Brain function growth charts could spark early intervention
In an editorial published April 13th in JAMA Psychiatry, NHGRI Investigator Philip Shaw, M.D., Ph.D., reviews a study that tried to develop growth charts for childhood brain function. Such "neuropsychiatric" charts, though challenging to create, could help health care providers detect when a child's brain function is beginning to go "off-track," and trigger further assessment and intervention. (Source: NHGRI Homepage Highlights)
Source: NHGRI Homepage Highlights - April 12, 2016 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: news
Genomics in Mexico: Implications for Health Care and the Bioeconomy
On April 18th, Gerardo Jimenez-Sanchez, M.D., Ph.D., will present the third lecture in the Genomics and Health Disparities Lecture Series: Genomics in Mexico: Implications for Health Care and the Bioeconomy, at Building 50 on the NIH campus and online at NIH VideoCasting. Dr. Jimenez-Sanchez is an adjunct professor at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and a founding director for the National Institute of Genomic Medicine (INMEGEN) in Mexico. (Source: NHGRI Homepage Highlights)
Source: NHGRI Homepage Highlights - April 11, 2016 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: news
ENCODE workshop to help researchers use data, resources
Since 2003, NHGRI's ENCyclopedia Of DNA Elements (ENCODE) project has been building a comprehensive parts list of functional elements in the human and mouse genomes. The upcoming workshop - ENCODE 2016: Research Applications and Users Meeting - slated for June 8-10 at Stanford University, offers scientists training, tutorials, new applications and more. For information, registration: (Source: NHGRI Homepage Highlights)
Source: NHGRI Homepage Highlights - April 8, 2016 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: news
Study reveals promising results for treating methylmalonic acidemia
A new study of methylmalonic acidemia (MMA) from NHGRI and University of Pennsylvania researchers found that most patients had a lower than expected immune reaction (indicated by the lack of antibodies) to a virus commonly used to deliver therapeutic genes. Gene therapy with the same virus was used to successfully treat mice with MMA. This means that most patients with MMA could be candidates for gene therapy. MMA is a rare and potentially life-threatening genetic disorder in which the body cannot properly turn food into energy. (Source: NHGRI Homepage Highlights)
Source: NHGRI Homepage Highlights - April 1, 2016 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: news
Future Directions for Undiagnosed Diseases Research: UDN and Beyond
On Monday, March 21, the National Institutes of Health will sponsor the workshop Future Directions for Undiagnosed Diseases Research: The UDN and Beyond, convening a group to review thoughts on the Undiagnosed Diseases Network (UDN) and recommendations on its future. Results from a request for information to solicit input on undiagnosed diseases research, and experience with patients will be presented. The event will be broadcast on Genome TV Live, beginning at 8:00 a.m. Eastern. (Source: NHGRI Homepage Highlights)
Source: NHGRI Homepage Highlights - March 18, 2016 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: news
Genomes and Big Data: A Personal View
Continuing the discussion about the launch of the Human Genome Project 25 years ago, Ewan Birney, Ph.D., associate director for the EMBL-European Bioinformatics Institute, presented Genomes and Big Data: A Personal View on February 25 at Lipsett Amphitheater in NIH's Building 10. Dr. Birney played a key role in many large-scale genomics projects, notably the sequencing of the Human Genome in 2000. (Source: NHGRI Homepage Highlights)
Source: NHGRI Homepage Highlights - March 16, 2016 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: news
Researchers propose new way to return sequence results to participants
Sequencing the human genome and exome (the protein coding genes in the genome) are powerful tools that sometimes generate information beyond what the biomedical researchers originally sought. In a new study published in the March 3 American Journal of Human Genetics, researchers, including NHGRI's Les Biesecker, M.D., are now proposing a standard way for returning to research participants sequence results that might be critical for their health. (Source: NHGRI Homepage Highlights)
Source: NHGRI Homepage Highlights - March 8, 2016 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: news
Researchers propose new way to return sequence results to research participants
Sequencing the human genome and exome (the protein coding genes in the genome) are powerful tools that sometimes generate information beyond what the biomedical researchers originally sought. In a new study published in the March 3 American Journal of Human Genetics, researchers, including NHGRI's Les Biesecker, M.D., are now proposing a standard way for returning to research participants sequence results that might be critical for their health. (Source: NHGRI Homepage Highlights)
Source: NHGRI Homepage Highlights - March 8, 2016 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: news
Schizophrenia: Ancient scrolls, Genomic Sequencing and Synaptic Pruning
February's Genome Advance of the Month describes a leap forward in understanding the heritability and progression of schizophrenia from a study by researchers at Harvard Medical School and the Broad Institute. The study, published in the February 11, 2016 issue of Nature, signals the potential for research using large numbers of whole genome sequences, innovative biological methods and advanced software toolkits for analysis. (Source: NHGRI Homepage Highlights)
Source: NHGRI Homepage Highlights - March 4, 2016 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: news
Signaling in Host-Associated Microbial Communities
Starting from birth, microbes, such as bacteria, fungi and viruses, form communities in and on every human. Researchers with the National Human Genome Research Institute and the University of California, San Francisco, reviewed studies on how microbes communicate with each other and with their human hosts over the course of a lifetime, including periods of both health and disease. (Source: NHGRI Homepage Highlights)
Source: NHGRI Homepage Highlights - March 4, 2016 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: news
Chronic Kidney Disease - A Window into Understanding Health Disparities
Join us Monday, March 7 at 3 p.m. Eastern for a live webcast of the second talk in the Genomics and Health Disparities Lecture Series: Chronic Kidney Disease - A Window into Understanding Health Disparities. Neil Powe, M.D., M.P.H.,
chief of medicine at Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and a professor for the Center for Vulnerable Populations at the University of California, San Francisco, will present. (Source: NHGRI Homepage Highlights)
Source: NHGRI Homepage Highlights - March 4, 2016 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: news
Advisory committee to address building a medical information commons
While generating large amounts of medical and genomic data may improve health, questions about access and use remain. To address these challenges, an NHGRI-funded project titled, Building the Medical Information Commons: Participant Engagement and Policy, will hold its first advisory committee meeting March 2-3 in Houston. Laura Lyman Rodriguez, Ph.D., director of NHGRI's Division of Policy, Communications and Education, will discuss policy issues related to building a resource to share data. (Source: NHGRI Homepage Highlights)
Source: NHGRI Homepage Highlights - March 1, 2016 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: news
National DNA Day: Celebrating Genomics Through Awareness
Long before we get to Election Day this year, there is another major 'Day' to prepare for - April 25, National DNA Day! The Genomics Landscape describes NHGRI's expanded programming for National DNA Day to engage students, educators and the public to raise awareness about genomics nationally. Additional highlights: genomics education for healthcare practitioners, the impact of NIH research and our ongoing seminar series commemorating the Human Genome Project's launch 25 years ago. (Source: NHGRI Homepage Highlights)
Source: NHGRI Homepage Highlights - March 1, 2016 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: news
