Monthly Archives: March 2017

Genetics

Veritas Genetics Collaborates with Dr. Steven Narod and Women’s College Hospital to Launch The Screen Project – a … – PR Newswire (press release)

Approximately 1 in 200 Canadians have a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation, which are strongly associated with the development of breast, ovarian and prostate cancers. However, genetic testing for these gene mutations in Canada is only offered to, and covered for, people who meet strict eligibility criteria based on several factors including having a strong family history of cancer. "Population-based genetic testing is a new approach for widespread screening in Canada that we hope will change the current genetic testing paradigm," said Dr. Steven Narod, co-principal investigator and the director of the Familial Breast Cancer Research Unit at WCH.

With The Screen Project, all Canadians, age 18 years and older, will have access to BRCA1 and BRCA2 screening for a fee of $165 USD. Once they enroll online, participants will receive a saliva testing kit at home. Veritas will process their returned samples at the company's laboratory, and the results will be reported to the patient within 2 to 4 weeks. Those who test positive for a BRCA mutation will be contacted by the Familial Breast Cancer Research Unit at WCH and will be offered additional clinical guidance. Those who receive a negative or inconclusive result will be notified through a report from Veritas.

"For years, our research team have been advocating for population-based genetic testing for BRCA1 and BRCA2, the two most clinically actionable susceptibility genes for breast and ovarian cancers. However, this has not been possible until now mostly because of the high cost of the test and the difficulties in participant enrollment," explained Dr. Mohammad Akbari, co-principal investigator of the study and director of the Research Molecular Genetics Laboratory at WCH. "We found Veritas to be the best match for The Screen Project given their ability to enroll patients quickly and at the best price possible."

"We now know using family history as the only selection criteria for genetic testing can make us miss up to half of all individuals who would greatly benefit from early access to this information," said Mirza Cifric, co-founder and CEO of Veritas. "This is the first of several population-based initiatives we at Veritas will be rolling out in various countries over the coming months. It's equally important to mention that these screening efforts will be coupled with the appropriate follow-up clinical care. This is why we are so excited to work with Dr. Narod and Dr. Akbari at WCH. We believe this is the model for future cancer screening."

Currently, Veritas' myBRCA products are available through distributors in more than 30 countries. Individuals in the U.S. who are interested in BRCA testing can learn more at veritasgenetics.com/mybrca.

About Veritas GeneticsVeritas Genetics is a global leader in providing accessible genetic screening and interpretation to individuals, physicians, and medical researchers. By removing barriers to genetic screening and whole genome sequencing, Veritas Genetics empowers individuals and doctors to make informed lifestyle decisions that help people live longer, healthier lives. The company was recognized by MIT Technology Review as one of the "50 Smartest Companies" in 2016. Veritas was founded by leaders in genomics from Harvard Medical School and operates globally from its offices in the U.S., Europe and China. Learn more at veritasgenetics.com.

About Women's College HospitalFor more than 100 years Women's College Hospital (WCH) has been developing revolutionary advances in healthcare. Today, WCH is a world leader in the health of women and Canada's leading, academic ambulatory hospital. A champion of equitable access, WCH advocates for the health of all women from diverse cultures and backgrounds and ensures their needs are reflected in the care they receive. It focuses on delivering innovative solutions that address Canada's most pressing issues related to population health, patient experience and system costs. The WCH Institute for Health System Solutions and Virtual Care (WIHV) is developing new, scalable models of care that deliver improved outcomes for patients and sustainable solutions for the health system as a whole.

Women's College Research Institute (WCRI) is tackling some of the greatest health challenges of our time. Its scientists are conducting global research that advances the health of women and improves healthcare options for all, and are then translating those discoveries to provide much-needed improvements in healthcare worldwide. For more information about how WCH and WCRI are transforming patient care, visit http://www.womenscollegehospital.ca and http://www.womensresearch.ca.

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Veritas Genetics Collaborates with Dr. Steven Narod and Women's College Hospital to Launch The Screen Project - a ... - PR Newswire (press release)

Genetics

Veritas Genetics to Provide BRCA Testing to Participants in Canadian Breast Cancer Screening Effort – GenomeWeb

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) Veritas Genetics announced today that it has agreed to provide BRCA testing for men and women who participate in a new initiative called The Screen Project being conducted at Toronto's Women's College Hospital (WCH).

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Veritas Genetics to Provide BRCA Testing to Participants in Canadian Breast Cancer Screening Effort - GenomeWeb

Genetics

Cancer Genetics, Inc. (CGIX) Has Revealed It All In Its Chart – NY Stock News

The technicals for Cancer Genetics, Inc. (CGIX) have taken shape, and with them a comprehensive picture has emerged. This is the current state of play as presented by the current technical setup. Reading the technical chart for a given stock is a vital part of trading and investing success. Unless ample attention is paid to key technical aspects of a stocks pricing and volatility, decisions can at best be considered blind, or worse, idiotic. Getting to grips with all the technical factors that affect price and movement is therefore crucial.

(CGIX) has shown a marked change in trend levels over the course of recent market activity. Based on recent activity surrounding both the 50 and 200 SMAs, theres been a marked trend created which can be described as bullish. The composite picture painted by the trends built around both SMAs has also created a measured analysis of current investor sentiment as the stock navigates upside and downside risk. The established market sentiment toward the stock has created a trading environment which can suitably be described as positive. There has also been a knock-on effect as it relates to trading volume now reflected in strong real-time sentiment on the buying and selling curve; this has created in turn, enthusiasm toward the stock as measured across a broad statistical mix of the general trading community.

As a composite and comprehensive tableau, the stocks position in the minds of the trading market reflects a broad analysis of technicals and inherent trends which underpin overall market-trading viability.

Relative strength indicator (RSI) and Stochastic measures are two very important leading indicators that help traders gauge overall movement of a particular stock; they act as boosters to technical analysis. Together they show in a measured way, whether or not a stock currently overbought or oversold. This indicator is crucial in determining whether traders are tipped toward the side of buying more of the stock, or doing the opposite and selling more of the stock. This is very important directional information necessary for making trading decisions. (CGIX)s current measure for its 14-day RSI is 85.26%; this is suggestive that on balance of the indicator, the stock is currently overbought and may have reached the upper limits of upward movement, perhaps acting as a potential trigger for a price reversal. The stochastic picture presents a complimentary view of overall sentiment in the present state for (CGIX). Stochastic data gathered over the last 30 days has created a score of 91.02%. This indicates that the stock is overbought at current levels.

The successful trader has within her or her arsenal a wide range of tools. The leading indicators mentioned above help make up that arsenal but they are by no means the only ones needed for trading success. Short term indicators, as well as performance indicators, can mean all the difference in executing successful trades. The omens depict a telling picture in terms of the near-term trading setup for (CGIX); this makes things very interesting to the curious and interested eye. The +2.65 has created a positive in the trailing 30 days since initiating movement. Over the extended term, the stock has outperform the S&P 500 by 67.49%. This consistent movement and its attendant overall performance have produced higher daily volatility when compared with other stocks ranking in the same peer group and on the same exchange. The picture looks the same when the stock is assessed against volatility levels measured historically. This historical volatility gives a current reading of 149.35%. These measures of historic volatility are very handy in judging the underlying price momentum and the rate of change in the price of (CGIX). Bound up this picture of volatility, is another measure that gives the underlying thesis for (CGIX). This can best be seen by analyzing the readings for the stocks average true range, currently 13.03. ATR is a fine augment to the other indicators outlined above and should be used in conjunction and not as a standalone.

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Cancer Genetics, Inc. (CGIX) Has Revealed It All In Its Chart - NY Stock News

Genetics

Weekly genetics review: Gender equality being seen in seedstock industry – Beef Central

WHILE bulls have long been the main provider of genetic power, embryo transfer is just one tool which has lifted the influence of the female side of the pedigree equation.

Not only has ET been the multiplier of a herds top female genetics, it has lifted the overall quality of herds that use it. The result: a surplus becoming available of top females carrying the same genetics as their replacement heifers.

This weeks genetics report continues on from the theme we established last week: the role that registered female sales are currently having in some seedstock enterprises.

Despite 400mm of rain since January generating good feed at Ascot Cattle Cos Warwick, Queensland, headquarters, North Toolburra, and spill-over available at a second company property near Glen Innes, in NSW, the options this year were to sell some registered Angus and Charolais females or buy another property.

The first option was taken, and the 77 heifers offered at Ascots autumn sale last Friday grossed $235,000, delivering 43 percent of the overall sale gross.

Jim Wedge & Jackie Chard from Ascot Cattle Co, North Toolburra, Warwick

Co-principal Jim Wedge was pleased with the result. It was either sell them as registered females or chop their heads off and be wasted to the industry, he said.

Ascot is a 100pc registered herd running up to 700 breeders, with roughly equal numbers of Angus and Charolais, but trending towards Angus.

About 60pc of the Ascot heifers sold last week went to commercial producers and smaller studs. It is suspected some of the heifers also went to large commercial operations, many of which breed some replacement bulls for their own use.

We end up with around 300 heifer calves a year and we keep about 20pc as replacements, so we do have some surplus that are of excellent quality. We use the very best AI sires and back up bulls so the surplus heifers carry the same genetics as our replacements, Mr Wedge said.

The success of this first sale of females ensures the offering remains an important part of their smaller autumn bull sale, with the Ascot spring bull sale remaining the major bull selling event.

Armidale NSW based independent stud stock agent Mike Wilson said adding some registered females to a bull sale catalogue was one relatively easy way to make some extra money.

Once youd be flat out getting much more than commercial value for registered females, but these days we are seeing stud females bringing double or triple what commercial females are bringing, he said.

At one recent sale, young heifers, some joined and some not, had a reserve of $2000 and they finished up averaging more than $3000, Mr Wilson said.

Another example was a well-known Angus and Hereford breeder in central New South Wales who had a production sale of surplus registered females, generating enough to buy another property and set his son up.

But Mike Wilson had a note of caution. It only works for studs with a decent name, top line studs with good reputations that have genuine quality females to sell, he said.

Blake Munro

Queensland-based Elders agent Blake Munro said he would not call the additional registered females coming on the market presently a trend.

Weve all seen it: studs taking advantage of a buoyant cattle market, other studs buying up special genetics and commercial herds upgrading, he said.

Cashed-up commercial producers buying in a few better quality heifers to improve herds is certainly happening.

Another good example of the strong current demand for registered females, according to Mr Munro, is David and Prue Bondfields Palgrove Charolais Stud on the Qld/NSW border, which enjoyed a successful female sale earlier this month.

Palgrove does not hold an annual female sale, but its one held when conditions are right and surplus females are available, Mr Munro said.

One of the worlds most influential Angus seedstock producers, Gardiner Angus Ranch (GAR), lost 500 cattle in the last weeks wildfires in the state of Kansas in the US.

The giant GAR operation, which has a strong influence in the Australias Angus population, sells around 1000 bulls at three annual auctions, which in 2016 grossed close to $9 million for bulls and registered females.

Greg Gardiner with Angus heifers salvaged from the recent fires on Gardiner Ranch in Kansas

Five generations of Gardiners have been through droughts, blizzards and snow storms but the recent fire will go down as the familys most challenging event ever. The usual lush green cover at this time of the year has been replaced with black charred country and blowing sand reported the Drovers Cattle Network.

None of us thought the fire had this breadth and scope to it and it could do what it did, said Greg Gardiner. This is something weve never seen in our lifetime.

Fortunately, there were no lives lost at GAR, but his brother, Marks home was burnt to the ground.

Of GARs 19,200 hectares of country, 16,800ha were grass and virtually all that was burned. The ranch also lost 6000 large round bales of hay that were strategically stored over an 8km stretch, so that not all would be lost in the case of a fire.

The 500 destroyed cattle were not insured, according to Drovers Cattle Network.

On the brighter side, GARs valuable donor cows survived the fire, saving multiple generations of genetics.

If we would have lost those genetics, we would be up the river, said Greg Gardiner.

GARs biggest sale of the year is this coming Saturday, April 1, when 1025 head including 420 bulls, 377 registered females and 150 commercial females have been catalogued. At last years April sale bulls averaged $US8826 and registered females averaged $US6090.

US media sources indicated that the April 1 sale will proceed.

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Weekly genetics review: Gender equality being seen in seedstock industry - Beef Central

Embryology

‘Numerous barriers’ in accessing EU infertility services – euronews

A new EU report claims there are numerous barriers in accessing infertility services across the European Union.

The document, produced by Fertility Europe and the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology, shows around 25 million EU citizens are affected by infertility.

It also highlights that fertility rates vary across the nine countries looked at, with the lowest in Spain and Poland and the highest in France. But even the highest rate falls short of the population stabilisation rate of 2.1 live births per woman.

A Romanian MEP, who has hosted a debate in Brussels, says Europe faces a huge demographic problem.

In order to resolve this issue, its necessary to look to the internal policy and fertility policy must be internal policy in all member states, said Norica Nicolai.

Born in Britain in 1978, Louise Brown was the worlds first so-called test tube baby. IVF used to help her mother who couldnt conceive naturally. It was revolutionary, but highly controversial.

Now 38, Louise has been in Brussels for the release of the report.

Before mum was pregnant with me, mum actually went to the doctors with depression. And the doctor underlined the fact that she couldnt get pregnant that was causing the depression, she told Euronews.

So, its just the awareness for people to realise that its not just for mums and dads to have a baby, its creating families.

IVF the process of fertilising an egg with sperm outside the body remains controversial.

What we would like to see is much more restorative medicine and therapies, which actually address the problem of infertility at its source, not more IVF, said Mark Bhagwandin, from the UK-based Life charity.

Louise says all women in the EU should be offered IVF, if they cant conceive naturally. She thanks it for her existence, and has gone on to have a family of her own.

The Policy Audit on Fertility looked at the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Romania, Spain, Sweden and the UK. Click here for full document.

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'Numerous barriers' in accessing EU infertility services - euronews

Embryology

5 Reasons To Stop Calling Dads Of Unborn Babies A ‘Father To Be’ – The Federalist

Every parent I know has developed a pregnancy pet-peeve. Most women I know have said theirs was unwanted touching of their blossoming baby bump.For my pregnant wife, its how total strangers suddenly feel the need to explain how little sleep were going to get once baby is born.

I dont mind that so much, because I assume these are well-intentioned people trying to prepare us for an event we simply cannot understand yet. No, my pregnancy pet peeve was being called a father-to-be.

The peeve began to develop very early. When I announced to my co-workers that my wife is pregnant, they were happy for us. They asked about the due date and whether we were having a boy or a girl. And they congratulated me: Youre going to be a dad! they said, in the future tense.

I soon became very sensitive to this phrase. But I gave my co-workers the benefit of the doubt. Maybe Im just being a grammar nerd, I thought. Certainly this wont be something I hear that often.

Unfortunately, I was wrong. Everywhere I turned people were quick to label my wife and I as parents-to-be. This is not just among radical pro-abortion activists who reduce pre-born humans to cell clusters, but even on major parenting websites: Parents.com, Parenting.com, and TheBump.com all regularly use the language dad-to-be when referring to men with unborn children.

Its an egalitarian problem as well: People.com called Beyonc a mom-to-be after her announcement of her pregnancy with twins. The language of future parenthood applied to couples celebrating their current pregnancy permeates our culture.

Look up the word father. Merriam-Webster gives a good clear definition: A man who has begotten a child. That is about as clear as it gets. A father is a man with a child. That means any man who has impregnated a woman is a father.

Our culture gets it exactly backward: Every man who has not yet reproduced including my son, still in utero is a father-to-be, by virtue of his potential ability to impregnate a woman. I was once a father-to-be, until my wife became pregnant. At that moment, even before we found out, I was, and always will be, a father.

This inversion of language, ingrained in even our parenting culture, needs to be addressed for several reasons. Im a theology nerd, so heres a theology nerd analogy to help illuminate the problem: At the Council of Ephesus in 431 AD, bishops of the church met to decide what to call Mary. Was she merely Christotokos, or Christ-bearer, as Nestorius asserted? Or was she Theotokos, the bearer of God?

The council found in favor of Theotokos, because they recognized that the title we give Mary is really dependent on who we think Christ is. In other words, what we say about the blessed virgin is really a confession about her son. So also, in the matter at hand, those who use the terms mother- or father-to-be are really making a statement about the child. That statement needs to change.

As much as the Left likes to think of conservatives as science deniers on points like global warming, its difficult for them to maintain any moral high ground when their rhetoric on the unborn is so anti-science. Take Bill Nyes now infamous appearance on Big Thinks YouTube channel. As Professor Robert George and bioethicist Patrick Lee note in their response to Nye, the only science Nye cites is that fertilized eggs spontaneously abort pre-implantation at a very high rate.

After that, he just does bad philosophy. They quote several embryology textbooks that explain how and why unique human life begins at conception. A recent study has demonstrated that, even before implantation, a human embryo is autonomous and seeks its own growth and good. Thats some science, guy.

Even when abortion is not specifically in view, it is just as science-denying to use to be when speaking of parents. The human in utero is fully human, and when we casually dismiss this tiny, precious human, we dismiss and disrespect so much more of the human experience.

The language of future or potential parenthood is disrespectful to the parents of miscarried babies. Society grieves when parents lose their born children. We recognize that nature is disordered in a horrendous way when this takes place. But if we continue to talk about parents of pre-born children as if they are not really parents yet, we deny the legitimate grief of parents who lose their children to miscarriage.

Like parents who have lost born children, the mothers and fathers who have lost children to miscarriage do grieve. The American Psychological Association reported one study that indicates 15 percent of female participants who had a miscarriage had clinically significant depression and/or anxiety during and after pregnancies for up to three years.

The language our culture uses actively devalues the babies these parents have lost. Those using the epithets mom- or dad-to-be might as well tell parents that their grief over a miscarried child is as inappropriate as a woman grieving over her period. Both are merely potential children, not children in themselves. So on top of the grief of a lost child, parents have to deal with a society that doesnt even recognize their grief as legitimate.

My wife has already lost hundreds of hours of sleep to the myriad discomforts of pregnancy. On top of that, she has spent much of time exhaustedas her body provides for the miraculous development of the baby in her womb. She has made sacrifices that I cannot even begin to understand as she participates in this wonderment.

None of this is to paint a bleak picture of pregnancy. My wife will be the first to tell you how much she loves this time of our lives. But calling her a mom-to-be diminishes my wifes important contributions and sacrifices in her vocation as mother.

Not that I have yet made sacrifices to rival those of my wife, but I, too, see this language as an attack on my vocation. I work a full-time job as the sole breadwinner in our house now that my wife is pregnant, simultaneously maintaining high marks and a full school schedule. All of this is a life I have chosen for the sake of my wife and son it is my responsibility to protect and provide for my pre-born child. When people refer to a father who is working hard to provide for his partners comfort and to prepare for the birth of their child as a father-to-be, it devalues the vocation of father that he has already taken upon himself.

It is rarely disputed that fathers have responsibilities to their children. Our society has enacted child support laws specifically to ensure that fathers fulfill their duty to provide for their children, under penalty of law. We have said that it is wrong for a man to abandon children he has fathered.

But when we call a man a father-to-be, we are saying he does not yet have these responsibilities. Thus we should not be surprised when we hear stories in which men pressure women to kill their children by abortion, as Mark and Nathan Hamill reportedly did not too long ago, in this very galaxy.

I now actually look forward to people calling me a father-to-be, even though its also a pet peeve.

C.S. Lewis put it well: In a sort of ghastly simplicity we remove the organ and demand the function. We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful. In this case, we dont call men fathers, and are aghast at them refusing to father well.

I now actually look forward to people calling me a father-to-be, even though its also a pet peeve. People who are pro-life often dont know how to talk to others about their convictions. Its not easy to bring abortion up in casual conversation. Its a taboo subject, and expressing your pro-life beliefs can result in losing friends, or worse. One teacher in Canada even lost his job because he expressed his pro-life views.

But here, far removed from the abortion conversation, when someone calls me a father-to-be I can ask what exactly he mean by it. I can question her position without ever mentioning abortion. I can ask what he thinks my child is, whether he is human, and all sorts of other questions, all without getting the other persons guard up. So now I thank God every time someone calls me a father-to-be.

Jonathan Graham is a husband, father, and Lutheran layman studying classics and creative writing in Charleston, South Carolina. You can follow him on Twitter: @johnnyis_.

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5 Reasons To Stop Calling Dads Of Unborn Babies A 'Father To Be' - The Federalist

Cell Biology

USC scientist fishes for stem cell-based arthritis treatments – USC News

Scientist Joanna Smeeton explores stem cell-based approaches to studying and eventually treating the common cause of cold aversion, disability and pain.

We only have treatments for the larger joints where you can provide total replacements, but a lot of people with arthritis actually get it in the joints of their hands, said Smeeton, a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Gage Crump and this years Broad Fellow, the third since 2014. Currently, there really isnt that much we can do for the cartilage in these smaller joints, other than treat the symptoms with steroids or painkillers.

As part of the quest for new and better treatments, her Broad Fellowship project leverages a key discovery that she and her colleagues recently published in the journal eLife. They found that certain joints in zebrafish jaws and fins have features similar to the type of mammalian joint susceptible to arthritis.

By damaging a ligament that stabilizes the adult zebrafish jaw, she can reliably induce cartilage damage and arthritis. Just as reliably, the zebrafish can repair the damage. Smeeton aims to understand which progenitor cells are regenerating the ligament and cartilage in the zebrafish jaws, and why similar repair fails to occur in humans.

In the future, these findings may help in devising strategies to stimulate analogous progenitor cells in patients joints toward boosting cartilage and ligament regeneration, she said.

Smeeton first decided to become a scientist thanks to a very different anatomical structure: the human kidney. As a high school student in the city of St. Catharines near Niagara Falls in Ontario, she developed a fascination with this complex organ, which is composed of 1 million subunits called nephrons that filter the blood, regulate blood pressure and produce urine.

Whenever I had a science class about kidneys, I thought, Oh, nephrons are so cool! she said.

At McGill University in Montreal, she majored in anatomy and cell biology, and observed kidneys and other organs in human cadavers in the anatomy lab.

Ive always been fascinated by how intricately patterned organs are and how that actually happens during development.

Joanna Smeeton

Ive always been fascinated by how intricately patterned organs are and how that actually happens during development, she said.

For her PhD, she learned more about kidney development in a lab at Torontos Hospital for Sick Children and the University of Toronto.

During her postdoctoral studies, she expanded her focus beyond development and into the realm of regeneration.

Id been hearing talks about zebrafish for years and their amazing ability to regenerate parts of themselves that are injured or removed, she said. So I wanted to learn how to use them. I switched to studying cartilage because joint disease seemed like an area that was understudied in the context of natural regeneration and would be ripe for new treatments.

With these goals in mind, she joined the Crump Lab with a two-year postdoctoral fellowship from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine in 2014. Since then, she has not only discovered that zebrafish can develop arthritis, but also lent her talents as a soprano to the USC University Chorus and, with her husband Jeremy, parented twins: Edie and Isaac. Theirs is a true Trojan family: Jeremy Morris graduated in 2012 with an MFA from the Peter Stark Producing Program at the USC School of Cinematic Arts.

The twins have made me even more focused in my lab work, said Smeeton, because I know that any second that Im not home with them, I should be giving my 100 percent and really drilling down on the important questions we want to ask.

As she moves ahead with her research, the Broad Fellowship provides an ideal bridge. Established as part of a $2 million gift from The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, the fellowship is designed to support exceptional senior postdoctoral researchers at the transition point to starting their own stem cell laboratories.

Joanna is a motivated, smart and creative researcher who is destined for success in academic research, said Crump, associate professor of stem cell biology and regenerative medicine. This prestigious fellowship gives her the freedom to pursue her novel joint regeneration project, which provides a fundamentally new type of approach toward finding cell-based cures for arthritis.

More stories about: Research, Stem Cells

Gabriel Linares seeks therapies for patients with Lou Gehrigs disease.

The condition is more widespread in the animal kingdom than scientists suspected, USC study finds.

Lori OBrien will use Broad Center support to find her niche in kidney research and regenerative medicine.

The objective of one current research proposal is to push the frontiers of stem cell and tissue engineering technologies.

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USC scientist fishes for stem cell-based arthritis treatments - USC News

Biochemistry

Scientist maps giant virus – Phys.Org

March 28, 2017 by Layne Cameron Kristin Parent mapped the structure of the giant Samba virus with MSU's cryo-EM microscope, which is featured on the cover of the journal Viruses. Credit: Michigan State University

In a laboratory at Michigan State University, scientists took a DIY approach to build a retrofitted cryo-electron microscope that allowed them to map a giant Samba virus one of the world's largest viruses.

"If the common cold virus is scaled to the size of a ladder, then the giant Samba virus is bigger than the Washington Monument," said Kristin Parent, assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology and co-author of the paper featured on the cover of the journal Viruses. "Cryo-EM allowed us to map this virus' structure and observe the proteins it uses to enter, or attack, cells."

It seems counterintuitive that bigger organisms are harder to see, but they are when using cryo-electron microscopy. That's because these microscopes usually are used to look at thin specimens and can't decipher larger organisms to reveal their biological mechanisms. For thick samples, scientists see only dark gray or black blobs instead of seeing the molecular framework.

Cryo-EM allowed Parent's team to image the giant Samba virus and understand the structures that allow it to enter an amoeba. Once inside, Samba opens one of its capsid layers and releases its nucleocapsid which carries the genetic cargo that sparks an infection. While Samba isn't known to cause any diseases in humans, its cousin, the mimivirus, may be a culprit for causing some respiratory ailments in humans.

"If you scoop up a handful of water from Lake Michigan, you are literally holding more viruses than there are people on the planet," said Parent, who published the paper with Jason Schrad and Eric Young, MSU biochemistry and molecular biology graduate students. "While scientists can't study every virus on Earth, the insights we glean from viruses like the giant Samba can help us understand the mechanisms of other viruses in its family, how they thrive and how we can attack them."

As bacteria become more resistant to antibiotics, looking for new ways to fight diseases will continue to grow in importance. Parent's lab also studies how bacteria-infecting viruses enter cells using this method, which could potentially lead to new antibacterial treatments. Yet the world's best cryo-EM microscope costs more than $5 million. Limited by funds but not drive, Parent was able to upgrade an existing microscope at MSU to do cryo-EM one that is a tinkerer's dream.

This traditional transmission electron microscope was retrofitted with a cryostage, which keeps viruses frozen in liquid nitrogen while they're being studied. Parent and her team then added a Direct Electron DE-20 detector, a powerful camera the mighty microscope's piece de resistance.

Parent didn't invent cryo-EM, but establishing it on campus serves as a viable proof-of-concept for MSU, opening the door for many interdisciplinary partnerships. This cutting-edge microscopy has applications across many fields, from those addressing a single protein to others studying entire cells. Virtually anyone studying complex molecular machines can advance their work with this tool, Parent added.

Parent has earned an AAAS Marion Milligan Mason Award for Women in the Chemical Sciences. This award, her paper in Viruses and being the co-author who performed cryo-EM work in a recent Nature Communications paper, lays the groundwork to some day have a more advanced cryo-EM microscope housed at MSU to be able to perform high-resolution structural studies.

"We've done quite a bit with our limited resources, but we're primed to do more," Parent said. "I think MSU could serve as a cryo-EM center and to increase the prevalence of this technology in the Midwest and beyond."

As one example, scientists from Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (Brazil) and Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) also contributed to this study and benefitted from the technology MSU has to offer.

Explore further: Cryo-electron microscopy achieves unprecedented resolution using new computational methods

Cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM)which enables the visualization of viruses, proteins, and other biological structures at the molecular levelis a critical tool used to advance biochemical knowledge. Now Lawrence Berkeley ...

Advances in both light and electron microscopy are improving scientists' ability to visualize viruses such as HIV, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), measles, influenza, and Zika in their native states. Researchers from Emory ...

Scientists at Baylor College of Medicine, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Purdue University have completed a model of unprecedented near-atomic resolution of the chemical ...

An international group of scientists have solved the atomic structure of the Ljungan virus, an infection of rodents that is also associated with a variety of dangerous diseases in humans, including diabetes, neurological ...

Since the discovery of the microscope, scientists have tried to visualize smaller and smaller structures to provide insights into the inner workings of human cells, bacteria and viruses. Now, researchers at the National Institute ...

Next-generation steel and metal alloys are a step closer to reality, thanks to an international research project involving a University of Queensland scientist.

In order for a fuel cell to work, it needs an oxidizing agent. TU Wien has now found a way to explain why oxygen does not always enter fuel cells effectively, rendering them unusable.

A fluorescent probe developed by Michigan Tech chemist Haiying Liu illuminates the enzyme beta-galactosidase in a cell culture, which could help cancer surgeons.

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Scientist maps giant virus - Phys.Org

Anatomy

8 Things That Need to Happen for Grey’s Anatomy to Get Out of Its Slump – Cosmopolitan.com

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It pains me to type this, but here goes: This season of Grey's Anatomy hasn't been very good and the timing of that drop-off in quality couldn't be worse. We need smart, feminist, compelling shows to escape into, now more than ever! While it might be too late for the show to course-correct in season 13, it's not too late to start thinking about how season 14 could be better. Here are eight things Grey's Anatomy should do to shake off the cobwebs and recapture its magic.

Perhaps Ellen Pompeo needed to work less after the birth of her infant son, which would be totally understandable but her storylines should still count. Meredith is the Grey in Grey's Anatomy and she deserves more than what she's getting. Last season, we got to see her adjust to a world without McDreamy and cope with a life-altering assault. This season, we've seen her worry about Alex, get suspended from the hospital, and spin her wheels in a never-ending flirtation with Riggs. Ellen continues to nail the material she's given but she needs more to work with.

I've hated seeing characters like Webber, Alex, Bailey, and Arizona mishandled this season. Where has Alex been since he was released from prison? Why has the ball been dropped on digging into his relationship with Jo? Why have Webber and Bailey and Arizona spent so much time locked into the drama with Eliza, who at this point feels more like a plot device than a person? If it takes doing more bottle-style episodes, like the one with Jo, Arizona, and Bailey at the women's hospital, run with that!

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These days, they're fully each other's person, and that's something we haven't really seen developed or explored this season. We know they've gotten much, much closer, and the subtext is that's a result of Derek's death and Alex's arrest. That needs to become less of a background story. Meredith's honest, compelling voicemail to Alex when he was considering taking a plea deal was one of the best moments of the season, and we need more of that. They don't have to hook up (although I maintain that they are an end-game couple), but since the scenes they have together are one of the only elements of Grey's that continues to pop, the show needs to spend more time with them and, not to harp on this, with Meredith and Alex as individuals too.

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Remember when Grey's used to be all about doctors pulling one another into on-call rooms for nonstop hookups? I rewatched the Grey's pilot this week for the 12th anniversary of its airing (!!), and even though the characters barely knew each other, the show was crackling with sexual tension. I know a natural response to this might be that the characters are more mature now, which might explain the drop-off in sexual hijinks, but people in their 40s need hot sex too! And adding some younger characters and then actually taking the time to flesh them out (pun absolutely intended) might help with this as well.

Where are the hospital shootings? Where are the plane crashes? Where are the cut LVAD wires? So far, the major drama this season has come from "suspense" around Alex's arrest come on, was the series really going to put him in prison for 10 years? and the staffing shakeup in the residency director position. Grey's is literally asking us to stay invested in what amounts to an administrative staffing challenge for months, while turning major characters into cartoon-villain versions of themselves in the process. As it's done so, it's relied heavily on the stories of patients to drive the episodes, putting our characters' running stories in the backseat. I've loved some of the patient-driven storytelling the season, but it's frustrating when that comes at the cost of ignoring our favorite characters.

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This one might sound overly specific, but aside from a handful of random patients and guest stars, Grey's has never featured a romantic relationship between men. There aren't too many unique romantic angles left for the show to explore but really taking the time to develop a gay male relationship would give the show a new dimension (and possibly allow for more scenes with hot dudes with their shirts off, which the show has been sorely lacking lately).

Remember when Grey's made a huge deal out of the fact that Leah Murphy would be rejoining the cast? She showed up in a few random episodes, was barely used, and then disappeared. By contrast, Maggie's mom has only been in two episodes, but the show has managed to make her three-dimensional through a genuinely compelling story, which has given us a long-overdue chance to get to know Maggie better, too. More moms, fewer Murphys, please.

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If I squint and tilt my head to one side, I can see how maybe Grey's is trying to use Owen and Amelia's story to point out that in real life, couples fight and that's a normal part of relationships. But Owen and Amelia only fight. Do they even like each other?! They've been on a cycle of ignoring each other and then yelling at each other for weeks now, and it's tiresome. To make matters worse, we've seen Owen have nearly identical fights with Cristina, which means Kevin McKidd has been stuck doing the same material for years. Again, maybe Grey's is trying to tell stories about how Owen has patterns that sabotage his relationships, and I applaud their effort to be realistic in that regard. But it's gotten old and I'm over it.

Follow Lauren on Twitter.

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8 Things That Need to Happen for Grey's Anatomy to Get Out of Its Slump - Cosmopolitan.com

Anatomy

‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Season 13, Episode 18 Spoilers: Be Still My Soul Maggie, Diane Struggle Through Failing Health … – EconoTimes

Greys Anatomy Season 13, Episode 18 Spoilers: Be Still My Soul Maggie, Diane Struggle Through Failing Health; Richard to Forgive Bailey?

Greys Anatomy season 13s episode 18, titled Be Still My Soul, will follow Maggie and her mother Diane as they struggle through the latters failing health. Meanwhile, Richard will come to terms with Baileys betrayal. Perhaps it is possible that he may finally forgive Bailey.

The synopsis for Be Still My Soul posted on TV Guide reads, Maggie's (Kelly McCreary) mom's health deteriorates, and the doctors are at odds over how to treat her. Meanwhile, Richard (James Pickens Jr.) comes to grips with Bailey's (Chandra Wilson) betrayal over the Residency Program.

The upcoming episode will put focus on Maggie and her mother, Diane Pierce (LaTanya Richardson Jackson) as they struggle through her condition. Maggies colleagues will also find themselves divided over how to treat her.

In the previous episode, titled 'Til I Hear It From You, Diane returned to Seattle for a mastectomy to be performed by Jackson (Jesse Williams) after receiving chemotherapy at home. It seems that Maggie was left in the dark about her mothers true health condition that she has breast cancer. Dianes surgery became complicated leaving Maggie devastated.

During an interview with E! News, McCreary hinted at what to expected from Maggie in the upcoming episodes. The 33-year old actress said, "I think, first and foremost, Maggie is the brightest person she knows And she's going to try to solve her problems herself. And of course, when you try to do everything yourself, you get tuckered out."

Meanwhile, Richard is set to come to terms with Baileys betrayal after the latter attempted to mend their broken friendship. It would be interesting to see if Richard can finally forgive Bailey for going behind his back and taking his Residency Program away in favor of Eliza (Marika Dominczyk).

Greys Anatomy season 13s episode 18, titled Be Still My Soul, is scheduled to air on March 20, 2017 on ABC. It was directed by Ellen Pompeo and written by Meg Marinis. It will be followed by episode 19, titled "What's Inside", scheduled to be released on April6 and directed by Nzingha Stewart.

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'Grey's Anatomy' Season 13, Episode 18 Spoilers: Be Still My Soul Maggie, Diane Struggle Through Failing Health ... - EconoTimes