Latest Genome Stories

Johns Hopkins researchers have succeeded in teaching computers how to identify commonalities in DNA sequences known to regulate gene activity, and to then use those commonalities to predict other regulatory regions throughout the genome. The tool is expected to help scientists better understand disease risk and cell development. The work was reported in two recent papers in Genome Research, published online on July 3 and Sept. 27. “Our goal is to understand how regulatory information...

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online A multinational team of scientists reports that they have successfully sequenced 1,092 human genomes from individuals across the globe. Their new study is the first to break the "1,000 genomes barrier." The researchers say the feat is a collegial effort to equip biologists and physicians with information that can be used to understand the normal range of human genetic variants so a patient's diseased genome can be interpreted in a...

Just how new species are established is still one of the most central questions in biology. In an article in the leading scientific journal Nature, researchers at Uppsala University in Sweden describe how they mapped the genomes of the European pied flycatcher and the collared flycatcher and found that it is disparate chromosome structures rather than separate adaptations in individual genes that underlies the separation of the species. "We were surprised that such a large part of the...

April Flowers for redOrbit.com – Your University Online A research team from the University of Otago has achieved landmark results by sequencing the complete mitochondrial genome for members of what was likely to be one of the first groups of Polynesians to settle New Zealand. The results of this study, published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, have revealed a surprising degree of genetic variation among these pioneering voyagers. Similar DNA detective...

BETHESDA, Md., Oct. 18, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP) published the report of the Whole Genome Analysis (WGA) Working Group of the AMP Clinical Practice Committee in the November 2012 issue of The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics (JMD). Titled "Opportunities and Challenges Associated with Clinical Diagnostic Genome Sequencing," the timely report provides a detailed and compelling overview of the landscape of next generation sequencing...

PROVIDENCE, R.I., Oct. 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Nabsys, Inc., a life sciences company pioneering solid-state, single-molecule positional sequencing for broad applicability in DNA analysis, today announced two additions to its senior management team, Peter Lewis as chief financial officer and Darren Lee as vice president, business development. These appointments are part of the company's transition from a technology development focus to a commercial entity that is manufacturing and...

Connie K. Ho for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online Technology is changing faster than ever. With the click of a button you can send messages to friends, share photos and watch videos. This rapid speed is also being seen in medical technology. A new study found that doctors can quickly diagnose genetic diseases in babies with a simple blood test, allowing doctors to decode the baby’s complete genome in two days as opposed to the current time frame of at least six weeks. According...

KANSAS CITY, Mo., Oct. 3, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Today investigators at Children's Mercy Hospitals and Clinics in Kansas City reported the first use of whole genome information for diagnosing critically ill infants. As reported in Science Translational Medicine, the team describes STAT-Seq®, a whole genome sequencing approach - from blood sample to returning results to a physician - in about 50 hours. Currently, testing even a single gene takes six weeks or more. Speed of...

redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports - Your Universe Online Thanks to a grassroots fundraising campaign, researchers were able to sequence the genome of the critically endangered Puerto Rican Parrot -- the only surviving member of its species in the United States. The project, which was funded primarily through community donations, was published Friday in BioMed Central and BGI's open access journal GigaScience. It is the first of the large Neotropical Amazona birds to be studied at the...

PHILADELPHIA and SHENZHEN, China, Sept. 27, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and BGI announced today that the BGI@CHOP Joint Genome Center will begin to offer clinical next-generation sequencing (NGS) services at CHOP through the hospital's Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine in a CAP/CLIA-compliant environment. The Clinical Laboratories Improvement Act of 1988 (CLIA) established quality standards for all laboratory testing...