Investment to the tune of US$25m has been announced by Hendrix Genetics in the form of a new commercial turkey hatchery in South Dakota, United States.

The hatchery will provide up to 30m day-old Hybrid poults and lead to the addition of 100 new temporary and permanent jobs at the site at Beresford.

The new hatchery will have the capacity for 35m hatching eggs and will be fitted with cutting edge equipment to ensure the highest biosecurity and poult quality.

Dave Libertini, Hendrix Genetics managing director, said: The new hatchery allows us to continue to deliver on our core focus of providing top quality genetics that match the needs of the market and our customers. Photo: ANP / Justin Sullivan

It is part of a substantial investment plan by Hendrix, which includes new hatcheries, egg production facilities and a modern transportation fleet and follows previous investments in grandparent facilities in Kansas and Nebraska.

Dave Libertini, Hendrix Genetics managing director, said: The new hatchery allows us to continue to deliver on our core focus of providing top quality genetics that match the needs of the market and our customers. This is a critical component of our plan to modernise the commercial turkey distribution infrastructure in the USA.

Matt McCready, Hendrix Genetics director of business development, added the hatchery would join the network of owned, aligned and contracted hatchery capacity set up to supply the strong demand for Hybrid genetics in the USA.

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Hendrix Genetics announce new US turkey hatchery investment - Poultry World (subscription)

Genetics may play a larger role how children see the world, and how that world is altered when a child has autism, a small observational study found.

Researchers writing in Nature examined 250 typically developing toddlers who watched videos of someone speaking or children playing where they could look at either the eyes, mouth, body or surrounding objects. Identical twins tended to look at the same thing, and looked at the subject's eyes and mouth at the same time compared to non-identical twins and non-sibling pairs. But when examining a group of children with autism, those children looked at the subject's eyes and mouth much less.

The authors said that their findings could lead to more findings about which genes are involved in social engagement and how autism may have the ability to interrupt these genetic pathways.

2017-07-12T15:19:16-0400

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Genetics May Dictate A Kid's View of the World (Nature - MedPage Today

Ah, summer vacation. The time of year when high school students laze on the beach, sleep in and stay up late binge watching their favorite TV shows.

But Greenwood native Emelee Guest is doing none of that. Her days have been occupied looking for mutations on Cullin-4B, a gene that has been linked to intellectual disabilities.

Ive been working with gene CUL4B and basically studying mutation E900X, which is basically a truncating mutation and Ive been studying the effects that a treatment called G-418 has on the mutation, is how the 17-year-old describes her work.

An incoming senior at the Governors School for Science and Mathematics in Hartsville, the 17-year-old is taking part in an intensive six-week research experience at the Greenwood Genetic Center under the guidance of Dr. Anand Srivastava, associate director for the facilitys Center for Molecular Studies.

Guest, who spent her freshman and sophomore years at Greenwood High School, said she was drawn to the field of genetics because she has relatives living with cystic fibrosis and epilepsy.

Part of my motivation is to help them. Ive watched them grow up with them, Guest said.

Guest is in elite company. Just one of 12 specialized, residential high schools in the country, the Governors School for Science and Mathematics which has an acceptance process offers more than 50 STEM classes with college and graduate-level opportunities and AP classes that enable students to earn multiple credits before starting their high education careers.

At my old school, we would sit there and learn, but there would be no application of it and there, we have labs once a week and they have more biology electives, Guest said. People say, get there, get anywhere, and its the hardest two years of your life.

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Srivastava, whos taken summer interns from the Governors School for more than 10 years, said the arrangement is mutually beneficial for research institutions like the Genetic Center, which gets access to the next generation of scientists while providing real-world experience for students.

They are very committed, they desire to learn because they have some goals, Srivastava said. We try to design a project that is part of some ongoing project and they get to work with somebody in my lab, which allows them to learn and become independent.

Guest, who is undecided between pursuing a career in genetics and ecology, said the practical skills of working at summer internship in a high pressure laboratory setting are impactful.

I dont think I could have guessed what it was going to be like, just because I havent a lot of experience just some little things in class and its nothing like the real thing, she said. Its a little stressful sometimes because its a lot of small things that have to correctly but once you get used to it, its really exciting.

Contact staff writer Adam Benson at 864-943-5650 or on Twitter @ABensonIJ.

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Greenwood native doing high-level genetics work in hometown - Index-Journal

Afsaneh Khetrapal | July 12, 2017 | News Medical

The term tongue twisting comprises rolling, folding, rotating, adjusting, and turning of the tongueAll aspects of a person are in some way influenced by genetics. Likewise, the tongue structure or its movement is controlled by ones respective gene patternTongue twisting is not a genetic disease or disorder, but a unique activity by a person using his tongue.

The early history of tongue genetics stated that the ability of tongue twisting is due to the influence of traitsThe tongue rolling ability occurs due to the influence of a dominant allele of the gene. A person who has either one or two copies of the dominant allele will be able to twist their tongue. In the case that a person is born with two recessive alleles, they cannot twist their tongue. In most cases, parents with a twisting-tongue ability can give birth to non-tongue twisters, and vice versa.

After a long-drawn out struggle, geneticists and researchers have finally proved that tongue twisting does not occur by genetic transformation. Genetic inheritance has only a minimal role to play in tongue twisting skills.

The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion, and analysis. Read full, original post:Genetics of Tongue Twisting

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Genetics of tongue twisting: Why some people do it while others can't - Genetic Literacy Project

ABS Global announced July 12 the launch of NuEra Genetics, a new brand that encompasses all proprietary ABS beef breeding programs, evaluations, and indexes in order to deliver differentiated and superior terminal genetics for beef supply chain profitability.

ABS said NuEra Genetics symbolizes the next chapter in the history of ABS beef genetics and a new era of ABS beef genetic improvement.

This new brand provides customers access to continuous genetic improvement and a wider array of tailored evaluations and indexes that deliver genetic progress and profit faster, ABS said.

How will customers benefit? According to ABS, the answer is found in the NuEra Genetics tagline: Efficiency. Profitability. Sustainability. With NuEra, the goal is to optimize the customers efficiency, leading to greater profitability, and ultimately allowing for a sustainable system.

The new brand will strive to:

Customers should look for new products to be released under the NuEra Genetics brand in the coming months. Such products include proprietary indexes tailored to specific customer needs, making it easier for customers to select the most efficient and profitable genetics. In the long-term, NuEra will consistently deliver robust genetic improvement, year-on-year, to our customers, raising the bar of what is possible for them to achieve.

As we see dairymen focus the adoption of sexed genetics on their high-ranking females, NuEra Genetics will provide these producers with elite beef genetics for those lower-ranking cows, adding a significant revenue stream to their businesses, said Nate Zwald, chief operating officer of ABS Globals dairy division.

Jerry Thompson, chief operating officer of ABS Globals beef division, said NuEra Genetics has the potential to add significant value to the beef industry globally. Weve only really just scratched the surface and creating our own genetics to drive customer profitability will help us tap into many areas of growth opportunity.

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ABS Global launches NuEra Genetics beef program - Feedstuffs

What happened

Shares of Myriad Genetics (NASDAQ:MYGN), a company focused on genetic testing, rose more than 26% in June, according to data fromS&P Global Market Intelligence.

Investors can credit the gains to a trio of positive announcements.

First, Myriad announced results from a 2,000-patient study using its myRisk Hereditary cancertest. Data from the study showed that 50% of breast cancer mutationsare missed with current testing guidelines and that 34% of these mutations were notpredicted by family history. This data helped to demonstrate the clinical advantages of the using company's test and could help to spur demand.

Image source: Getty Images.

Second, Myriad said that 17 health insurance plans have decided to cover the company's EndoPredict breast cancer test. Those 17 plans represent more than 35 million lives and bring the company's private pay coverage total up to109 million lives.

Finally, the company reported clinical results from its phase 3 OlympiAD trial with partner AstraZeneca. Data from the trial showed that Myriad's BRACAnalysis CDx companion test helped to identify patients with BRCA-mutated HER2-metastatic breast cancer. Physicians then used that identification to treat patients with either AstraZeneca's drug olaparib or standard chemotherapy. The data showed that using olaparib led to a meaningfulgain in progression-freesurvival. Myriad plans on using the data to seek FDA approval for this new test, which, if approved, could triple its addressable market.

Myriad's stock continues to climb back from the drubbing that it took last year. That beating was caused by falling profits due to pricing pressure in the company's corehereditary cancer testing business. Given the declines, it is easy to understand why the company is putting an emphasis on its other fast-growing testing products.

In spite of the advances, Wall Street doesn't have a lot of hope for this company's long-term profit growth potential. In fact, current estimates call for Myriad's profits to decline by more than 7% annually over the next five years. For that reason, I think that investors would probably be best served by looking elsewhere for investment opportunities.

Brian Feroldi has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Why Myriad Genetics Stock Rocketed 26.3% Higher in June -- The ... - Motley Fool

For one week this summer, students from local high schools came together to study genetics in Project GENES, and even take a look at their own genes.

The project, supported by the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, involves students from Gray Stone Day School, Independence High School and Phillip O. Berry Academy of Technology in hands-on activities, labs and field trips involving DNA.

These students recently met for a residential camp at Pfeiffer University, where biology professors Dane Fisher and Laura Reichenberg guided them through genetics investigations.

Our goal is to do STEM [science, technology, engineering, and math] outreach to high school students, with a focus on students underrepresented in science, Reichenberg said. We collaborate with their high school science teachers and the teachers recruit students each year.

The students recruited take part in Project GENES for one year. Fisher and Reichenberg visit their high schools for DNA modules that increase in complexity, then the students come together for the summer camp, where they put in practice what they have learned.

Theyre basically isolating their own DNA. They get to amplify one of their own genes, Reichenberg said.

Students run tests on their PTC gene, a gene that determines a persons ability or inability to taste a specific flavor. Students then get the chance to try to taste the flavor, comparing those results with their lab work.

This year, students attending the camp took a field trip to the North Carolina Research Campus in Kannapolis, where they looked at samples under microscopes and tested them for antimicrobial properties.

According to Reichenberg, several students who attended the Project GENES camps in previous years have since graduated and gone on to STEM careers.

The former Oakboro Elementary is scheduled to open in August as Oakboro Choice STEMSchool for kindergarten through eighth grade.

Marina Shankle is a freelance contributor for The Stanly News &Press.

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IT'S ALL ABOUT THE GENES: High school students participate in genetics camp - Stanly News & Press

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) Kailos Genetics said today that it has received a strategic investment from In-Q-Tel, a nonprofit that invests in technologies to support the mission of the US intelligence community.

Terms and financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

Kailos said it plans to use the investment in a partnership with In-Q-Tell to develop its next-generation sequencing laboratory and software for the benefit of the intelligence community.

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Kailos Genetics Receives Investment From In-Q-Tel - GenomeWeb

The American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) has honored Dr. Arthur L. Beaudet, Henry and Emma Mayer Professor in the Department of Molecular and Human Genetics at Baylor College of Medicine, with the 2017 Victor A. McKusick Leadership Award.

This award, named in honor of the late Dr. Victor A. McKusick, recognizes individuals whose professional achievements have fostered and enriched the development of human genetics as well as its assimilation into the broader context of science, medicine and health.

It is an honor to accept the 2017 McKusick Award, said Beaudet, who also is a Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Baylor and physician at Texas Childrens Hospital. The American Society of Human Genetics is a prominent organization for genetics specialists all over the world, and I am proud to join the ranks of past award winners, all of whom have contributed significantly to the field.

In the 1980s, Beaudet and colleagues were the first to document uniparental disomy, a phenomenon in which a person receives two copies of a chromosome from one parent and zero from the other. In the following years, they drew an important distinction between genetic and epigenetic diseases that both lead to altered expression of the same genes and identified ways to study these and better understand the conditions they caused. Currently, his research focuses on neuronal carnitine deficiency as a risk factor for autism; the role of genomic imprinting in diseases such as Prader-Willi syndrome, Angelman syndrome and autism; and prenatal genetic diagnosis based on fetal cells isolated from maternal blood.

In addition to his scientific leadership, ASHG also honors Beaudets contributions to the Society as well as the broader research community. A longtime member of ASHG, he belonged to its Program Committee from 1984-86, its Board of Directors from 1987-90, and its Awards Committee from 2010-12, and served as President in 1998. He received the Societys William Allan Award in 2007, and belonged to the Editorial Board of the ASHG-published The American Journal of Human Genetics from 1986-1989. In addition, he was awarded the Texas Genetics Society Barbara H. Bowman Award in 1999 and the March of Dimes Colonel Harland Sanders Award for Lifetime Achievement in Genetic Research and Education in 2002. He has published more than 350 articles in scientific literature.

Dr. Beaudets outstanding leadership in human genetics has transcended all aspects of the academic mission from clinical care, education and training, to basic and translational research, said Dr. Brendan Lee, the Robert and Janice McNair Endowed Chair and professor of molecular and human genetics, chair of the Department of Molecular and Human Genetics at Baylor and ASHG Executive Committee member.

ASHG will present the McKusick Award, which will include a plaque and $10,000 prize, to Beaudet on Tuesday, Oct. 17, during the organizations67th Annual Meetingin Orlando, Fla.

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Dr. Beaudet recognized for leadership in genetics - Baylor College of Medicine News (press release)

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) The GenomeWeb Index rose 2 percent in June, outperforming the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq which gained less than 2 percent and lost 1 percent, respectively but vastly underperforming the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index, which gained nearly 9 percent.

Stock performance in the June GenomeWeb Index was mostly positive with 19 of the 26 stocks seeing gains and only seven seeing losses.

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Myriad Genetics Tops June GenomeWeb Index on Positive Insurance Coverage News - GenomeWeb