Genome Alberta's Official Newsletter

GE3LS Digest - October 6, 2008

Neuroethics: Gut Renovation: Embellishing certain abilities may change who we are – September 9, 2008
http://www.psychologytoday.com/rss/pto-20080719-000002.html
If you could magically make yourself a better person, would you? Psychiatrist Peter Kramer famously reported patients feeling "better than well" on Prozac, and it's been estimated that Ritalin can boost a healthy kid's SAT score more than 100 points. But is a better you still "you"? In a study to be published in the Journal of Consumer Research, Jason Riis of NYU and two collaborators asked people which traits they wouldn't want to enhance with a simple pill, and why. They found that we're less eager to boost abilities we consider fundamental to our identities, such as empathy and social comfort, than skills we see as ancillary, such as memory and concentration. The degree to which we'd like to legislate others' ability to enhance a trait is uncorrelated with our own resistance to enhancing it, though, and is motivated by concerns about fairness rather than threats to the nature of self. The researchers also asked people to consider slogans for a hypothetical drug. When the tag line advertised its self-enhancement value ("Zeltor: Become More Than Who You Are"), those who thought that the drug increased concentration were more likely to take it than those who thought it increased social comfort. But when touted as a chance to enable their true selves ("Zeltor: Become Who You Are"), anxieties about boosting both traits were equally low.

Gene tests 'create undue stress' – September 15, 2008
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7616073.stm
Gene tests to predict a person's future risk of life-threatening disease may be damaging to health by causing unnecessary stress, an expert claims. Professor Nilesh Samani, British Heart Foundation chair of cardiology, says the tests are too inaccurate to help the individual. Someone deemed high risk for a disease based on their gene test may never go on to develop the condition. Professor Samani will talk at a human genetics meeting in York later today. Many companies in the US and Europe offer gene tests for conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer. The technology responsible for this sudden surge in genetic markers – known as Genome Wide Association Studies - involves scanning the entire genome of hundreds or sometimes thousands of healthy and diseased volunteers to pinpoint key differences in the DNA likely to contribute to the disease.

A Dissenting Voice as the Genome Is Sifted to Fight Disease – September 15, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/16/science/16prof.html?_r=1&ref=science&oref=slogin
The principal rationale for the $3 billion spent to decode the human genome was that it would enable the discovery of the variant genes that predispose people to common diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s. A major expectation was that these variants had not been eliminated by natural selection because they harm people only later in life after their reproductive years are over, and hence that they would be common. This idea, called the common disease/common variant hypothesis, drove major developments in biology over the last five years. Washington financed the HapMap, a catalog of common genetic variation in the human population. Companies like Affymetrix and Illumina developed powerful gene chips for scanning the human genome. Medical statisticians designed the genomewide association study, a robust methodology for discovering true disease genes and sidestepping the many false positives that have plagued the field. But David B. Goldstein of Duke University, a leading young population geneticist known partly for his research into the genetic roots of Jewish ancestry, says the effort to nail down the genetics of most common diseases is not working. “There is absolutely no question,” he said, “that for the whole hope of personalized medicine, the news has been just about as bleak as it could be.”

Superfood or Monster From the Deep? – September 16, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/17/dining/17nutrients.html?ref=health
OFF the coast of Peru swim billions of sardines and anchovies: oily, smelly little fish, rich in nutritious omega-3 fatty acids. Their spot on the food chain is low; many will be caught, ground up, and fed as fishmeal to bigger animals. Skip to next paragraphBut a few have a more exalted destiny: to be transported, purified and served at North American breakfast tables in the form of Tropicana Healthy Heart orange juice and Wonder Headstart bread. These new products promise to deliver the health benefits of fish oil without the smell and the taste — without, in fact, the fish…. These products are known as functional foods, meaning they have been modified to make them more nutritious, like genetically modified rice or fortified milk. “One day, we believe, you will be able to walk into a supermarket and all the products could be enriched with omega-3s: milk, yogurt, tortillas,” said Ian Lucas, head of marketing for Ocean Nutrition Canada, maker of the fish oil used by Tropicana.
Are we really that close to a world in which food functions as a nutrient delivery system, made possible by microencapsulation and fine-spray coating? And what would this mean for food and human nutrition?

DIY biotechnology –September 16, 2008
http://www.gmobelus.com/news.php?viewStory=196
Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard Medical School, along with kindred spirits in a number of different disciplines, have formed a group to explore 'backyard biotechnology'. While The Boston Globe calls this an 'amateur' effort, it's not--it's simply do-it-yourself (DIY) biotechnology conducted in impromptu locations. Called DIYbio, it was formed at a May 24, 2008 meeting of more than 25 "enthusiasts", who met to discuss two basic questions: "Can molecular biology or biotechnology be a hobby?" And, "Will advancements in synthetic biology be the tipping point that enables DIYers and garagistas to make meaningful contributions to the biological sciences, outside of traditional institutions?" The reference to 'garagistas' harks back to the beginnings of the personal computer, when the founders of the PC revolution met in garages to share information on hardware and software, and to piece things together. Not surprisingly, they've borrowed another term from the computer lexicon: 'hacking'. In biotech terminology, this would otherwise be called 'genetic engineering', or 'gene splicing'.

Australia issues first license to clone human embryos – September 17, 2008
http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSSYD19317920080917
The Australian government has issued its first license allowing scientists to create cloned human embryos to try and obtain embryonic stem cells. The in vitro-fertilization firm Sydney IVF was granted the license and reportedly has access to 7,200 human eggs for its research. If the firm is successful it would be a world first, the Australian government's National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), which granted the license, said on Wednesday. Scientists in other countries have made stem cells they believe are similar to embryonic cells using a variety of techniques, but none have been able to extract embryonic stem cells from cloned human embryos. An Australian ban on the research, known as therapeutic cloning or somatic cell nuclear transfer, was lifted in December 2006 after a rare conscience vote in the national parliament.

Rules Near for Animals’ Engineering – September 17, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/18/business/18drug.html?ref=health
The Food and Drug Administration is expected on Thursday to announce proposals for regulating the meat and milk from genetically engineered animals. The guidelines could pave the way for commercialization of creatures like fast-growing salmon, environmentally friendlier pigs, cattle resistant to mad cow disease, and animals with meat containing healthier nutrients. Such animals have been or are being developed by academic scientists and biotechnology companies. But the lack of a clear regulatory pathway for introducing them into the market has been one factor discouraging investment into the field. The F.D.A. is expected to say that genetically engineered animals will be regulated under laws covering animal drugs, according to industry and consumer groups that have been invited to a conference call Thursday. Judy Leon, a spokeswoman for the F.D.A., confirmed that it would announce guidelines for regulating engineered animals.

More American parents pondering cancer gene tests for kids – September 22, 2008
http://healthandfitness.sympatico.msn.ca/News/ContentPosting?newsitemid=75546036&feedname=CP-HEALTH&show=False&number=0&showbyline=True&subtitle=&detect=&abc=abc&date=True
Women are going for breast cancer gene testing in record numbers, forcing more parents to face a tough question: Should we test the kids? About 100,000 tests for breast cancer gene mutations were done in the United States last year, double the number in 2005. The trend may grow even more because of widening insurance coverage and a new law banning genetic discrimination. Medical experts advise against such testing before age 25, saying that little can be done to prevent or screen for breast or ovarian cancer until then, so the knowledge would only cause needless worry. However, new studies and interviews by The Associated Press show that many people who have BRCA gene mutations - and even more of their offspring - disagree. Cornell University freshman Jenna Stoller is one. "I'm the kind of person that, like my mom, am more comfortable knowing something about myself than not knowing," said Stoller, who tested positive earlier this year, shortly after her 18th birthday. Her mother made her wait five years after revealing her own positive test result, even though Jenna wanted to be tested at age 13.

Stem Cells without Side Effects: Researchers have created healthy stem cells from adult cells--no embryo required – September 25, 2008
http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/21430/
Last year, researchers announced one of the most promising methods yet for creating ethically neutral stem cells: reprogramming adult human cells to act like embryonic stem cells. This involved using four transcription factor proteins to turn specific genes on and off. But the resulting cells, called induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells for their ability to develop into just about any tissue, have one huge flaw. They're made with a virus that embeds itself into the cells' DNA and, over time, can induce cancer. Now, scientists at Harvard University have found a way to effect the same reprogramming without using a harmful virus--a method that paves the way for tissue transplants made from a patient's own cells. The first generation of iPS cells was created using a retrovirus to insert the four transcription factors into skin cells. Because a retrovirus, by definition, inserts itself permanently into its host's DNA, this ensured that the transcription factors were transferred, but it also led to the propagation of the virus itself. Furthermore, since the virus confers self-renewal capabilities to its new host cell, many believed that the retrovirus might be required for iPS cells to reproduce.

Bear DNA Isn't Pork, Regardless of What John McCain Says – September 29, 2008
http://www.usnews.com/blogs/john-farrell/2008/09/29/bear-dna-isnt-pork-regardless-of-what-john-mccain-says.html
Unless we want the grandkids to wonder, as they pay their $175 admission fee at Verizon Glacier Park or the Exxon Mobil National Park at Yellowstone, why there are no grizzly bears on the planet, we may want to do something about saving the big beasts now.
And the first step toward preserving and managing a threatened species, a reasonable person might suggest, is to get an accurate count. So why, when John McCain was asked in the presidential debate on Friday how he will right the economy and bring good paying jobs to America, did he fall back on a tired joke about wasteful earmarks and mock Kate Kendall's bear count? Kendall is a highly qualified, talented scientist, working for a United States Geological Survey team that is trying to manage the wildlife on federal lands in the northern Rockies. I've spent some time with the wildlife biologists out West, and I can tell you they are good folks—earnest and practical and dedicated to their work. They love the outdoors and liberty and all God's creatures, except perhaps the bugs.
Being a scientist, Kate proposed that the federal government use—science!—to conduct a census of the grizzly bears.

Research or sale? US IVF patients are asked what to do with 'spare embryos' – September 29, 2008
http://www.bionews.org.uk/new.lasso?storyid=3999
The results of two related studies undertaken in the US show that a high proportion of infertile couples are in favour of their 'spare' embryos being used for research, whilst over half would advocate theirs being sold to help other couples. Researchers surveyed 1,350 infertile women at a fertility centre in Illinois to gauge their opinions about what should happen to the cryopreserved embryos not used in their own treatment. 'Infertility patients are the gatekeepers of these leftover embryos, it is important to understand their opinions', said the lead author of the study Dr Tarun Jain, assistant professor of reproductive endocrinology and infertility and clinical IVF director at the University of Illinois. Published in the journal Fertility and Sterility, the results of the survey show that of the 636 respondents who answered definitively, 73 per cent said that leftover embryos should be used for stem cell research. Dr Jain attributed this to the 'altruistic' nature of most infertility patients, saying that 'it makes sense that they would try to advance medicine and help others'. Those least likely to support donation to research were patients younger than 30, those who were single, and those who were less wealthy.

'Reprioritise' genetic goals, developing nations told – October 2, 2008
http://www.scidev.net/en/news/-reprioritise-genetic-goals-developing-nations-tol.html
Developing countries need to review their research priorities in genomics and not blindly adopt developed countries' focus on complex lifestyle-related disorders, cautions an expert. Hans Hilger Ropers, professor at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics, Germany, told SciDev.Net that developing countries "should not simply follow the trodden path of the industrialised countries" and need to "re-assess their genomics research priorities". Ropers, attending the 13th Human Genome Meeting in Hyderabad, India, this week (30 September), expressed concern that genomics research has concentrated on complex multi-gene disorders — such as diabetes and heart disease — that are related to lifestyle changes and whose treatment would generate high profits.

Toxicity-Resistant Crops: Researchers have engineered aluminum-tolerant crops - October 2, 2008
http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/21454/
Much of the world's cropland contains aluminum that stunts crops. But a new study has found a way to make plants grow tall in spite of the metal's toxic effects. The discovery, by plant biologists at the University of California, Riverside, suggests that genetic engineering could boost yields from fields that today are not ideal for growing crops.
Aluminum is common in soils--it's a major component of clay--but only in acidic soils does the metal form an ion that can dissolve into liquids and that's toxic to plants. Acidic soils make up as much as half the world's croplands, however, and aluminum toxicity is the main factor holding back crop growth in nearly 20 percent of the world's arable soils, including large areas of the United States east of the Mississippi River and northwestern Europe. "The problem is, we have all these crop plants--wheat and corn and barley and so on--that didn't evolve or get developed on aluminum-toxic soils," study leader and professor of biochemistry Paul Larsen says. "They don't have natural resistance or tolerance to aluminum." Plant breeders are working on developing strains that can cope better with toxic aluminum, but they have only been able to make incremental improvements, Larsen says.

Scientists close to cracking wheat's genetic code – October 2, 2008
http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSTRE4917AO20081002
Scientists believe they have found a way to map the hugely complex genetic code of wheat, the staple food for 35 percent of the world's population. The move could lead to improved crop varieties that are resistant to drought and disease at a time when surging demand has stoked fears over future grain supply, sending prices soaring to record highs earlier this year. French scientists said on Thursday they had constructed a map of the largest wheat chromosome, chromosome 3B, and demonstrated it should be possible to sequence the plant's entire genetic code. "We hope that in the next five years we will have the physical map for the whole genome," Etienne Paux of the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique in Clermont-Ferrand told Reuters. In the past, the wheat genome has been viewed as all but impossible to sequence because of its sheer size. It comprises 17 billion base pairs of the chemicals that make up DNA -- five times more than the human genome.

New generation of drug-producing GM crops more dangerous to environment – October 2, 2008
http://greenbio.checkbiotech.org/news/2008-10-02/New_generation_of_drug-producing_GM_crops_more_dangerous_to_environment/
A new generation of genetically modified (GM) crops, engineered to produce pharmaceutical or industrial products and ingredients, poses an even more serious threat to health and the environment than older GM crops, the Union of Concerned Scientists has warned. Presenting at the conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Boston, the group warned that the primary risk comes from the possibility of genetic contamination, in which the modified genes from a GM plant spread via normal cross-pollination to the same or closely related species of domestic or wild plants. This would lead to pharmaceutical and industrial chemicals potentially entering the food supply of humans and wildlife. Most commercial genetic engineering to date has focused on making food crops more resistant to herbicides or pests. Even this degree of modification has raised concerns about cross-pollination and contamination of non-modified varieties, and the health impacts this could have on humans and wildlife.



BLOGS

What do you mean by "race"? A call for standards and empirical ethics research.
http://predicter.blogspot.com/2008/09/what-do-you-mean-by-race-call-for.html
You've probably read an article or two that reports the results of a race-based investigation. Perhaps it was a study of health disparities, a survey of patient attitudes, an examination of a race-based intervention or new medication to be marketed to a specific race-based demographic. If you wanted to do a systematic review of these papers, you might be vexed by the difficulty of finding a common, valid definition of "race". As a socially-constructed categorie, defining the limits of race and ethnicity is a slippery business and one that has a problematic past in the history of science and medicine. With this in mind, Vural Ozdemir, Janice E. Graham and Beatrice Godard make a call for clarity in "Race as a variable in pharmacogenomics science: from empirical ethics to publication standards" (Pharmacogenet Genomics. 2008 Oct;18(10):837-41. - PubMed | CiteULike). The authors argue for the use of empirical ethics research to inform the development of new publication standards to "minimize the drift from descriptive to attributive use of race in publications". In this context, empirical ethics, or "applied social science methodologies … to better understand, for example, the 'lived' experiences of user groups", would identify blind-spots in predictive health research and would help researchers, regulators, policy-makers, and editors "differentiate between an imprecise (yet measurable) predictive biomarker, from a construct such as race".