What does mega-search engine Google and mega-genome services company 23andMe have in common?
Two actually, and maybe more…
First – investments and second, spouses.
This week, Google invested $2.6 million in 23andMe on top of the $7 million invested so far. No surprise there, since Google’s co-founder Sergey Bring is the spouse of 23andMe’s co-founder Anne Wojcicki. But as CNN remarked, it’s one the perks of marrying Google.
 
In another news, biotech giant Illumina has launched a personal genome sequencing service. That is, you can have your entire genome sequenced – all 3 billion DNA – for a hefty …read more

For the first time, US researchers have decoded all the genes of a woman who died of myeloid leukemia, and they found 10 mutations that contributed to the development of her cancer.
This finding is significant on several fronts. It’s the first time that a cancer genome has been sequenced. The scientists took samples of both cancer and normal skin cells from the same woman, and sequenced the DNA on both samples. Previous to this, the focus was on select regions of the genome, called candidate regions, suspected of carrying genes that cause or contribute to cancer.
The study …read more

(Image credit: medicineworld.org) 
This week b5 media’s Health and Wellness channel is focusing on celebrities health.  Our focus is not on ‘tittle tattle’  and hot gossip about Angelina, Brad or ’Tomkat’ but rather a serious look at health issues that high profile individuals share with all of us. 
In the genetics world, our ‘celebrities’ are the likes of Craig Venter and James Watson – pioneering geneticists but basking in the eye of the media.
The race to sequence genomes has resulted in some major PR, particularly for Craig and James. 454 is sequencing James Watson’s genome and Craig has announced some of his results in PLoS.  TV …read more

At last one for the girls!
 … Geneticists at Leiden University Medical Centre (LUMC) are the first to determine the DNA sequence of a woman. She is also the first European whose DNA sequence has been determined
The DNA is that of Dutch scientist Dr Marjolein Kriek, a clinical geneticist at LUMC. “If anyone could properly consider the ramifications of knowing his or her sequence, it is a clinical geneticist,”says professor Gert-Jan B van Ommen, leader of the LUMC team. 
Now we have  a new ‘Watson and Kriek’ to compare genetic diversity!
Elaine Warburton  www.geneticsandhealth.com

It’s been quite a month for genetics and ethics!  There has been much commentary on GINA (Genetic Information Non discrimination Act) and now an influential academic group have developed an ethical framework of recommendations to encourage individuals to join whole-genome association studies.
According to a large group of genomics scholars, researchers, ethicists, and policy designers and watchers, in order to live up to its potential, whole-genome research in the future should be built upon some ETHICAL foundation that will give people the confidence and trust they will need in order to become volunteers.
The group of experts published a statement of consensus this week in PLoS …read more

 
(Image courtesy of www.ustc.edu.cn) 
Latest news from the GenomeWeb:
“The Beijing Genomics Institute at Shenzhen announced that it is launching an International Giant Panda Genome Project.
Scientists at BGI-Shenzhen plan to sequence a panda to be selected from the Chengdu and Wolong breeding centers using high-throughput sequencing technology. They hope to have a draft genome sequence assembled within six months. The giant panda genome is roughly the same size as the human genome and contains some 20,000 to 30,000 genes.
The project is intended to provide new insights into panda ecology and evolution. This could shed light on the panda’s history, migration, and relationships to …read more

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem scientists and others have revealed for the first time the electronic structure of single DNA molecules.  In their work, the researchers were able to decode the electronic structure of DNA and to understand how the electrons distribute into the various parts of the double helix, a result that has been pursued by scientists for many years, but was previously hindered by technical problems.
The knowledge that has been acquired in this project may also be relevant for current attempts to develop new sophisticated, reliable, faster and cheaper ways to decode the sequence of human DNA.
Finding the …read more