What I love most about science in general, and genetics in particular, is when new findings upend everything we thought we knew…
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post How (and Why) the Octopus Edits its RNA
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post Topical Gene Therapy FDA-Approved for Severe Skin Disease, Dystrophic Epidermolysis Bullosa
The newest FDA-approved gene therapy treats the severe, skin-peeling condition dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (DEB). The gene treatment has been a long time coming…
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post Experimental Myotonic Dystrophy Treatment Teams Monoclonal Antibody and siRNA
Myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1), an inherited disease affecting muscles, was one of the first described “expanding repeat” disorders. In these 50…
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post The Love Songs of W. E. B. Du Bois Celebrates Afro-Indigenous History with Genealogy – No DNA Needed
When a dear friend recommended The Love Songs of W. E. B. Du Bois, I thought the book was a tribute to…
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post Bioprospecting in Dental Tartar from Neanderthals for Novel Antibiotics and Revisiting the Discovery of Penicillin
Dense living communities of hundreds of bacterial species form biofilms on our teeth. Without careful brushing and flossing of this dental plaque…
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post Embracing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Genetics Textbooks and Testing
I just finished revising the fourteenth edition of my college textbook, Human Genetics: Concepts and Applications. The first was published at the…
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post Seventy Years Since Watson and Crick’s Paper Introduced DNA: A Brief History of the Molecule of Life
On April 25, 1953, “MOLECULAR STRUCTURE OF NUCLEIC ACIDS: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid” was published in Nature. J. D. Watson…
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post Genetic Signature for Drug Addiction Revealed in New Analysis of More Than A Million Genomes
Drug addiction is prevalent and deadly. In the US in 2021, more than 46 million people aged 12 or older had addiction…
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post New Urine DNA Test Can Predict Bladder Cancer a Dozen Years Before Symptoms
A urine test for DNA pieces bearing 10 key mutations can indicate early inklings of bladder cancer, according to a report at…
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post The New Fungus Among Us, Candida auris
In “The Last of Us,” a video game and recently-wrapped HBO series, giant mutant fungi turn much of humanity into zombies. In…
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post Partial Fetus in Sister’s Brain Supports Role of DNA Repeats in Development
Startling images in the journal Neurology made the media rounds last week. CT scans show a partial fetus wedged within a space…
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post The Dogs of Chernobyl Reveal the Genomic Aftermath of a Human-Made Environmental Disaster
In the original Planet of the Apes, the Forbidden Zone is a future radiation-devastated landscape from which hardy new mutants arise, shifting…