
March 30, 2018, at 2:29 p.m. Race has long been a potent way of defining differences between human beings. But science and the categories it constructs do not operate in a political vacuum. This open letter was produced by a group of 67 scientists and researchers. The full list of signatories can be found…
-
2018 Guide2Research H-Index Ranking
Guide2Research just released its 2018 ranking of top scientists in Computer Science and Electronics. The ranking — which includes publications from all disciplines — is based on the H-Index metric provided by Google Scholar and DBLP. H-index attempts to measure both productivity and influence of the publications of a scientist or scholar. This year’s list…
-
The Y Chromosome’s Still-Uncharted Regions
The human genome has never actually been complete. Sarah Zhang, The Atlantic, March 21 Fifteen years ago this April, scientists announced that the human genome sequence was complete. I regret to inform you this is not true. If you have been misled, it is because many scientists themselves have long ignored the last unassembled regions of human DNA, which…
-
UC Santa Cruz Research Signals Arrival of a Complete Human Genome
New era exposes obscured gaps in our genetic maps critical to human health SANTA CRUZ, CA – March 19, 2018 – It’s been nearly two decades since a UC Santa Cruz research team announced that they had assembled and posted the first human genome sequence on the internet. Despite the passage of time, enormous gaps…
-
Genomics Yields Insights About Ancient Humans
By Meredith Salisbury | February 27, 2018, 2:39 PM | Techonomy Exclusive Scientists are using genomics to reconstruct the evolutionary history of humans. It sheds new light on our past, and also yields insights into related species like the Neanderthals as well as other ancient hominids. The recent Advances in Genome Biology and Technology conference included two reports…
-
Scientists Have Reconstructed the Genome of a Bird Extinct for 700 Years
By Sharon Begley, STAT – February 27, 2018 Scientists at Harvard University have assembled the first nearly complete genome of the little bush moa, a flightless bird that went extinct soon after Polynesians settled New Zealand in the late 13th century. The achievement moves the field of extinct genomes closer to the goal of “de-extinction”—bringing vanished species back…
-
A New Day? Fast, Cheap Human Genome Sequencing Will Open Doors
February 23, 2018 – Rabiya S. Tuma, PhD (Medscape) Researchers completed the first draft of the human genome sequence almost 20 years ago. The multiyear project cost $2.7 billion dollars, with sequencing cost making up at least $500 million of that bill. This year, an international research team reported that they completed the human genome sequence using handheld nanopore…
-
New DNA analysis shows that all the world’s wild horses are already extinct
February 23, 2018 – The Japan Times There are no living wild horses on Earth. That’s according to a study that unexpectedly rewrites the horse family tree based on a new DNA analysis of their ancestry. What most people thought were the last remaining wild horses on Earth — known as Przewalski’s horses — were actually…
-
Share The Data: David Haussler Envisions A New Future For Pediatric Cancer
By Leah Rosenbaum February 22, 2018 | David Haussler wore his trademark Hawaiian shirt underneath a blazer last week in San Francisco. Haussler, who played a seminal role in the Human Genome Project, has been a regular at the Molecular Medicine Tri-Conference*. This year, Haussler came back to the stage to discuss using the power of big…
-
Baskin Fellowship Recognizes Enterprising Work Of Nathan Schaefer
Tuesday, October 17, 2017 Tyler Bartholome Nathan Schaefer, a graduate student in biomolecular engineering, is this year’s recipient of the prestigious Jack Baskin and Peggy Downes-Baskin Fellowship. Originally from Wisconsin, Schaefer came to California four years ago after completing his undergraduate studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. “I had no idea what I wanted to…