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Embryology

IVF works for the lucky few. After a decade, I finally realised I wasnt one of them – The Guardian

Why I quit

We tried and tried, but failed and failed. Yet the fertility industry kept offering us hope, so long as we offered them money

Is it possible to become addicted to fertility treatment? When does spending tens of thousands of pounds on IVF with no guarantee that it will actually work become a gambling problem? These are the questions I am searching for answers to as I meet virtually with a doctor from a top London fertility clinic. Women are a mystery, he jokes. I smile politely into the tiny camera on my laptop. I had been considering treatment with his clinic and we have spent the last hour running through my history of infertility, or rather, in my case, incomplete fertility.

My husband and I have been trying for nine years to have a baby. Im quite good at getting pregnant, especially when we first started trying, but I cant seem to stay pregnant. I dont know why. And as it turns out, neither do the experts. I have spent years seeking their help, and because IVF wasnt available on the NHS in my area, I have paid thousands of pounds along the way in my relentless pursuit of pregnancy.

IVF can be an invaluable blessing, and I know so many people who have benefited from the treatment. But there are no guarantees. Despite the tremendous costs associated with private IVF treatment, according to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, the average live birth rate for IVF patients under 35 is around 32% per embryo transferred. For patients older than 35, the stats decrease significantly by age. Those are pretty bad odds for success, but like thousands of women in the UK, I tried my luck.

Early in our journey, we were labelled as a case of unexplained infertility. And while that sounds as if it should be an anomaly, in reality at least 25% of infertility cases in the UK today are classified as unexplained, a mystery.

For me, unexplained is the worst diagnosis of all. If I had one of the common causes of infertility, such as polycystic ovaries, irregular periods or endometriosis, or if my husband had a male infertility factor, we could target the problem and treat it.

But after all the tests and weve had them all we are painfully, extraordinarily, normal.

One clinic was honest in its assessment that it could not identify why our pregnancies wouldnt last, and advised me not to continue the physical burden of IVF. It refunded us part of the cost when its treatments werent successful.

Others were not so kind. Treatment at the most expensive clinic I went to, a Harley Street stalwart, left me physically bruised, financially depleted and none the wiser. My final interaction with them was a 15-minute consultation, weeks after my failed cycle, in which the doctor shuffled through my papers and said: It should have worked, we did everything right. Try again.

And so, I did.

But after further unsuccessful cycles, I started to realise that IVF treatment is more art than science. My experience was that IVF is experimental, each clinic offering different cocktails of medicines, treatment plans and add-ons.

I tried every option available to me. Cycle after cycle, I gained weight, lost control of my moods, and for years I was anchored in a constant state of grief. But the urge to keep trying refused to disappear.

Despite my efforts not to fall for the promise of IVF again, curiosity and temptation got the better of me. Maybe another clinic could help? Maybe it could offer something new, something different, that the others couldnt?

And so, I found myself speaking to this new doctor on my laptop. You are too young and too healthy to give up, he said. He suggested a strategy and a three-cycle package for us to consider. And so I tried again. I was meticulous in execution but despite our excellent graded embryos and my healthy uterus, the cycles failed.

It was a painful reminder that this is how the fertility business works. I could be tempted to pay thousands to treat an undiagnosed condition. A schedule of appointments, injections and procedures could offer me a comforting, yet false, sense of control in an otherwise bewildering experience.

IVF clinics are a business first and foremost, and the private fertility industry in the UK alone is worth more than 320m annually. The model relies on patients like me trying, failing, then paying to try again. And again. And again. Until it works. Maybe.

Its not just the private clinics. Beyond sparse regulation, the booming fertility market is a free-for-all, crowded with pseudoscientific products aimed at desperate women. Ovulation kits, fertility smoothies, maca powder, royal jelly, prenatal supplements, acupuncture, massages, coaches and countless pricey pregnancy tests Ive paid for them all.

Its irresistible when the one thing they sell above all else is hope.

It took me nearly a decade, but I realised that IVF works for the lucky few, and I wasnt one of them. And so, I finally quit. I conceded that the toll it was taking on my body and my mental health was not worth it. I had vanished. My identity, my time, the light inside of me, all diminished. I decided I needed to regain control of my body.

I am considered a case of unexplained infertility because there are gaping holes in the scientific understanding of how life is created, why miscarriage happens and why some of us struggle to conceive, even in the best of circumstances. My doctor was right, womens health is still too often shrouded in mystery.

Its fair to say that my IVF days are over. But I wont give up hope of having a healthy baby one day. I also hope to see change in the fertility industry. I hope that assisted fertility becomes a less traumatic experience for patients; that more regulation is put in place to curb the ever-rising costs of treatment, and that success rates are calculated on personalised data based on patient diagnosis. I also hope for fairer marketing practices that would allow patients to make more informed choices, and for continued research to develop treatments with more promising success rates. Above all, I hope that society wakes up to this silent crisis in womens health happening all around us.

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IVF works for the lucky few. After a decade, I finally realised I wasnt one of them - The Guardian

Embryology

When your mother’s not your mother and the problems of … – The Tablet

Under current legislation, which is by no means perfect, the surrogate mother is the legal parent of a child born through surrogacy.Daisy-Daisy / Alamy

For most couples, the desire to have children is deeply imbedded in their relationship. After all, human beings are made for love and children are a real expression of love. So, when couples discover that they cannot have children this can be devastating. On the other hand, some couples, notably same sex couples, enter their union knowing from the outset that having their own children together is impossible, yet they still yearn to be parents, as do some single people who are not in any relationship. Welcoming a child via a surrogate mother seems to provide the answer. Influential celebrities who use surrogate mothers have become role models for surrogacy and hold out this as an option for all. However, the desire to be a mother or father does not justify any right to have a child. Children have the right to be born in their own real families with their own mother and father.

Without any real discussion of the serious ethical issues involved in surrogacy, and despite significant concerns over surrogacy arrangements, new proposals have been put forward by the Law Commission of England and Wales and the Scottish Law Commission that will not only facilitate and enable surrogacy but will also turn surrogacy and parenthood into merely an administrative process. Under these proposals parenthood becomes a matter of a paper agreement between the parties: the intended parents and surrogate mother who make up the surrogacy team, under the oversight of an organisation that ensures the team are aware of the implications of their agreement. The proposals appear in the Law Commissions joint report Building families through surrogacy: a new law.

While the ostensible aim of the report is to clarify the law, in effect the proposals provide a new pathway to having children. Significantly, these proposals move from tolerance of the practice to full support of surrogacy as a means of having a family. Surrogacy becomes simply part of the range of assisted conception options (a phrase used both in the report and by government) and parenthood is reduced to administration. Not only would surrogacy be normalised if these proposals were implemented, the proposals would deprive the natural mother of her status as a mother from the very beginning of the pregnancy and, if she wants her own child, she has to reclaim her child within six weeks of the birth.

Surrogacy is often presented as an altruistic act of helping a couple fulfil their dreams of having a family. However, the child is a person too and surrogacy is always an injustice. Surrogacy raises serious questions. Human beings cannot be the objects of a transaction between others. There is a real concern of the exploitation of women. Instead of being a gift for the parents, the child becomes an object of a commissioning agreement between the surrogate and intended parents. By its very nature, surrogacy intentionally deprives the child of the mother who gave bodily care from the very beginning of the childs life and so surrogacy fragments parenthood. However, the new proposals bypass these serious issues. Instead, the proposals simply consider the practicalities of surrogacy as if it is merely a contractual and administrative process. They discuss what can be done in a given legal framework without discussing what should be done. The proposal normalises otherwise unjust actions. With its proposed new pathwayBuilding families treats the surrogate as temporary rented accommodation. The occupant, the child, remains vulnerable to the intentions and desires of the surrogacy team of the intended parents and the surrogate mother.

Under current legislation, which is by no means perfect, the surrogate mother is the legal parent of a child born through surrogacy. To have a legally recognised relationship to the child the intended parents must obtain a parental order through the courts. This means that, when courts decide on a parental order application, they give paramount consideration to the welfare of the child. Under the proposed new pathway the necessity for a court application for a parental order is removed. Instead, the intended parents and the surrogate agree before the childs conception that the intended parents will become the childs legal parents at birth. There need not be a medical reason for taking the route of surrogacy. Surrogate mothers need not have given birth before (as such a requirement would not respect the autonomy of women who want to be surrogates) and there is no upper age limit or limit to the number of surrogate pregnancies she may undertake. This pathway agreement will be overseen by proposed new Regulated Surrogacy Organisations (RSOs), supervised by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA). As the UKs regulator of fertility treatment and research using embryos, the HFEA already has a long reach, and its remit will be further expanded to encompass surrogacy arrangements. The task of RSOs is to ensure that the surrogacy team are aware of the implications of surrogacy and its emotional and practical consequences. This pre-conception assessment of the understanding of the surrogacy team includes an assessment of whether a future child would be at risk of significant harm or neglect. However, it is a weak and ineffective replacement for a court decision on the best interests of an existing child. Rather than the focus being on the welfare of the child, under the proposed legislation what is now of paramount importance are the intentions and choices of the surrogacy team.

The proposed new pathway that presents surrogacy as yet another reproductive choice means that the welfare of the child, already precarious under previous legislation and under existing reproductive technologies, now loses any real significance. The aim of the law commissions may have been to reform the law, but this was not in response to addressing the serious ethical issues related to surrogacy or to remedy injustice or to protect women and children who are at risk of exploitation or objectivisation. The underlying aim for the reform seems to be to reinforce and deliver the pre-conception intentions of the surrogacy team. In part this is due to the practical concern that intended parents worry the surrogate may change her mind and the surrogate worries that the intended parents will change theirs: concerns that are inevitable given the very nature of surrogacy. However, contract and the instrumentalisation of motherhood seem to have triumphed over the natural mother-and-child bond. We are in the process of normalising mothers not being mothers.

Dr Pia Matthews is a Senior Lecturer St Marys University.

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When your mother's not your mother and the problems of ... - The Tablet

Embryology

On World Veterinary Day Let us Celebrate the Diversity of the Noble … – Rising Kashmir

Veterinarian in common parlance means an Animal Doctor. This noblest of all noble acts of healing a sick animal constitutes a very small part of a Veterinarians Job Profile. Will Rogers has rightly said, The best doctor in the world is a Veterinarian. He can't ask his patients what is the matter - he's got to just know.A Veterinarian is not only the guardian of animal health but human health as well. One Health Concept is dedicated to improving the lives of all species - human and animal - through the integration of Human Medicine, Veterinary Medicine and Environmental Science. It seeks to promote, improve, and defend the health and well-being of all species by enhancing cooperation and collaboration between Physicians, Veterinarians, other scientific health and environmental professionals and by promoting strengths in leadership and management to achieve these goals. Veterinarian as a farm manager manages dairy, sheep and poultry farms to produce milk, meat and egg for nutritional security, a step ahead of food security. As an animal breeder he works towards improvement of animal productivity, as a nutritionist he devises optimum feeding regimen for better productivity and as food technologist he looks for ways and means to enhance the shelf life of animal products and their value addition.

Veterinary and Animal Science Education, Research and Training

Veterinary and Animal Science Education and Research presently falls under the Ministry of Agriculture. Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) has nationwide network of Deemed Universities, Directorates, Project Directorates, Research Institutes, National Research Centers, National Bearuex, Network Projects and All India Co-ordinated Research Projects dedicated to research and education in fields of Agriculture and allied sectors. Out of the vast network a few institutes are dedicated exclusively to Animal Sciences. State Agriculture Universities invariably have Veterinary and Animal Science Faculties/ Colleges taking care of Undergraduate and Postgraduate Veterinary education. Many states have separate Veterinary Universities with Faculties/Colleges of Veterinary Sciences, Fisheries, Dairy Technology etc. Southern state of Tamil Nadu has established a network of extension centers on lines of Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) linked to Veterinary University known as Veterinary University Training and Research Centres (VUTRCs) and state of Karnataka has established Animal Science Polytechniques to create much needed para-veterinary manpower. A statutory body called Veterinary Council of India (VCI) has been established that presently regulates undergraduate teaching, while post-graduate education, research and extension continue to be regulated by ICAR. Veterinary and Animal Science Education in State of Jammu and Kashmir is taken care of by two Faculties of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, one each in Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology Kashmir and Jammu (SKUAST-K and SKUAST-J). Besides BVSc and AH degree programme Veterinary and Animal Husbandry Faculties offer Postgraduate and Doctoral Degree programmes in as many as 18 disciplines.

A rigorous five and a half years undergraduate programme during which a student goes through a wide range of subjects like: Anatomy, Histology, Embryology, Physiology, Climatology, Biochemistry, Biotechnology, Pharmacology, Toxicology, Pathology, Microbiology, Immunology, Parasitology, Public Health and Food Safety, Livestock Production and Management, Poultry Science, Wild life Science, Fodder Production and Grassland Management, Animal Nutrition, Feed Technology, Animal Genetics and Breeding, Medicine, Surgery, Radiology, Animal Reproduction, Gynecology and Obstetrics Extension Education, Veterinary Medical Ethics, Animal Products Technology followed by a rigorous Clinical and Farm management practice leads to the award of Bachelors Degree in Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry (B. V. Sc& A. H). As diverse are the subjects so are the animal species about which Veterinary student is supposed to study. These include Cattle, Buffalo, Equines, Swine, Sheep, Goat, Rabbit, Laboratory Animals, Canines, Felines and Avians like Chicken, Duck, Turkey, Guinea fowl etc. to name a few.

Veterinarians in Service of Society

A Veterinarian serves society in a wide variety of ways:

Government Veterinary and Animal Husbandry Services: In Departments of Animal and Sheep Husbandry a Veterinary Assistant Surgeon has multifarious responsibilities including, Animal health care, Disease diagnosis and surveillance, Epidemiology, Dairy, Sheep, Goat and Poultry Development. Genetic improvement of livestock, Production of Biologicals, Maintenance of semen and germplasm banks and hatcheries, Feed formulation, compounding and quality control, Livestock and Poultry Farm Management, and providing Vetero-legal opinion whenever required

Research teaching and education: Post graduate Veterinarians take up Research, Teaching and Extension assignments in State Agricultural/Veterinary Universities, KVKs, Research Institutes under Agricultural Research System and in Departments of Science and Technology, Department of Biotechnology, Defence Research Development Organization, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research etc.

Defence Veterinary Services: Indian Army has Remount Veterinary Corps that inducts Veterinarians to take care of number of Military Dairy farms, Equine studs and other Livestock farms and Canine squads. Besides they are involved in meat and milk inspection at various military establishments. For similar assignments paramilitary forces like BSF, ITBF, and CRPF etc also induct Veterinarians in their ranks

Banking and Insurance: Public and private sector banks and Insurance companies induct Veterinarians for looking after Cattle/Animal Husbandry finance schemes and livestock insurance sectors respectively

Private Practice and Consultation: A Veterinarian as a consultant to Dairy Sheep and Poultry enterprises contributes immensely in increasing the availability of animal products.

Veterinarians in Wild life Conservation: Veterinarians contribute to Wildlife conservation in capacity of Wildlife Veterinarians in National Parks / Sanctuaries and Zoos. In event of Wild Animal- Human Conflict the Veterinarians are called upon to control the strayed Wild animal in order to ensure its safe return to natural habitat.

Veterinarians as Guardians of human health: Veterinarians act as guardians of human health in capacity of Livestock Inspectors in municipalities and local bodies, Meat inspectors at Slaughter houses, Milk and Milk product inspectors in Dairy Plants. In event of outbreak of Zoonotic disease Veterinarians are called upon to use their expertise in controlling the disease.

Veterinarians as administrators: Being accustomed to rigorous study schedule and hard work Veterinarians find it easy to crack Civil services Examinations like IAS, IFS, State Administrative Services etc. and many Veterinarians have in recent years made it to coveted positions in administration.

Besides there are number of other fields where services of Veterinarians are required

World Veterinary Day

On last Saturday of April every year the global Veterinary community comes together to celebrate World Veterinary Day. Created by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and the World Veterinary Association (WVA), World Veterinary Day first celebrated in year 2001 is meant to raise public awareness about the important roles veterinarians undertake. The celebrations are cantered on focusing attention to the crucial role veterinarians play in the development of more sustainable Animal Husbandry practices, which improve not only the health of animals, but also the health and well-being of people and the environment. By implementing a One Health Approach, Veterinarians are working together with other health professionals to improve and develop new production systems that are also respectful of animal welfare and the environment, By doing so, veterinarians are contributing to the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals to reduce poverty and ensure zero hunger, good health, and economic growth. Each year, WVA declares a theme for World Veterinary Day.

This year the theme for World Veterinary Day is Promoting Diversity, Equity and Inclusiveness in Veterinary Profession. Along with the global Veterinarian Community, the Veterinarians at SKUAST of Kashmir comprising Scientists, Teachers, Extension workers, Students and Research Scholars celebrate World Veterinary Day with traditional enthusiasm at Faculty of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry, SKUAST-Kashmir, Shuhama, Alusteng. On 29th of April 2023 the last Saturday of April this year SKUAST-K Veterinarians shall converge at the Faculty Lawns, where Chief Guest, Honble Vice Chancellor, SKUAST-K shall unfurl the World Veterinary Association Flag and unveil the new issue of Vets Vision. This would be followed by a Veterinary Day Rally to Multi-speciality Veterinary Clinics, inauguration of Animal Clinical Camp, Felicitation of achievers, theme lecture by Organizing Secretary and scores of other programmes. The visit of School Children and retired Veterinarian shall also add colour to celebrations.

( The Author is a Veterinarian serving at SKUAST-K as Associate Director Research and Officer on Special Duty to Vice Chancellor The views expressed in the write-up are the views of the author and need not represent the views of the Institution. He can be contacted at azmatalamkhan@gmail.com)

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On World Veterinary Day Let us Celebrate the Diversity of the Noble ... - Rising Kashmir

Genetics

Wow: Geneticists Created an Organism Immune to All Viruses – Popular Mechanics

Viruses are often incredibly hard to treat. Were certainly not strangers to that fact after the last few years. Theyre extremely adaptable and very hard to destroy, making them very dangerous to human health. Antivirals can sometimes help a little, but usuallyyou get a virus, youre stuck with it.

But what if instead of trying to treat these sneaky little beasts, we could stop them in their tracks before they even enter our cells? Create an organism thats basically immune to viruses right off the bat? Well, geneticists at Harvard claim theyve done just that.

In a recent study, a team of researchers announced that they had made an E. coli bacterium immune to all viruses. Well, all they could test in the lab, anyway.

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We cant say its fully virus-resistant, Akos Nyerges, genetics researcher and one of the authors of the study, said in a press release, but so far, based on extensive laboratory experiments and computational analysis, we havent found a virus that can break it.

The researchers decided to take a delete and trick approach in the creation of their super-organism. They first went in and stripped the bacterium of three of its codons, which are little chunks of genetic code. And they didnt just pick at randomthey carefully deleted the codons that viruses latch onto to begin replicating themselves.

So, problem solved, right? Wrong.

It turns out that viruses can bring their own versions of these codons into the cell and bypass the deletions altogether, kind of like bringing a power adapter on an international trip so you can plug your devices into wrong-shaped outlets.

So, in step two, the scientists got a little tricky with RNA. Specifically with tRNA, or transfer RNA. When a virus is trying, to begin the replication process, it basically plugs a strand of tRNA into a codon, and the codon prints out an amino acid. That process creates proteins.

But critically, if the codons print the wrong amino acid, nothing gets made. You just get a string of gibberish instructions that halt the viral duplication process in its tracks. So, the researcher team inserted strands of tRNA into the E. coli that would tell the codons brought in by the viruses to produce the wrong amino acids. Theoretically, the virus could bring in its own tRNA too, but the researchers seem convinced that their tRNA strands win that fight.

With the codons now printing out completely wrong amino acids and the viruss replication instructions being turned into nonsense, the infection was stopped before it even got started. With that success under their belt, the team eventually wants to use their new gene tech to create strands of virus-resistant bacteria that can be used to produce things like insulin.

And who knows? Maybe someday, well be able to extend that tech to ourselves.

Associate News Editor

Jackie is a writer and editor from Pennsylvania. She's especially fond of writing about space and physics, and loves sharing the weird wonders of the universe with anyone who wants to listen. She is supervised in her home office by her two cats.

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Wow: Geneticists Created an Organism Immune to All Viruses - Popular Mechanics

Genetics

Zoonomia: Genetic research reveals all we share with animals … – Sentinel-Tribune

Gunnar Kaasen and with his dog Balto, the heroic dogsled team leader, sit for a portrait in the early 1920s. As a part of the Zoonomia Project, with 11 papers published Thursday, April 27, 2023, in the journal Science, by comparing Baltos genes to those of other dogs, researchers found he was more genetically diverse than modern breeds and may have carried genetic variants that helped him survive harsh conditions. The Zoonomia Project is an international effort comparing the genetic blueprints of an array of animals, including this species, and some of the discoveries were shared in 11 papers published Thursday, April 27, 2023, in the journal Science. (AP Photo, File)

By comparing the genetic blueprints of an array of animals, scientists are gaining new insights into our own species and all we share with other creatures.

One of the most striking revelations is that certain passages in the instructions for life have persisted across evolutionary time, representing a through line that binds all mammals including us.

The findings come from the Zoonomia Project, an international effort that offers clues about human traits and diseases, animal abilities like hibernation and even the genetics behind a sled dog named Balto who helped save lives a century ago.

Researchers shared some of their discoveries in 11 papers published Thursday in the journal Science.

David OConnor, who studies primate genetics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said the studies tackle deep questions.

Its just the wonder of biology, how we are so similar and dissimilar to all the things around us, said OConnor, who wasnt involved in the research. Its the sort of thing that reminds me why its cool to be a biologist.

The Zoonomia team, led by Elinor Karlsson and Kerstin Lindblad-Toh at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, looked at 240 species of mammals, from bats to bison. They sequenced and compared their genomes the instructions organisms need to develop and grow.

They found that certain regions of these genomes have stayed the same across all mammal species over millions of years of evolution.

One study found that at least 10% of the human genome is largely unchanged across species. Many of these regions occur outside the 1% of genes that give rise to proteins that control the activity of cells, the main purpose of DNA.

Researchers theorized that long-preserved regions probably serve a purpose and are likely what they call regulatory elements containing instructions about where, when and how much protein is produced. Scientists identified more than 3 million of these in the human genome, about half of which were previously unknown.

Scientists also focused on change within the animal kingdom. When they aligned genetic sequences for species and compared them with their ancestors, Karlsson said, they discovered that some species saw a lot of changes in relatively short periods of time. This showed how they were adapting to their environments.

One of the really cool things about mammals is that at this point in time, theyve basically adapted to survive in nearly every single ecosystem on Earth, Karlsson said.

One group of scientists looked for genes that humans dont have but other mammals do.

Instead of focusing on new genes that might create uniquely human traits, we kind of flipped that on its head, said Steven Reilly, a genetics researcher at Yale University.

Losing pieces of DNA can actually generate new features, Reilly said.

For example, he said, a tiny DNA deletion between chimps and humans caused a cascade of changes in gene expression that may be one of the causes of prolonged brain development in humans.

Another study focused on the fitness of one well-known animal: Balto.

Scientists sequenced the genome of the sled dog, who led a team of dogs carrying a lifesaving diphtheria serum to Nome, Alaska, in 1925. His story was made into a 1995 animated feature film and a statue of the pup stands in New Yorks Central Park.

By comparing Baltos genes to those of other dogs, researchers found he was more genetically diverse than modern breeds and may have carried genetic variants that helped him survive harsh conditions. One of the authors, researcher Katherine Moon of the University of California, Santa Cruz, said Balto gives us this guide through comparative genomics, showing how genetics can shape individuals.

OConnor said he expects Zoonomia to yield even more insights in the future.

To have these tools and to have the sort of audacity to ask these big questions helps scientists and others learn more about life around us, he said.

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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Zoonomia: Genetic research reveals all we share with animals ... - Sentinel-Tribune

Genetics

Where Myriad Genetics Stands With Analysts – Myriad Genetics (NASDAQ:MYGN) – Benzinga

May 4, 2023 5:01 PM | 2 min read

Analysts have provided the following ratings for Myriad Genetics (NASDAQ:MYGN) within the last quarter:

These 4 analysts have an average price target of $23.25 versus the current price of Myriad Genetics at $21.09, implying upside.

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Below is a summary of how these 4 analysts rated Myriad Genetics over the past 3 months. The greater the number of bullish ratings, the more positive analysts are on the stock and the greater the number of bearish ratings, the more negative analysts are on the stock

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This average price target has increased by 12.48% over the past month.

Stay up to date on Myriad Genetics analyst ratings.

If you are interested in following small-cap stock news and performance you can start by tracking it here.

Benzinga tracks 150 analyst firms and reports on their stock expectations. Analysts typically arrive at their conclusions by predicting how much money a company will make in the future, usually the upcoming five years, and how risky or predictable that company's revenue streams are.

Analysts attend company conference calls and meetings, research company financial statements, and communicate with insiders to publish their ratings on stocks. Analysts typically rate each stock once per quarter or whenever the company has a major update.

Some analysts publish their predictions for metrics such as growth estimates, earnings, and revenue to provide additional guidance with their ratings. When using analyst ratings, it is important to keep in mind that stock and sector analysts are also human and are only offering their opinions to investors.

If you want to keep track of which analysts are outperforming others, you can view updated analyst ratings along withanalyst success scores in Benzinga Pro.

This article was generated by Benzinga's automated content engine and reviewed by an editor.

2023 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

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Where Myriad Genetics Stands With Analysts - Myriad Genetics (NASDAQ:MYGN) - Benzinga

Genetics

Genetics could be why your meds aren’t working. UCSF is studying … – San Francisco Chronicle

Prescription drugs and recommended doses are often adjusted according to a patients age, weight and gender. But subtler factors, including specific genes, can also determine how well a drug works or whether you should take it at all.

UCSF next week will start a genetic testing program for patients, believed to be the first of its kind in California and among only a handful in the United States, that helps tailor medications to patients based on their individual genetic makeup.

The move, announced by UCSF Tuesday, marks an advancement in precision medicine the treatment and prevention of disease personalized for each persons genes and environment at one of the Bay Areas leading academic medical centers and largest health care providers. UCSFs leaders hope it will help reduce adverse drug reactions, which nationwide lead to thousands of deaths each year, according to federal data.

The testing approach, known as pharmacogenetics or pharmacogenomics, will involve conducting a blood test that analyzes 15 genes that affect the bodys response to 56 drugs. These drugs have been found to cause adverse reactions, harmful side effects and other responses that render the medication less effective in patients who have certain variants in those 15 genes. The drugs include both oral medications and intravenous therapies, and treat a range of conditions such as cancer, high cholesterol, pain and psychiatric disorders.

Implementing pharmacogenetics will make a significant dent in reducing those deaths and adverse reactions, said UCSF Chief Genomics Officer Dr. Aleksandar Rajkovic, who co-leads the program.

Currently, some UCSF patients may get the genetic test if their doctor believes its relevant to their treatment plan and orders it. Under the new program, the test will be more systematically offered across many practice groups including oncology, pediatrics, cardiology and neurology. UCSFs electronic medical record system will flag patients who are taking one or more of the 56 drugs, alert their doctors of a potential drug-gene interaction and ask physicians to order the test.

Some people, for instance, have a genetic variant known to reduce the bodys ability to transport cholesterol-lowering medications to the liver to be metabolized and eliminated, which leads to a buildup of the drugs in the body that can cause muscle pain. And some people with psychiatric disorders either metabolize drugs too poorly and are at risk of experiencing side effects caused by toxic levels of the drug, or metabolize drugs too quickly to benefit from standard doses. The electronic system will notify doctors of these potential interactions.

The program will initially test only about 5,000patients a fraction of the 118,000 UCSF clients who are taking one or more of the 56 drugs in question. UCSF will bill patients insurance for the test, but not all insurers cover pharmacogenetic testing.

It cost UCSF about half a million dollars to roll out the program, and it pays for itself once the savings in drug costs and other costs of adverse side effects such as return visits to adjust dosing and hospitalizations are calculated, Rajkovic said.

A recent study published in the medical journal the Lancet found that pharmacogenetic testing at hospitals in seven European countries resulted in a 30% reduction in adverse drug reactions.

Pharmacogenetic testing is not widely deployed in the U.S. health care system. The handful of U.S. hospitals that have such testing programs are, like UCSF, affiliated with academic research institutions with the resources and expertise to advance the practice, such as the Mayo Clinic, St. Jude Childrens Hospital, Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the University of Chicago.

Pharmacist Bani Tamraz, who co-leads the UCSF pharmacogenomics program, urged California lawmakers recently to expand access to pharmacogenomic testing, testifying in support of a bill that would require the states public insurance plan for low-income residents, Medi-Cal, to cover it.

Were very proud of the fact that patients are going to have this little piece of information available to their providers to integrate in their care, he said. Drug responses are complex. Genetics is one of many factors. But now that information will be available to the doctor so they can go beyond their weight, height, age to make a decision on your medication.

Correction: An earlier version of this story misspelled the name of Dr. Aleksandar Rajkovic.

Reach Catherine Ho: cho@sfchronicle.com

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Genetics could be why your meds aren't working. UCSF is studying ... - San Francisco Chronicle

Genetics

Dog Genetics Reveal Surprising Relationships among Breeds – Scientific American

When it comes to dog traits, genetics-based lineages are more telling than human-made categories

There are 356 unique breeds of dog, according to the Fdration Cynologique Internationale, the largest global organization of national kennel clubs. Yet understanding the genetic drivers for the behavioral traits that set these breeds apart has been a long-standing scientific challenge. In a recent study, scientists compiled DNA sequences for more than 4,000 domesticated and wild dogs to uncover the genetic connections between them and found that they sometimes defy the conventional, human-made breed categories. Instead of assuming that some breeds were related to others, the researchers found a new way to group dogs based on their genetics.

The analysis revealed that dogs fall into 10 lineage groups with close genetic connections. To see whether dogs in each lineage shared similar traits, the scientists combined their data with behavioral surveys filled out by the owners of around 46,000 purebred dogs. They found that many traits were common among members of each lineage and that certain genetic variants might be related to these traits. We found a series of genes that turned out to be important in brain development in herding breeds, says Elaine A. Ostrander of the National Human Genome Research Institute, a co-author on the study in Cell. That's a great jumping-off point to study how herding dogs herd.

These two plots show two different ways of categorizing dog breedsone based on human-defined groupings and another based on lineages derived from genetic data. In both plots, each of the 4,000 dots represents an individual dog. Their positions (identical in both plots) reflect how closely genetically related they are to other dogstwo nearby dots are genetically similar, and two distant dots diverge more.

This article was originally published with the title "The DNA of Dog Breeds" in Scientific American 328, 5, 88 (May 2023)

doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0523-88

Clara Moskowitzis Scientific American's senior editor covering space and physics. She has a bachelor's degree in astronomy and physics from Wesleyan University and agraduate degree in science journalism from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Follow Moskowitz on Twitter @ClaraMoskowitzCredit: Nick Higgins

Emily V. Dutrow is a geneticist interested in the evolution of complex traits. She is a postdoctoral fellow at the National Human Genome Research Institute of the National Institutes of Health where she studies canine behavioral diversification.

MSJONESNYC (Heather Jones) is an award winning information and motion graphics designer based in Brooklyn. She enjoys exploring the world through graphics, using text, data, illustration, and motion. Her work can be found at msjonesnyc.com.

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Dog Genetics Reveal Surprising Relationships among Breeds - Scientific American

Genetics

CRISPR and single-cell sequencing pinpoint causal genetic variants for traits and diseases – Medical Xpress

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A major challenge in human genetics is understanding which parts of the genome drive specific traits or contribute to disease risk. This challenge is even greater for genetic variants found in the 98% of the genome that does not encode proteins.

A new approach developed by researchers at New York University and the New York Genome Center combines genetic association studies, gene editing, and single-cell sequencing to address these challenges and discover causal variants and genetic mechanisms for blood cell traits.

Their approach, dubbed STING-seq and published in Science, addresses the challenge of directly connecting genetic variants to human traits and health, and can help scientists identify drug targets for diseases with a genetic basis.

Over the past two decades, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have become an important tool for studying the human genome. Using GWAS, scientists have identified thousands of genetic mutations or variants associated with many diseases, from schizophrenia to diabetes, as well as traits such as height. These studies are conducted by comparing the genomes of large populations to find variants that occur more often in those with a specific disease or trait.

GWAS can reveal what regions of the genome and potential variants are implicated in diseases or traits. However, these associations are nearly always found in the 98% of the genome that does not code for proteins, which is much less well understood than the well-studied 2% of the genome that codes for proteins. A further complication is that many variants are found in close proximity to each other within the genome and travel together through generations, a concept known as linkage. This can make it difficult to tease apart which variant plays a truly causal role from other variants that are just located nearby. Even when scientists can identify which variant is causing a disease or trait, they do not always know what gene the variant impacts.

"A major goal for the study of human diseases is to identify causal genes and variants, which can clarify biological mechanisms and inform drug targets for these diseases," said Neville Sanjana, associate professor of biology at NYU, associate professor of neuroscience and physiology at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, a core faculty member at New York Genome Center, and the study's co-senior author.

"The huge success in GWAS has highlighted the challenge of extracting insights into disease biology from these massive data sets. Despite all of our efforts during the past 10 years, the glass was still just half fullat best. We needed a new approach," said Tuuli Lappalainen, senior associate faculty member at the New York Genome Center, professor of genomics at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, and the study's co-senior author.

A recent scientific breakthrough in the treatment of sickle cell anemiaa genetic disorder marked by episodes of intense painillustrates how combining GWAS with cutting-edge molecular tools like gene editing can identify causal variants and lead to innovative therapies. Using GWAS, scientists identified areas of the genome important for producing fetal hemoglobin, a target based on its promise for reversing sickle cell anemia, but they did not know which exact variant drives its production.

The researchers turned to CRISPRa gene editing tool that uses "molecular scissors to cut DNA," according to Sanjanato edit the regions identified by GWAS. When CRISPR edits were made at a specific location in the noncoding genome near a gene called BCL11A, it resulted high levels of fetal hemoglobin.

CRISPR has now been used in clinical trials to edit this region in bone marrow cells of dozens of patients with sickle cell anemia. After the modified cells are infused back into patients, they begin producing fetal hemoglobin, which displaces the mutated adult form of hemoglobin, effectively curing them of sickle-cell disease.

"This success story in treating sickle cell disease is a result of combining insights from GWAS with gene editing," said Sanjana. "But it took years of research on only one disease. How do we scale this up to better identify causal variants and target genes from GWAS?"

The research team created a workflow called STING-seqSystematic Targeting and Inhibition of Noncoding GWAS loci with single-cell sequencing. STING-seq works by taking biobank-scale GWAS and looking for likely causal variants using a combination of biochemical hallmarks and regulatory elements. The researchers then use CRISPR to target each of the regions of the genomes implicated by GWAS and conduct single-cell sequencing to evaluate gene and protein expression.

In their study, the researchers illustrated the use of STING-seq to discover target genes of noncoding variants for blood traits. Blood traitssuch as the percentages of platelets, white blood cells, and red blood cellsare easy to measure in routine blood tests and have been well-studied in GWAS. As a result, the researchers were able to use GWAS representing nearly 750,000 people from diverse backgrounds to study blood traits.

Once the researchers identified 543 candidate regions of the genome that may play a role in blood traits, they used a version of CRISPR called CRISPR inhibition that can silence precise regions of the genome.

After CRISPR silencing of regions identified by GWAS, the researchers looked at the expression of nearby genes in individual cells to see if particular genes were turned on or off. If they saw a difference in gene expression between cells where variants were and were not silenced, they could link specific noncoding regions to target genes. By doing this, the researchers could pinpoint which noncoding regions are central to specific traits (and which ones are not) and often also the cellular pathways through which these noncoding regions work.

"The power of STING-seq is we could apply this approach to any disease or trait," said John Morris, a postdoctoral associate at the New York Genome Center and NYU and the first author of the study.

Using STING-seq to test clusters of likely variants and see their impact on genes eliminates the guesswork scientists previously encountered when faced with linkage among variants or genes closest to variants, which are often but not always the target gene. In the case of a blood trait called monocyte count, applying CRISPR caused one gene, CD52, to clearly stand out as significantly alteredand while CD52 was near the variant of interest, it was not the closest gene, so may have been overlooked using previous methods.

In another analysis, the researchers identified a gene called PTPRC that is associated with 10 blood traits, including those related to red and white blood cells and platelets. However, there are several GWAS-identified noncoding variants within close proximity and it was challenging to understand which (if any) could modulate PTPRC expression. Applying STING-seq enabled them to isolate which variants were causal by seeing which changed PTPRC expression.

While STING-seq can identify the target gene and causal variant by silencing the variants, it does not explain the direction of the effectwhether a specific noncoding variant will crank up or reduce expression of a nearby gene. The researchers took their approach a step further to create a complementary approach they call beeSTING-seq (base editing STING-seq) that uses CRISPR to precisely insert a genetic variant instead of just inhibiting that region of the genome.

The researchers envision STING-seq and beeSTING-seq being used to identify causal variants for a wide range of diseases that can either be treated with gene editingas was used in sickle cell anemiaor with drugs that target specific genes or cellular pathways.

"Now that we can connect noncoding variants to target genes, this gives us evidence that either small molecules or antibody therapies could be developed to change the expression of specific genes," said Lappalainen.

More information: John A. Morris et al, Discovery of target genes and pathways at GWAS loci by pooled single-cell CRISPR screens, Science (2023). DOI: 10.1126/science.adh7699. http://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adh7699

Journal information: Science

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CRISPR and single-cell sequencing pinpoint causal genetic variants for traits and diseases - Medical Xpress