A Narrow Path for Optimism That Social Genomics Can Combat Inequality
Anna C.F. Lewis
Erik Parens
has argued that social genomics can be used to either combat inequality or to justify its existence. Lewis counters, however, that there are grounds for optimism by focusing on social genomics insights derived from local-level comparisons between environments.
The Last Children of Down Syndrome
Sarah Zhang
In Denmark, nearly all expecting mothers pursue prenatal screening for Down syndrome. Of those who receive a positive diagnosis, more than 95% have an abortion, a decision that remains stigmatized despite its prevalence.
Is Reducing Down Syndrome Births a Form of Eugenics?
Richard Gunderman
Gunderman analyzes whether Down syndrome prenatal diagnosis and subsequent elective pregnancy termination constitutes eugenics.
Identical Twins Are Not So Identical, Study Suggests
The Guardian
The role of genetic factors that shape differences between identical twins may have been underestimated, according to a recent
Nature study.
Role Identified for Brain Protein Regulated by Circadian Clock Genes in Clearing Toxic Build-Up in Alzheimer’s Disease
Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News
A brain protein known as YKL-40 may link Alzheimer’s disease (AD) with dysfunction in circadian rhythms, suggesting that treatments that target the protein could slow the course of the disease.
Massive Project on African DNA Sets Out to Close the Knowledge Gap on Mental Illness
Lukoye Atwoli and Anne Stevenson
An initiative aims to recruit 35,000 people in Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa and Uganda to answer questions about their health, lifestyle, and mental illness, and to donate two teaspoons of saliva for DNA testing. The initiative could lead to new medicines that will help people of African descent and others broadly.
In Life, She Defied Alzheimer’s. In Death, Her Brain May Show How.
Jennie Erin Smith
Aliria Rosa Piedrahita de Villegas carried a rare genetic mutation that should have led her to develop AD in her 40s; however, only at age 72 did she experience the first symptoms of it. While Aliria carried a well-known mutation that causes early AD, she also carried two copies of another rare mutation that appear to have thwarted the activity of the first one.
CRISPR Cures Progeria in Mice, Raising Hope for One-Time Therapy for a Disease That Causes Rapid Aging
Sharon Begley
Researchers from the Broad Institute used a new CRISPR technique called base editing to alter a single misspelled pair of “letters” among the DNA of cells taken from children with progeria, an infamous and fatal genetic disease marked by accelerated aging. Their work may lead to a potential treatment for the disorder.
Repeat DNA Expands Our Understanding of Autism Spectrum Disorder
Anthony J. Hannan
Using new bioinformatics methods, researchers
have found a link between repetitive stretches of DNA—called tandem repeats—and autism spectrum disorder. Their discovery might inform approaches to studying tandem repeats in a wide range of other human disorders.
