Posted by on under th project, genome project, deases, human genome, interested researchers, genetic markers, forensic science, public database, ethnic background, project director, genetics, alg, volunteers, peoe, aims, biotechnology, decade, participants, medicine | 
Ian Lamont writes "The Personal Genome Project has released the data sets and descriptions of traits, ethnic background and other information of the first ten volunteers, which include the project director and nine other people with backgrounds in genetics, medicine, and biotechnology. While the human genome was first sequenced at the beginning of this decade, what's special about this project is these 10 participants are having their names, genome, and other personal data gleaned from questionnaires shared openly on the Web, where interested researchers can freely access them. One of the ultimate aims of the project is to create a public database of 100,000 volunteers that researchers and other parties can use to determine what traits, diseases or other characteristics are associated with specific genetic markers. When asked why volunteers are requested to attach their names to the Web records, the project director said the data could be used by researchers in other fields outside of genetics, including forensic science and historical research. While this project opens the door for some interesting and potentially life-saving research, there may also be difficulties or problems for people whose records are posted on the Web. Would you participate? Would you share your name, along with your genome, disease history, and traits? Why or why not?"
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Tagi: th project, genome project, deases, human genome, interested researchers, genetic markers, forensic science, public database, ethnic background, project director, genetics, alg, volunteers, peoe, aims, biotechnology, decade, participants, medicine
Posted by Jason Kottke on under microbe species, bacterial genomes, universal genetic code, genome studies, th level, gene transfer, chromosomes, microbes, genes, ancestors, genetics, several times, nbsp, dna, biology, protocols, evolution, earth, science |
Recent evidence of horizontal gene transfer -- in which genes are exchanged from other organisms, not from ancestors -- has some scientists thinking that the dominant form of evolution for most of the Earth's history was between non-related organisms and not among ancestors.
In the past few years, a host of genome studies have demonstrated that DNA flows readily between the chromosomes of microbes and the external world. Typically around 10 per cent of the genes in many bacterial genomes seem to have been acquired from other organisms in this way, though the proportion can be several times that. So an individual microbe may have access to the genes found in the entire microbial population around it, including those of other microbe species. "It's natural to wonder if the very concept of an organism in isolation is still valid at this level," says Goldenfeld.
Read on for their hypothesis about how horizontal evolution drove innovation -- development of a universal genetic code and genetic innovation-sharing protocols -- in life forms early on in the Earth's history. Fascinating.
Tags: biology evolution genetics science
Tagi: microbe species, bacterial genomes, universal genetic code, genome studies, th level, gene transfer, chromosomes, microbes, genes, ancestors, genetics, several times, nbsp, dna, biology, protocols, evolution, earth, science
Posted by Jason Kottke on under th tags, kottke, genetics, nbsp |
As information visualizations go, you can't get much better than this.
Tags: genetics infoviz
Tagi: th tags, kottke, genetics, nbsp
Posted by Jason Kottke on under embryonic stem cell, science and faith, stem cell research, lamberth, stem cells, culture war, federal spending, august 23rd, franc, limbo, new yorker, research projects, nih, genetics, appointment, nbsp, columbia |
The New Yorker has a long profile of Francis Collins, the ardent Christian whom Obama picked to head up the NIH, and the NIH's role in embryonic stem cell research.
A year later, Obama's appointment of Collins seemed an inspired choice. The President had found not only a man who reflected his own view of the harmony between science and faith but an evangelical Christian who hoped that the government's expansion of embryonic-stem-cell research might bring the culture war over science to a quiet end. On August 23rd, however, Judge Royce C. Lamberth, of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia, halted federal spending for embryonic-stem-cell research, putting hundreds of research projects in limbo and plunging the N.I.H. back into a newly contentious national debate.
Tags: Francis Collins genetics politics religion science stem cells
Tagi: embryonic stem cell, science and faith, stem cell research, lamberth, stem cells, culture war, federal spending, august 23rd, franc, limbo, new yorker, research projects, nih, genetics, appointment, nbsp, columbia
