Biochemistry

USM Chemistry (Biochemistry Emphasis) Degree Earns ASBMB Reaccreditation – The University of Southern Mississippi

Wed, 01/31/2024 - 01:21pm | By: Ivonne Kawas

The University of Southern Mississippis (USM) B.S. degree in Chemistry (Biochemistry emphasis) has earned reaccreditation by the leading agency in the field of life sciences the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB).

This accreditation was obtained for the first time in 2017. Obtaining ASBMB accreditation, a national outcomes-based evaluation, ensures programs in the field meet the highest standards of academic excellence. USMs chemistry degree program is housed in the School of Mathematics and Natural Sciences (MANS),

Accreditation by ASBMB is a testament to the quality and content of our biochemistry curriculum, as well as to the knowledge and skills learned by our students as they begin to seek careers or further their studies at the graduate or professional levels, said Dr. Chris Winstead, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. I appreciate the effort of the faculty in seeking this accreditation. This shows their dedication to providing the best preparation possible for our Southern Miss students, an education that is well-aligned with national standards and prepares them for their next steps.

Dr. Vijay Rangachari, professor of chemistry and biochemistry, emphasizes one of the direct accreditation benefits for students.

ASBMB accreditation inherently enhances the value of the students degree, allowing them to include on their resume that they graduated from an ASBMB-accredited program. Furthermore, upon degree completion, they can demonstrate competitiveness on a national scale by obtaining ASBMB certification.

Dr. Rangachari also highlights one of the strengths of the program, integral to both student success and ASBMB accreditation: the hands-on research opportunities provided in the laboratory.

To meet accreditation requirements, the curricula must include over 400 hours of hands-on laboratory experience. Therefore, students get an advantage in advancing their careers.

Students like Landon Lee, a native of Hattiesburg, Miss. who is pursuing the biochemistry emphasis, actively participate in cutting-edge research projects in the lab, alongside graduate students and faculty mentors.

Joining a research lab has significantly enriched my educational experience, as Ive been able to acquire skills related to academic research, project management, and creative thinking, said Lee. With the support and guidance from both the graduate students in my lab and Dr. Rangachari, my faculty mentor, it has become more than just a platform for applying classroom concepts; it has provided me a community that fosters my personal and academic development.

After completing his bachelors degree, Lee plans to further his studies: As I complete my degree, I intend to pursue a Ph.D. in neuroscience. My coursework has undoubtedly laid a strong foundation in physics, chemistry, and mathematics, enabling me to demonstrate key strengths as I strive toward this goal.

Dr. Theofanis Kitsopoulos, director in the School of MANS, reflects on the programs successful and highly valued alumni base, as it opens doors to diverse industries.

Our curriculum is carefully crafted to equip students not only with a strong theoretical foundation but also with practical skills highly valued in the job market, said Dr. Kitsopoulos. Several of our alumni choose to pursue advanced degrees in prestigious graduate programs in medical, dental, pharmaceutical, and other professional schools. They go on to succeed in diverse industries such as research and development, healthcare, environmental consulting, forensic science, and entrepreneurship. Some thrive as quality control and analytical chemists, while others pursue fulfilling paths as middle and high school science and chemistry teachers.

Learn more about the B.S. degree in Chemistry (Biochemistry emphasis).

More here:
USM Chemistry (Biochemistry Emphasis) Degree Earns ASBMB Reaccreditation - The University of Southern Mississippi

Biochemistry

AI generates proteins with exceptional binding strength – ASBMB Today

A new studyin Nature reports an AI-driven advance in biotechnology with implications for drug development, disease detection, and environmental monitoring. Scientists at the Institute for Protein Design at the University of Washington School of Medicine used software to create protein molecules that bind with exceptionally high affinity and specificity to a variety of challenging biomarkers, including human hormones. Notably, the scientists achieved the highest interaction strength ever reported between a computer-generated biomolecule and its target.

Ian Haydon, UW Medicine Institute for Protein Design

Susana Vasquez-Torres in a UW Medicine Institute for Protein Design laboratory, where she is working to develop new proteins with high-binding affinity and specificity to a variety of challenging biomarkers.

Senior author David Baker, professor of biochemistry at UW Medicine, Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, and recipient of the 2023 Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Biology and Biomedicine, emphasized the potential impact: "The ability to generate novel proteins with such high binding affinity and specificity opens up a world of possibilities, from new disease treatments to advanced diagnostics."

Ian Haydon/UW Medicine Institute for Protein Design

A new protein designed using deep-learning methods. In this case, RFdiffusion generates a binding protein.

The team, led by Baker Lab members Susana Vazquez-Torres, Preetham Venkatesh, and Phil Leung, set out to create proteins that could bind to glucagon, neuropeptide Y, parathyroid hormone, and other helical peptide targets. Such molecules, crucial in biological systems, are especially difficult for drugs and diagnostic tools to recognize because they often lack stable molecular structures. Antibodies can be used to detect some of these medically relevant targets but are often costly to produce and have limited shelf lives.

"There are many diseases that are difficult to treat today simply because it is so challenging to detect certain molecules in the body. As tools for diagnosis, designed proteins may offer a more cost-effective alternative to antibodies," explained Venkatesh.

The study introduces a novel protein design approach that uses advanced deep-learning methods. The researchers present a new way of using RFdiffusion, a generative model for creating new protein shapes, in conjunction with the sequence-design tool ProteinMPNN. Developed in the Baker Lab, these programs allow scientists to create functional proteins more efficiently than ever before. By combining these tools in new ways, the team generated binding proteins by using limited target information, such as a peptide's amino acid sequence alone. The broad implications of this "build to fit" approach suggest a new era in biotechnology in which AI-generated proteins can be used to detect complex molecules relevant to human health and the environment.

Ian Haydon/UW Medicine Institute for Protein Design

An AI-designed protein in detail from the UW Medicine Institute for Protein Design.

"We're witnessing an exciting era in protein design, where advanced artificial intelligence tools, like the ones featured in our study, are accelerating the improvement of protein activity. This breakthrough is set to redefine the landscape of biotechnology," noted Vazquez-Torres.

In collaboration with the Joseph Rogers Lab at the University of Copenhagen and the Andrew Hoofnagle Lab at UW Medicine, the team conducted laboratory tests to validate their biodesign methods. Mass spectrometry was used to detect designed proteins that bind to low-concentration peptides in human serum, thereby demonstrating the potential for sensitive and accurate disease diagnostics. Additionally, the proteins were found to retain their target binding abilities despite harsh conditions including high heat, a crucial attribute for real-world application. Further showcasing the method's potential, the researchers integrated a high-affinity parathyroid hormone binder into a biosensor system and achieved a 21-fold increase in bioluminescence signal in samples that contained the target hormone. This integration into a diagnostic device highlights the immediate practical applications of AI-generated proteins.

The study, which illustrates the confluence of biotechnology and artificial intelligence and sets a new precedent in both fields, appears in Nature with the title De novo design of high-affinity binders of bioactive helical peptides.

(This article was produced by the University of Washington School of Medicine/UW Medicine.)

See the original post here:
AI generates proteins with exceptional binding strength - ASBMB Today

Genetics

Cheetahs Are Extremely Inbred: 50 Interesting Genetics Facts You May Have Missed At School – Bored Panda

There is a gene called TP53 - its referred to as the guardian of the genome - it is a tumor suppressor gene and prevents cancer of all types. Humans have two copies and if one is broken/mutated it causes an inherited condition called Li Fraumeni. People with this have a very very high risks for cancer, and the condition can be passed down in families. Elephants have 20 copies of TP53 and therefore rarely get cancer. The Li Fraumeni foundation uses the elephant as its mascot and hopefully we can someday figure out how to replace faulty TP53 genes for these families.

OrangeMonarchQueen , Chokniti Khongchum (not the actual photo) Report

Perhaps my favourite biology fact is about pharmacogenetics, how your genetics determines the efficacy of drugs on your system due to prevalence of receptors of different types that the drugs target to produce an effect:

"90% of drugs only work on 30-50% of the population."

I find it so truly wild. But most people I've talked to about it seem to agree that some drug or other doesn't work for them. This really highlights how much of a process finding the right drug for a person is. I had a lecture on this in uni in about 2016 and it said the future of pharmacology is individual genetic screens for drug effectiveness meaning people don't have to keep trying different drugs until they find the one that works, you would be tested then your doctor would have that info. I just hope it overcomes the pushback from Big Pharma in my lifetime cause it would be a true game-changer.

jimbo-g , Christine Sandu Report

While it might sound like a cross between dystopian fiction and body horror, some researchers believe that there is a lot of potential to store data and information in our DNA. After all, in one sense, thats exactly what DNAs actual function is. That being said, most of us probably dont want to walk around with our own DNA turned into a sort of USB flash stick when we can literally buy this device in most stores.

Comically, as sci-fi as this idea sounds, it might already be out of date. Research into this topic has found that encoding data into our DNA is not only more costly but less reliable and slower to read than the various means of data storage we already have. So if you really want to get cyberpunk, perhaps get a QR code tattooed or investigate the wonderful world of chipping your palms.

That if you unraveled all of the DNA in your body, and stretched it out in a straight line, you'd be dead.

volume_two Report

Since navel oranges have no seeds, they are all clones of the original mutated fruit discovered by a Brazilian monk a century ago. The billions and billions of navel oranges that have been grown, sold and consumed since are all genetically identical.

JK_NC , Shang Ning Report

Cheetahs are extremely inbred. They had a massive bottleneck about 10,000 years ago and had too little diversity to fully recover.

confusedbox03 , Pixabay Report

For simplicity, let's say your mother is 50% Chinese & 50% Spanish. That does **not** mean you are 25% of each.

On paper it would seem so but you can have any combination of those two equaling to 50%. It's not a clean cut in half. It's a *random* 50% given and 50% not. Although, yes there are dominate genes that can give all the kids a certain nose shape or eye color. Still, you and your siblings might get these DNA combos from mom:

- you: 30% C & 20% S

- brother: 12% C & 38% S

- sister: 5% C & 45% S

So if you ever wondered why your sister looks more Spanish than you its because genetics wise she just is more Spanish.

a_person1852 Report

If you set aside ethics and set out to do it, it would only take 33 generations to create a human being who was the descendant of everyone currently alive and able to have children.

Also, pedigree collapse: no living person has as many unique ancestors as they mathematically should. Every person has, biologically, 2 parents, 4 grandparents, 8 great-grandparents, etc, doubling every generation. 30 generations back without any degree of inbreeding would require over a billion unique 28x great grandparents, more than the entire world population for 1100 AD. Every single human's family tree is full of people marrying and having children with cousins of some genetically-unimportant degree over the last thousand years.

Triton1017 , Tyler Nix (not the actual photo) Report

not everyone may know is that your genes play a role in determining whether you are more likely to be a morning person or a night owl

Either-Growth9518 Report

1. Most genetics studies were, and are still, done on white western populations. Some things that we "know" about genetics turn out to not work so well in non-white or non-western populations. Loose example: diagnostic tests to check for certain diseases sometimes misdiagnose Americans with African ancestry, because sometimes we don't actually know exactly how certain diseases will look in non-European ancestry patients, we just assume it will be the same.

2. Africa, as a whole, is the most genetically diverse continent for human genetics. Humans outside of Africa went through a population bottleneck, resulting in an overall lack of diversity moving forward. The human blender of genetics in Europe just didn't have many starting ingredients. There are things called linkage disequilibrium maps, which basically map out sections of the genome that are usually found inherited together. In Europe, these maps are quite "chunky", with large identifiable sections that are sort of reliably found intact. But in Africa, the blender was always running and never had a bottleneck, so those maps are basically a much finer puree, with a lot more mixing. This presents certain challenges, as many studies rely on those maps to make predictions, and it's harder to do that when the map for Africa as a whole is basically way more complex.

3. Everyone's cancer is its own unique genetic disease. There is no one true single disease called "lung cancer", just as there is no one single true human genome. Everyone is genetically unique (yes even identical twins), and every cancer is unique.

4. Chromothripsis is a thing where a chromosome pretty much shatters and gets stuck back together all out of order. And... this is sometimes okay. There are cases of people who have chromosomes that have undergone chromothripsis, and they have mild to moderate symptoms, but they're not dead, which is miraculous.

5. Remember in biology class when you learn about mitosis? And there's that step called metaphase where all the chromosomes line up in a line before being separated into two new cells? That spot in the middle of the "X"-shaped chromosomes where the spindles attach to line them up is called the centromere. And it's sort of mysterious black hole of genetics. There aren't usually any genes there, just a chaotic cluster-f**k of repetitive sequence that gets chopped forwards, backwards, repeated 7 times, swapped around and repeated again, etc etc in an area that's hundreds of thousands of nucleotides long. But what's even crazier is that we don't really know *why* they are how or where they are, because *you don't need the wacky wasteland of repeats for them to work*. Almost all centromeres in all animals look like this, but there are exceptions. A very notable exception is that very very rarely in humans, a "mar-del" chromosome can form where a chromosome accidentally loops on itself and pinches (think of that heart thing people do with their thumb and forefinger), resulting in a circular chromosome that still has its centromere, and a "butterfly" chromosome that does not. Without a centromere, a chromosome can't be duplicated into daughter cells successfully, and cells can't live without the genes on that butterfly chromosome so this should be lethal if it happens early on in development. But surprise, a centromere can and has spontaneously formed on the butterfly chromosome, making them tiny, viable chromosomes that work pretty much fine! But like I said this is super rare, with only a few recorded cases ever. Centromeres in general are very cool and very mysterious.

6. Everything about modern next-generation genetic sequencing is super interesting, yet not well known to the general public. I won't brain dump about it, but if you want to know more, ask and I will!

Mooshan Report

Birthing identical twins is not an inherited trait. Its random. Fraternal twinning is inherited, but only from mother to daughter. My MIL took credit for me having identical twins because she had fraternal twin siblings. When I explained that genetics proved her wrong she was not having it!!

JellyfishEastern8184 , Becerra Govea Photo (not the actual photo) Report

When youre pregnant, bits of DNA from your baby invade your body and settle all over permanently - including in your brain. Researches found this by looking for male DNA in the brains of deceased 70 year olds. Interestingly, mouse studies have also shown that fetal cells within the mother have restorative properties and will rush to places like the heart, kidneys, lungs, liver if its injured and can even become cells that begin beating. One of the theories I have seen but I dont know if anyone knows for certain if this is true is that these cells enter our bodies so a host is less likely to reject the parasite baby.

Sweaty-Peanut1 Report

I'm a geneticist with a mediocre master's degree in biology and currently pursuing a PhD in Bioinformatics. Here are some insights:

1. The accuracy of consumer and clinical genetic tests is often questionable due to the rapid pace of scientific advancements outpacing their application in the industry. The notable exceptions are information about Neanderthal ancestry (which is significant enough to have earned a Nobel Prize in Medicine) and a few critical mutations like the sickle cell variant and others related to blood.

2. Genetically, most humans are nearly identical, with differences being incredibly minute. This means that, barring age and sex, achieving success in various fields whether it's social, intelligence, or physical appearance is possible without genetic modifications. Everyone likely has a unique genetic trait that gives them a significant advantage, however. This is currently identifiable only in a lab setting. Understanding your unique trait, which often involves the expression of certain molecules, might require professional scientific interpretation.

3. Many severe genetic diseases, such as insulin-dependent diabetes, are only about 50% determined by genetics. Factors like early developmental conditions, including a mother's diet during early pregnancy and infections, play a paramount role.

4. Despite common belief, Neanderthals were not a separate species but rather a part of the human family. For perspective, Europeans and the Khoisan people of South Africa have been genetically divergent for about 300,000 years, not much less than the 500,000-year divergence between humans and Neanderthals.

5. Factors beyond genetics, such as living in a highly controlled environment (like a prison), having access to specific nutrition, owning a car and a separate house, and engaging in mental activities like language learning, math, statistics, and team video games, can significantly impact personal development. Genetics helps us understand and appreciate the influence of these non-genetic factors. The field of genetics is incredibly dynamic and continually evolving, offering many more fascinating insights.

nevermindever42 Report

Genetic chimera is arguably the most interesting condition. It is possible (and documented) for a woman to give natural birth but the baby not match her DNA test.

Essentially, 2 fertilized eggs merge at a very early stage and developing into a single organism. Different parts of the body comprised of obe or the other genome.

It's most commonly discovered in domestic animals that have unexplainable color combinations, often (but not always) divided symmetrically.

Eagle_1776 , Dominika Roseclay (not the actual photo) Report

Trauma can be inherited (look up transgenerational trauma).

So if you feel more sensitive than most people it might be because your grandma experienced something horrible.

On average it takes three generations to heal a trauma if I remember correctly. But only if properly treated and the parents do not retraumatize their kids with their unconscious trauma-responses. This way unhealthy behaviors would become the norm and eventually become genetically preferred automatic behavior for future generations.

Even-Ad-6783 Report

One in 40 Ashkenazi Jewish women has a BRCA gene mutation. Mutations in BRCA genes raise a person's risk for getting breast cancer at a young age, and also for getting ovarian and other cancers. That is why Ashkenazi Jewish women are at higher risk for breast cancer at a young age.

Walter_Piston Report

Twins can be half identical. Like same egg split but two different sperms so they share about 75% genetic similarities compared to 100% in identical twins and 50% in fraternal twins/siblings. They can even be boy and girl twins.

SunRemiRoman , Pixabay (not the actual photo) Report

There are more combinations than just XX and XY.

And some of the variations have no outward signs, so you could have one of them and have no idea without genetic testing.

NotMyNameActually Report

Pretty much everybody is clueless about 99.9% of genetics.

hapidaron Report

Humans are closer genetically to bonobos than chimpanzees.

I wish I was a bonobo.

MyMudEye Report

Get tested for hereditary high cholesterol (familial hypercholesterolemia). It's a comparatively common genetic disorder.

It shows next to no symptoms but can clog your arteries and kill you, no matter how healthy your diet and lifestyle. It rarely skips a generation.

The treatment is usually a medication called statins.

LarryLongBalls_ Report

The green eyed gene is a recessive gene when compared to brown eyed gene; it is dominant when compared to blue eye gene.

illuminatedcake Report

UV gives you cancer because literally makes your DNA stick so tightly the only way to fix it is remove the entire section then "guess" what was there. More this happens, more chance cell becomes cancerous.

Bacteria don't have this polymerase repair so it's why UV kills them or mutates them.

Plant one - Hexaploid wheatpossesses 42 chromosomes derived from its three ancestral genomes. The 21 pairs of chromosomes can be further divided into seven groups of six chromosomes (one chromosome pair being derived from each of the three ancestral genomes)... This is mainly because of how much humans have bred it it's literally inbred.

arabidopsis , Jesse Schoff (not the actual photo) Report

Read more:
Cheetahs Are Extremely Inbred: 50 Interesting Genetics Facts You May Have Missed At School - Bored Panda

Genetics

4 new US sites added to global Parkinson’s genetics study – Parkinson’s News Today

University Hospitals (UH) healthcare system in Cleveland, Ohio, has been named one of four new sites for a Global Parkinsons Genetics Program (GP2) study that seeks to better understand Parkinsons disease in Black people, with a focus on the disorders genetic basis.

Improved knowledge of genetic variants linked to the progressive neurodegenerative disorder in this population could support the development of new treatments or the use of those being tested.

The other new sites in the Black and African American Connections to Parkinsons Disease (BLAAC PD) study, which opened in 2021, include UT Health in Houston, Texas; Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri; and the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, South Carolina.

Last March, the study added Louisiana State University and the University of Florida, joining the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Kaiser Permanente Mid-Atlantic, in Maryland, and two Illinois locations: Rush University and the University of Chicago.

The expansions broaden the BLAAC PD studys geographic reach and heighten representation of the diverse Black community in the U.S. They also build a foundation for greater discovery and application of findings across ancestries.

We are happy to be a part of the network of BLAAC PD sites across the U.S. and the GP2 global network in order to expand understanding of Parkinsons disease within the Black and African American communities, Camilla Kilbane, MD, director of UH Parkinsons and Movement Disorder Center, and medical director of the hospitals deep brain stimulation program, said in a press release.

We look forward to continuing to contribute to a more holistic, global understanding of Parkinsons Disease by increasing representation in our study populations and learning more about gene changes that may cause the disease.

Now part of the worlds largest Parkinsons genetics consortium, UH will receive funding for study visit expenses, supplies, community engagement strategy support, staffing support, and participant incentives.

Environmental as well as genetic factors are believed to contribute to the development of Parkinsons, a disease marked by movement difficulties and a progressive loss of coordination. GP2 seeks to address the fact that genetics research in Parkinsons has primarily focused on individuals of European descent. The study is part of the Aligning Science Across Parkinsons initiative, which aims to foster collaboration and resources to understand the underlying causes of Parkinsons.

In the U.S., the incidence of Parkinsons in Black people is estimated to be 23 of every 100,000, compared with 54 per 100,000 white people. The prevalence of the disorder is 50% lower in Black compared with white individuals. However, it is possible that this represents an underestimation of the true prevalence and incidence rate of Parkinsons among these racial groups.

Factors contributing to the disparities could include genetic or biological differences as well as systemic and structural healthcare factors such as the under-reporting of symptoms, patient mistrust in healthcare, and access to health insurance.

The BLAAC PD study intends to uncover the commonalities and differences between genetic lineages among Parkinsons patients. It is seeking adult participants from the Black or African American community, including patients and those without Parkinsons. Volunteers with a family history of Parkinsons are also eligible.

The study calls for blood or saliva samples to be collected one time from individuals in a single visit, along with demographics and medical and family histories. The samples will undergo DNA testing and be shared, along with BLAAC PD data, with the GP2 research community.

For the sake of participant privacy, only de-identified data will be shared. The goal of sharing is to facilitate the discovery of overlapping as well as population-specific variants linked to Parkinsons.

Study participants will be compensated but no medications will be provided. There is no cost to join BLAAC PD and also no charge to health insurance.

See the article here:
4 new US sites added to global Parkinson's genetics study - Parkinson's News Today

Genetics

Nobel Laureate and World-Renowned Geneticist to Speak at 2024 Commencement – News Center – Feinberg News Center

Michael S. Brown, MD, director of the Jonsson Center for Molecular Genetics and the Regental Professor at the University of Texas (UT) Southwestern Medical School, will address graduates and their guests at Feinbergs 165th commencement ceremony on Monday, May 13.

Brown, along with his long-time colleague, Joseph Goldstein, MD, Chairman of the Department of Molecular Genetics at UT Southwestern Medical Center, discovered the low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor, which controls cholesterol in blood and in cells, and showed that mutations in this receptor cause Familial Hypercholesterolemia, a disorder that leads to premature heart attack.

Their work laid the groundwork for the development of statins that block cholesterol synthesis, increase LDL receptors, lower blood cholesterol and prevent heart attacks. Their discoveries earned them the Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology in 1985 and the U.S. National Medal of Science in 1988, among many other awards.

Brown earned his MD from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1966 and completed an internship and internal medicine residency at Massachusetts General Hospital in 1968. He then became a Clinical Associate at the National Institutes of Health and in 1969, he joined the laboratory of Earl Stadtman at the National Institutes of Health as a postdoctoral fellow. In 1976, Brown was named the Paul J Thomas Professor of Medicine and Director of the Center for Genetic Diseases at UT Southwestern Medical School.

Brown and Goldstein have shared a laboratory for more than 50 years. The two scientists worked with scientists at Merck to develop the first statin drugs, which cause the liver to produce more LDL receptors, thereby removing more LDL from blood and lowering LDL levels. In 1987, Merck received FDA approval for the first statin drug, which was shown to effectively treat high blood cholesterol, reduce heart attacks and extended survival in adults with coronary heart disease. Today, statins are taken by more than 20 million Americans.

Brown is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, the American Philosophical Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and he is a Foreign Member of the Royal Society in London. Brown served for 16 years on the Board of Directors of Pfizer and is currently director of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, where he chairs the Technology Committee.

More here:
Nobel Laureate and World-Renowned Geneticist to Speak at 2024 Commencement - News Center - Feinberg News Center

Genetics

First report on the molecular phylogenetics and population genetics of Aedes aegypti in Iran – Parasites & Vectors – Parasites & Vectors

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First report on the molecular phylogenetics and population genetics of Aedes aegypti in Iran - Parasites & Vectors - Parasites & Vectors

Genetics

What can your DNA say about your risk of opioid addiction? – National Geographic

A new test suggests that, with a bit of your DNA, it can help identify whether you have a genetic susceptibility to opioid use disorder.

Aided by an influx of fentanyl and other substances, the number of drug overdose deaths continues to rise in the United States, a problem that only worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tallied 109,540 drug overdose deaths, most of which involved opioids.

In December 2023, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved AvertD (pronounced averted) for patients 18 and older who had never used opioids and were expecting to be treated for acute, not chronic, pain. It is the first genetic test to identify those at risk for opioid use to gain approvaland the only FDA-approved polygenic risk test for any psychiatric condition to date.

(Could monoclonal antibodies be the solution to the opioid crisis?)

The opioid crisis, one of the most profound public health issues facing the United States, calls for innovative measures to prevent, diagnose and treat opioid use disorder, including to assess the risk of developing the disorder, said the FDA in a statement announcing the decision. This approval represents another step forward in the FDA's efforts to prevent new cases of OUD.

But some experts in the psychiatric community have expressed skepticism that any polygenic testmeaning a test that measures small inputs from many genescan meaningfully identify people at high risk for psychiatric conditions like opioid addiction.

Psychiatric geneticist Arpana Agrawal from Washington University in St. Louis says that although genetics is important in understanding addiction, researchers still dont know enough to predict who is at risk of addiction from genetics alone. Patrick Sullivan, a psychiatrist at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and principal investigator of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium, agrees. DNA only explains a small piece of why someone becomes addicted to opioids or develops an illness like schizophrenia.

Its not as straightforward as we want to think, Agrawal says.

Still, these and other experts National Geographic spoke to agree that polygenic risk tests offer promise for a range of other diseases from cardiovascular disease to Type 2 diabetes.

Before the human genome was sequenced, geneticists focused much of their work on conditions caused by mutations in a single gene, such as cystic fibrosis and hemophilia. The work was groundbreaking, but it didnt address the more common conditions like hypertension, high cholesterol, and diabetes.

Rather than a devastating impact from a single gene, many chronic diseases result from a complex interaction of environmental factors (such as pollution, childhood trauma, and food accessibility) and small inputs from hundreds, even thousands, of gene variants. Individually, the effect of each gene variant was insignificant. But scientists like Sekar Kathiresan, a cardiologist and geneticist who founded Verve Therapeutics, believed that all of these tiny influences could add up to something major.

(How personalized medicine is transforming your health care.)

His teams first breakthrough came with a March 2008 publication in the New England Journal of Medicine, which combined the impacts of nine genetic variants into a unified genetic risk for cardiovascular disease. Kathiresan and colleagues could combine the tiny impacts of many genes across a persons entire complement of DNA into a single assessment of genetic risk.

It was a proof of concept that maybe this is a key part of how disease risk comes about, Kathiresan says.

Scientists soon found an increasing number of genetic variants that influenced cardiovascular disease risk, making polygenic risk scores even better at identifying people whose genes predisposed them to heart disease.

Those people were treated more aggressively with statins, says Robert Green, a medical geneticist at Harvard Medical School, director of the Genomes2People Research Program at Mass General Brigham, and a paid consultant to Allelica, a company that sells polygenic risk score tests. Subsequent studies showed this likely helped lower their risk of heart attack and stroke.

Scientists began looking into other applications for polygenic risk scores. For some conditions, such as diabetes, Alzheimers disease, and breast and prostate cancers, scientists were able to calculate polygenic risk scores that were especially useful for screening and preventing disease, according to Kathiresan.

In other areas, however, researchers began running into problemsparticularly as they attempted to identify the DNA variations that could contribute to conditions such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and opioid use disorder.

(What exactly is DNA? Here's what you need to know.)

Study after study has shown that risk for many mental health conditions is highly heritable, and people diagnosed with them have an array of genetic variants that differ significantly from those without.

But whats often more challenging than calculating a specific risk score is determining how useful it will be in medical practice. Take height, says Sullivan. The average man is significantly taller than the average woman, yet there are lots of short men and tall women. As a result, you cant accurately guess a persons sex based on their height, Sullivan says. Similarly, scientists might be able to detect genetic differences between those who have a psychiatric condition and those who dont, but theres too much overlap between the two groups to tell them apart.

Scientists are still not sure why. One possibility is that they dont yet know enough about the underlying genetics of psychiatric conditions to be able to use a test to identify high and low genetic risk. The other possibility is that the genetic differences between people at high and low risk just arent quite different enough to be medically useful.

Additionally, individuals of white European ancestry are disproportionately represented in most genetics studies, which means researchers know lessoften much lessabout the genes of people with other ethnicities, according to a 2019 study. This makes it harder to calculate a polygenic risk score for these populations, says Sullivan.

Nor do polygenic risk scores measure the full breadth of a persons risk of developing a disease. A polygenic risk score cant account for the myriad environmental factors that often have a greater impact than genetics on who gets sick. And a persons environment is particularly malleable, which provides more opportunities to shift the needle in the direction of health.

DNA is not destiny, says Kathiresan. It's one component, and it's not deterministic.

Still, the promise of a test that could prevent someone from getting addicted to opioids has been alluring to many scientists.

Keri Donaldsonfounder and CEO of Solvd Health, the manufacturer of AvertDfelt that artificial intelligence algorithms were up to the task of identifying individuals at high genetic risk of developing opioid use disorder.

Instead of isolating specific genetic variants to calculate someones risk, Donaldson asked a computer to determine the genetic differences between individuals who misused opiates and those who didnt. The study analyzed millions of points along the genome and identified 15 genetic variants that could help distinguish between these two groups.

The collective impact of these variants is calculated using a mathematical model that gives each test-taker a score between zero and 1. A score greater than 0.33 indicates an elevated genetic risk for opioid misuse. The higher the score, the greater the risk. That information forms the basis of AvertD.

But when Agrawals team tried to use artificial intelligence to predict opioid use disorder risk, they were unable to replicate the results. She says researchers need more diverse, larger studies to be able to identify it with a test.

Anytime we look at these polygenic factors, we have to consider that they're only ever going to be part of the picture. Environmental factors are going to be the other half, Agrawal says.

Donaldson agrees that while AvertD isnt a crystal ball, not providing that information is not the answer.

He defends the science behind the test, citing one study that shows AvertDs algorithms were able to distinguish between individuals with and without opioid use disorder over 80 percent of the time. Opioid use disorder is a complex trait, both nature and nurture. Were informing on the genetic portion of it, he says.

As these tests gain popularity, clinicians will have to learn how to interpret these results with their patients. Donaldson says that prescriber education is key.

Can we help individual patients, as well as prescribers, understand risk differently? That was the question we started on, Donaldson says.

The scores cant be read like a weather forecast, he says. An AvertD score of 0.5, for example, doesnt mean you have a 50/50 chance of becoming addicted to opioids. Rather, it means you have an above average risk and might want to pursue pain management options that dont involve opiates.

With AvertD risk scores in hand, physicians and patients can engage in informed conversations regarding opioid sparing techniques or alternative pain management options, he says.

Yet Agrawal worries about what this might mean for people whose tests suggest they are at high genetic risk of opioid addiction. She argues that many doctors still dont understand how to manage pain without opioidswhich could lead to needless suffering.

Instead of identifying opioid addiction, she prefers to focus on how we can make an easier pathway to recovery or safety, she says.

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What can your DNA say about your risk of opioid addiction? - National Geographic