Researchers have uncovered a genetic variant that is associated with childhood leukemia disparities in Hispanic-Americans. Continue reading Scientists discover genetic factor underlying childhood cancer risk in Hispanic-Americans
by Sanjana Kulkarnifigures by Swathy Karamchedu Forensic DNA testing has become crucial in criminal investigations and legal proceedings. DNA has linked people to crime scenes using hair or blood and exonerated wrongfully convicted individuals. This type of DNA is called environmental DNA (eDNA) because it is collected from the environment, rather than from a person. Scientists have also begun analyzing eDNA from non-human organisms. All … Continue reading DNA Detectives: How scientists are using DNA from the environment to see the unseen
Losing a tail on human’s evolutionary branch may have been caused by a rare kind of mutation resulting from parasitic, self-replicating DNA. Continue reading Researchers discover a unique mutation involved in how humans lost their tails
After generating 187 new genomes from primate species, researchers found a large fraction of the human genome that is highly conserved across evolution. Continue reading Researchers identify regions in the human genome that are consistent across primates
The Chimera of Greek myth had a lion’s head, goat’s body, and snake’s tail. Scientists have made a chimeric monkey with cells from two types of monkeys, which could one day lead to better lab models for scientists and donor organs for patients. Continue reading The birth of the first chimeric monkey that survived for 10 days
In a breakthrough for synthetic biology, an international team of researchers constructed a functioning yeast genome where more than half of its chromosomes were made in a lab. Continue reading Scientists create yeast with a half-man-made genome
A group of researchers from across the country found that whole genome sequencing identified more potentially disease-causing variants than targeted gene panels in hospitalized infants Continue reading Genome Sequencing Finds More Rapid Diagnoses Than Targeted Gene Panels in Hospitalized Infants
In a recent study from UCSF and MIT, researchers found that they could identify evolutionary differences in biological function by comparing the results of CRISPR screens in humans and chimpanzees. Continue reading Scientists compare CRISPR screens in chimpanzee and human cells to understand evolution
New research from Northwestern University found that, when predicting heart disease, including genetic information had a minimal improvement compared to a more common test. Continue reading Genetic risk prediction for heart disease underperforms in large research cohort
by Emily Goeringfigures by Andrea Luviano Did you know that sea lampreys are more likely to grow into males if they aren’t fed enough food? Or that one type of shrimp produces male offspring in the long days of summer, but females in shorter fall days? Sexual determination systems are the methods by which organisms produce offspring with differing biological sexes. Although all vertebrates evolved … Continue reading On the Basis of (Fish) Sex