Category Archives: Human Genetics

SenateSHJ recognises excellence with prize A Victoria University student Sophie Speakman, who is studying both human genetics and communications has been awarded the SenateSHJ Prize and internship for 2014. The SenateSHJ Prize, now in its sixth year, awards the best projects undertaken by communications and public relations students at Unitec, Victoria University, AUT and Massey University. The top students from each institution have the opportunity to win $500 and a chance to compete for a paid internship at SenateSHJ. Sophie won the SenateSHJ Prize for Victoria University students with her analysis of Contikis This Way to Amazing campaign. Sophie was additionally selected out of the three national winners for a one week paid internship with SenateSHJs Auckland office. Massey Universitys Morgan Fitzgerald and Unitecs Zoe Gardner also won the SenateSHJ Prize on behalf of their universities. Their assignments on depression awareness and reputation management respectively were judged the best of four top papers submitted by each university. Neil Green, chief executive of SenateSHJ, said the prize and internship recognise excellence in communications, and encourage deep analysis, evaluation and thought within the discipline. It is an excellent way for us to connect with some extremely bright and promising students, who demonstrate … Continue reading →

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 12-Nov-2014 Contact: Gudrun Rappold gudrun_rappold@med.uni-heidelberg.de 0049-622-156-5059 Heidelberg University Hospital Geneticists at Heidelberg University Hospital's Department of Molecular Human Genetics have used a new mouse model to demonstrate the way a certain genetic mutation is linked to a type of autism in humans and affects brain development and behavior. In the brain of genetically altered mice, the protein FOXP1 is not synthesized, which is also the case for individuals with a certain form of autism. Consequently, after birth the brain structures degenerate that play a key role in perception. The mice also exhibited abnormal behavior that is typical of autism. The new mouse model now allows the molecular mechanisms in which FOXP1 plays a role to be explained and the associated changes in the brain to be better understood. "While these kinds of results from basic research cannot be directly translated into treatment, they are still quite valuable for the affected individuals or in this case, for their parents and family. For many of them, it is important to be able to specifically put a name to the disorder and understand it. It can make dealing with it easier," said Professor Gudrun Rappold, Head of the Department of … Continue reading →

Dr. Robert A. Waterland: Early nutritional influences on human developmental epigenetics Robert A. Waterland, Ph.D. Associate Professor Depts. of Pediatrics and Molecular Human Genetics Baylor College of Medicine Host: Dr. Susanne Talcott. By: Texas A M Nutrition and Food Science … Continue reading →

Contact Information Available for logged-in reporters only Newswise BIRMINGHAM, Ala. In 2001, Christine Skibola, Ph.D., now a professor of epidemiology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health, joined forces with a small group seeking a large goal discovery of genetic and environmental links to the white blood cell tumors that collectively are called lymphomas. This has now resulted in the largest epidemiology and genetic studies of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) ever conducted. Thus far, these studies have culminated into four genetics papers published in Nature Genetics, American Journal of Human Genetics and Nature Communications, and an entire monograph in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute Monographs comprising 13 papers on environmental and medical risk factors found to be associated with various lymphoma subtypes. More papers are on the way. This sort of research is huge in scale. The hundreds of investigators involved did risk factor analysis and genome-wide association studies on more than 17,400 NHL cases and 23,000 matched controls from North America, Europe and Australia. Two recent Skibola papers, for example, included 140 different authors at 82 different universities, institutes or hospitals that were located in 16 U.S. states and 18 foreign countries. This is … Continue reading →

Human Genetics Ch.15 slides powerpoint. By: van vu … Continue reading →

LA JOLLA, California, Oct. 31, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Human Longevity, Inc. (HLI), a biological data-driven human health technology and cell therapy company, today announced the addition of Barry Merriman, Ph.D., as Vice President of Global Technology Assessmentand Paul Mola, M.S. as Head of Global Solutions. The two will work together in HLI's new Global Solutions Initiative to seek strategic business opportunities worldwide. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140304/LA76169LOGO HLI's Global Solutions Initiative is aimed at business partnerships with a variety of customers including foreign governments, large national healthcare systems, and global disease or health-focused charities interested in undertaking population-scale genomic and personalized medicine initiatives. Dr. Merriman and Mr. Mola will engage with these entities to offer enterprise solutions, and services and business opportunities customized to empower and accelerate these projects. This includes access to HLI's comprehensive human biological database, coupled with the company's proprietary computational infrastructure and analytical software solutions. "We are pleased to welcome Barry and Paul to the HLI team as they bring unique and varied scientific, technological and business expertise," said J. Craig Venter, PhD, HLI's Co-founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer. "Their knowledge of the global genomics market, coupled with their strong scientific and technology backgrounds and ability to … Continue reading →

Scientists at UBs Research Institute on Addictions (RIA) are taking part in a National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Center of Excellence study on the genetics of drug abuse. The study is funded by a $12 million grant to Abraham Palmer, associate professor of human genetics at the University of Chicago, to establish the NIDA Center for Genome-Wide Association Studies in Outbred Rats. The center will combine complex behavioral studies with recent technological advances in rat genetics to help scientists shed light on the genes behind drug addiction. Research groups from UB, University of Michigan, University of Tennessee Health Science Center and Medical College of Wisconsin will work in collaboration with the NIDA Center of Excellence on specific genetic research projects. Jerry Richards, RIA research scientist, will lead UBs participation in collaboration with Joseph Lucke, RIA senior research scientist, and Paul Meyer, assistant professor in the Department of Psychology. Richards group will explore the link between addiction and various behaviors, such as response to novelty, sustained attention and reaction time. It also will look at preference for a large, delayed reward compared to smaller immediate rewards, and why some animals strongly react to cues that have been associated with cocaine. … Continue reading →

Wheelchair Judge (The Hidden #3) What is The Hidden In the early 1950s human genetics experimentation was taking its first, tentative steps. Amongst many other black projects, a team of British scientists working at an Infinitum... By: MrMad TeaHatter … Continue reading →

Trevor's C4 Story (The Hidden #2) What is The Hidden In the early 1950s human genetics experimentation was taking its first, tentative steps. Amongst many other black projects, a team of British scientists working at an Infinitum... By: MrMad TeaHatter … Continue reading →

Mikko Mattila - Travel, Finland, Helsinki/Alamy Finland offers geneticists a rich seam of variation. For decades, biologists have studied gene function by inactivating the gene in question in mice and other lab animals, and then observing how it affects the organism. Now researchers studying such gene knockouts have another, ideal model at their disposal: humans. The approach does not involve genetically engineering mutant people in the lab, as is done in mice. Instead, researchers scan the genomes of thousands or millions of people, looking for naturally occurring mutations that inactivate a particular gene. By observing how these mutations affect health, researchers hope to gain insight into basic biology and to unearth new disease treatments. Geneticists discussed several such large-scale efforts during a packed session at the American Society of Human Genetics meeting in San Diego, California, last week. So much of what we know is based on mice and rats, and not humans, says Daniel MacArthur, a genomicist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, whose team identified around 150,000 naturally knocked-out genes by trawling the protein-coding portion of the genome, or exome, in more than 90,000 people. Now we can find people who actually have a particular gene inactivated or … Continue reading →