Rapid genetic testing becomes available to Calgary medical community
 Earlier this month we were pleased to announce Dr. Francoise Bernier had received new funding to expand the availability of clinical genome wide sequencing in Alberta and across the country. Access to the technology will help families and medical professionals get faster answers to diagnostic puzzles. On March 10th we were able to showcase how more rapid sequencing available to clinicians could have helped young Madden Galloway. Life was not looking good for him when he was 2 but as you can see, he is now a happy and healthy 6-year-old ready to play hockey (or basketball!). Dr. Bernier will be working closely with Alberta Precision Laboratories on the $6 million GAPP project to develop a large-scale clinical genome wide sequencing service and a governance framework to integrate genomics data provincially, nationally and internationally.
Source: CTV and University of Calgary
 Study reveals how drug meant for Ebola may also work against coronaviruses
Even when a drug seems to be working, the warning flags should go up if we don’t know exactly how it works. Researchers at the University of Alberta have figured out how the drug remdesivir is effective in treating SARS and MERS and now hope to see if it can be effective in dealing with COVID-19. The research published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry was led by Matthias Gotte from the Department of Department of Medical Microbiology & Immunology at the U of A. On March 6th he was also one of the funded researchers under the federal 2019 Novel Coronavirus Rapid Research funding competition for his project “Development and Evaluation of SARS- CoV-2 RNA Polymerase Inhibitors”.
Click for a full list of the newly funded projects.
Source: University of Alberta Folio
Dalhousie scientists seek public's help in work on COVID-19 vaccine, antiviral drugs
 One of the projects funded under the 2019 Novel Coronavirus Rapid Research Funding competition was “Identification of biomarkers that predict severity of COVID-19 patients” led by David Kelvin at Dalhousie University. His team received $1 million out of the $27 million but he believes there will be far greater challenges over the next two years requiring more research. Though he has not reached out with a specific idea he hopes that crowdfunding or public donations to the Dalhousie Medical Research Foundation which has set up a coronavirus funding page.
Source: St. John’s Telegram
New Editor-in-Chief at Scientific American
Laura Helmuth, the Science and Health Editor for the Washington Post is moving to New York to become only the ninth Editor-in-Chief for the 175-year old magazine, Scientific American. It is the longest continuously published magazine in the U.S.
Source: Scientific American
Huntington’s ruling on doctors’ duty to tell patient’s family
A high court ruling in the UK has set a precedent for relatives’ right to know about an individual’s serious conditions. A woman sued doctors who did not tell her that her father had Huntington’s disease and that she was at risk of having the disease herself and passing it on to her baby. The woman lost the case, but lawyers say that now “care and balance has to be taken when considering a third-party’s right to know information which might reveal a serious risk to them”.
Source: The Guardian
Women in Science
In this 11-minute podcast from CFIA, the host talks with Catherine Carrillio a researcher from the CFIA’s Carling lab in Ottawa and Katie Eloranta section head in the CFIA Burnaby lab. Though not as polished as many of the podcasts we post you will find it an interesting discussion about the opportunities and challenges for women working in science. Also of interest at the 4:40 mark is the “CSI effect”, that often shapes opinions of the work scientists are engaged in.
Source: CFIA
Trump administration to collect DNA from immigrants taken into custody
The Trump administration has initiated new border control methods that are raising privacy concerns. Homeland Security will collect DNA samples for migrants who are taken into custody after entering the U.S. outside designated ports of entry. It was first introduced last year, and the final rule was published in the federal register last week saying it would go into effect April 8, 2020. Critics such as the ACLU have said it could potentially affect hundreds of thousands of migrants and is a step towards “full population surveillance”.
Source: Wall Street Journal (you will need access) or Newsweek
WATCH: Doha Debates: The Future of Genetics
As much glitz and show as it is content, this hour and a half video of the Doha Debate from Northwestern University in Qatar will certainly keep your attention. Participants included Katie Hasson, Policy advocate, Jamie Metzl a Futurist and author, Julian Savulescu, philosopher, bioethicist and author, and Nawaal Akram, a comedian, model, athlete and disability rights campaigner. The panelists discuss the long-term challenges and opportunities for CRISPR and the implications of gene editing on global inequality, and the risk to evolution. Due to concerns over the spread of COVID-19, there was no live audience as is the usual format for the debate series.
Source: Doha Debates
Haunted by a Gene
Dr. Nancy Wexler has been studying Huntington’s disease for decades and raised millions of dollars for research. She has worked with medical teams in remote villages of Venezuela where there are families full of the disease. At the age of 74 she has told the world what she has long known – she too has Huntington’s.
Source: New York Times
Genetic variants place Asians at higher risk of side effects to common medications
We’ve seen the ads on TV for medications that include a list of side effects that get as much attention as the benefits of the medication. Those side effects of course depend on the individual. In a new study, recently published in Clinical Translational Science, University of British Columbia medical student Cody Lo and collaborators at Stanford found evidence that Asians are at a higher risk for side effects because of their genetic makeup.
Source: UBC
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In vivo CRISPRa decreases seizures and rescues cognitive deficits in a rodent model of epilepsy
