Physiology

USask physical therapy graduate inspired by family – News – University of Saskatchewan – USask News

I knew that (diagnosis) really affected her both emotionally and with the overall quality of life, said Yutuc. My biggest motivation was that I could help people in the same population.

He is set to graduate with a Master of Physical Therapy (MPT) degree from the University of Saskatchewan (USask) at 2021 Fall Convocation on November 10.

By pursuing a degree in physical therapy at USasks School of Rehabilitation Science, Yutuc is also following in the footsteps of his parents, both of whom are in the medical field.

Yutuc became interested in physical therapy while earning his bachelors degree in physiology and pharmacology at USask. He looked into the ways rehabilitation could help individuals with Parkinsons. A career in physical therapy offered the chance to make a positive difference in this area. Yutuc chose USask for his masters program because of the schools research emphasis as well as the inclusive environment.

The thing that got my attention was their focus on research, along with developing the profession and furthering it through evidence-based practice, said Yutuc, noting the schools promotion of health equity and inclusiveness was also a factor. As a minority student, I really wanted to be part of a school that advocated for that. Those are some of the same values that are also important to me.

Health inequity was something he saw during his clinical experiences in urban and rural locations.

When talking to different patients about their progress and experience through the medical system, I found that its harder for people within minority groups to access health care or resources compared to non-minority groups, said Yutuc.

While at the school, Yutuc has been a leader among his peers and an advocate for physical therapy. He served as a representative on both the Physical Therapy Students Society and the MPT admissions committee, helped organize multiple mini-interviews (part of the admissions process until recently), and promoted both the school and the profession to undergraduate students across the university. In addition, Yutuc has helped create connections and community among his classmates during the pandemic.

I was one of the peer leaders for first year students, in a time when the early days of the pandemic kept students from gathering in-person, said Yutuc. The first few months I was able to help organize community events where they could see each other and help each other through schooling, too.

The pandemic has impacted learning for all USask students, including those in physical therapy. Yutuc credits the School of Rehabilitation Science for the ability to shift learning and continue to provide educational opportunities during the pandemic.

The school was really good in being able to transition and adapt to the current (public health) guidelines. Thankfully we were able to go into a hybrid system where we were doing classes online. They gave us the opportunity to do our labs and our clinical skills in person as well, said Yutuc.

He was grateful for the resources instructors and faculty created for Yutuc and his classmates to use at home, acknowledging the extra work faculty put in to provide student resources.

Yutuc is optimistic about his chosen profession and sees multiple possibilities for his career path. He participated in a research project on Parkinsons disease with Dr. Sarah Donkers (PhD), an assistant professor in the school, and can see a future in research.

In terms of my long-term goals, I definitely want to dig into academia and research, he said. Research has bene one of my biggest interests, but also teaching. One of my main goals is to help advocate for the profession itself.

This fall, 926 students are expected to graduate from USask with 939 degrees, diplomas and certificates. These graduates join a century-old community of close to 165,000 alumni worldwide whose contributions are helping to shape our world. Due to the pandemic, in-person ceremonies will not be held. Instead, there are a variety of opportunities to celebrate. Learn more about the celebrations at students.usask.ca/usaskclassof2021.

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USask physical therapy graduate inspired by family - News - University of Saskatchewan - USask News

Physiology

RET Alterations in Advanced NSCLC – OncLive

Stephen Liu, MD: RET does have a normal role in physiology. RET stands for rearranged during transfection, and it encodes a transmembrane receptor tyrosine kinase, which is important for the development of neurons. Particularly the enteric nervous system development of a lot of nerve signaling pathways. Its primary role in normal physiology is in the development of the gut, the enteric system, and the kidney.Mark A. Socinski, MD: RET alterations have been known since the 1980s. Ive personally been involved with lung cancer programs that have tested for RET alterations for a decade or so. The frustration was that we didnt have good selective RET inhibitors prior to the recent approval of pralsetinib and selpercatinib, which are highly active RET drugs. RET fusions, like ALK fusions, ROS1 fusions, and NTRK fusions, become oncogenic drivers. They turn on the growth pathway, survival pathways, and give the cancerous cells an advantage over the normal cell population, leading to uncontrolled proliferation, which is one of the hallmarks of cancer.

Ben Levy, MD: We now have data that shows RET has multiple fusion partners. In fact, theres more than 40 unique fusion partners for RET, when we talk about RET fusions in lung cancer, and particularly other solid tumor cancers, like thyroid. Most importantly, the most common RET fusion partner is the KIF5B fusion partner. This is the one that we saw most commonly in both the selpercatinib data and the pralsetinib data, but there are other fusions that have been seen. CCDC6 and NCOA4 are also fusion partners that can be identified. Clearly, its important to make sure that you have a fusion. When youre looking at a next-generation sequencing report, its not a RET mutation that predicts sensitivity to these new FDA-approved therapies, its the fusion. So yes, you can look at the fusion partner and see what it is, but I think were still trying to learn whether the type of fusion partner predicts efficacy to selpercatinib and pralsetinib. I think we know that the RET fusion partner, KIF5B, does predict efficacy to both pralsetinib and selpercatinib. But fusions arent mutations. When youre getting a next-generation sequencing report, make sure its the fusion. And then yes, of course you can look at the partner. But did they tell a different story? Thats important to understand.

Transcript edited for clarity.

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RET Alterations in Advanced NSCLC - OncLive

Physiology

Ipsen Appoints Stewart Campbell Executive Vice President and President of North America – Business Wire

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ipsen (Euronext: IPN; ADR: IPSEY) announced today the appointment of Stewart Campbell as Executive Vice President and President of North America, effective immediately. Based in Cambridge, he will lead the business in the US and Canada, continuing to drive Ipsens positive impact for patients. He will report directly to David Loew, CEO, Ipsen and serve on the Executive Leadership Team (ELT).

Stewart brings extensive experience in the pharmaceutical industry which will be instrumental in accelerating Ipsens growth in North America as we continue to strengthen our global footprint and deliver our new group strategy, Focus. Together. For patients and society. We are delighted to welcome him to the ELT, and we look forward to working closely with him, said David Loew, CEO, Ipsen.

Im excited to be appointed as EVP and President of North America at this key moment for Ipsen, said Stewart Campbell. Ive been impressed by the dedication that Ive seen from all of Ipsen as we work together to improve the lives of patients and their families. I am looking forward to helping write the next chapter of our story in North America.

Stewart joined Ipsen as Senior Vice President and Franchise Head of Oncology earlier in 2021 from Roche/Genentech where he spent more than 14 years and was responsible for the lifecycle management of some of Roches oncology blockbusters, including both commercial and clinical development globally. Through a career of more than 20 years in the pharmaceutical industry, Stewart has gained deep experience leading country and global commercial functions in Oncology and Specialty Care markets, including in Canada, Switzerland and the US.

Stewart is a graduate of Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, where he received his B.S. in physiology with a minor in physics. He received an MBA in corporate finance from Queens University in Kingston, Canada and an additional MBA in business strategy from the Johnson School of Management at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.

Ipsen North America

Ipsen is a global biopharmaceutical company focused on innovation and specialty care. Its resources, investment and energy center on discovering, developing and commercializing medicines in three key therapeutic areas Oncology, Rare Disease and Neuroscience. The Company is dedicated to providing hope for patients whose lives are challenged by unmet medical needs. Ipsens North American operations are located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, one of the Companys three global hubs. For more information, please visit http://www.ipsenus.com.

Forward-looking statements

The forward-looking statements, objectives and targets contained herein are based on Ipsens management strategy, current views and assumptions. Such statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those anticipated herein. All of the above risks could affect Ipsens future ability to achieve its financial targets, which were set assuming reasonable macroeconomic conditions based on the information available today. Use of the words believes, anticipates and expects and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, including Ipsens expectations regarding future events, including regulatory filings and determinations. Moreover, the targets described in this document were prepared without taking into account external growth assumptions and potential future acquisitions, which may alter these parameters. These objectives are based on data and assumptions regarded as reasonable by Ipsen. These targets depend on conditions or facts likely to happen in the future, and not exclusively on historical data. Actual results may depart significantly from these targets given the occurrence of certain risks and uncertainties, notably the fact that a promising medicine in early development phase or clinical trial may end up never being launched on the market or reaching its commercial targets, notably for regulatory or competition reasons. Ipsen must face or might face competition from generic medicine that might translate into a loss of market share. Furthermore, the research and development process involves several stages each of which involves the substantial risk that Ipsen may fail to achieve its objectives and be forced to abandon its efforts with regards to a medicine in which it has invested significant sums. Therefore, Ipsen cannot be certain that favorable results obtained during preclinical trials will be confirmed subsequently during clinical trials, or that the results of clinical trials will be sufficient to demonstrate the safe and effective nature of the medicine concerned. There can be no guarantees a medicine will receive the necessary regulatory approvals or that the medicine will prove to be commercially successful. If underlying assumptions prove inaccurate or risks or uncertainties materialize, actual results may differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. Other risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to, general industry conditions and competition; general economic factors, including interest rate and currency exchange rate fluctuations; the impact of pharmaceutical industry regulation and healthcare legislation; global trends toward healthcare cost containment; technological advances, new medicine and patents attained by competitors; challenges inherent in new-medicine development, including obtaining regulatory approval; Ipsen's ability to accurately predict future market conditions; manufacturing difficulties or delays; financial instability of international economies and sovereign risk; dependence on the effectiveness of Ipsens patents and other protections for innovative medicines; and the exposure to litigation, including patent litigation, and/or regulatory actions. Ipsen also depends on third parties to develop and market some of its medicines which could potentially generate substantial royalties; these partners could behave in such ways which could cause damage to Ipsens activities and financial results. Ipsen cannot be certain that its partners will fulfil their obligations. It might be unable to obtain any benefit from those agreements. A default by any of Ipsens partners could generate lower revenues than expected. Such situations could have a negative impact on Ipsens business, financial position or performance. Ipsen expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to update or revise any forward-looking statements, targets or estimates contained in this press release to reflect any change in events, conditions, assumptions or circumstances on which any such statements are based, unless so required by applicable law. Ipsens business is subject to the risk factors outlined in its registration documents filed with the French Autorit des Marchs Financiers. The risks and uncertainties set out are not exhaustive and the reader is advised to refer to Ipsens 2020 Universal Registration Document, available on ipsen.com.

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Ipsen Appoints Stewart Campbell Executive Vice President and President of North America - Business Wire

Physiology

Mot Hennessy pledges to reduce its carbon footprint and invest in sustainability – decanter.com

Mot Hennessy, the wine and spirits division of leading luxury goods group Mot Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH), has issued a pledge to reduce its carbon footprint by adopting the 1.5C target, as stipulated under the Paris Agreement and confirmed by the Science Based Targets initiative partnership (SBTi).

As part of the pledge, Mot Hennessy is committed to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 50% in absolute value by 2030 (compared to 2019 figures) by focusing on four core areas: reduce its raw materials carbon impact, develop eco-conscious packaging, leverage renewable energy, and promote low-carbon transportation.

We believe we have an important responsibility alongside the wines and spirits industry to significantly reduce our carbon footprint throughout the value chain, while developing biodiversity in our regions, said Mot Hennessy CEO, Philippe Schaus. We have set ambitious goals that we are committed to following regularly and integrating into Mot Hennessys overall strategy.

The announcement follows a series of sustainable viticulture initiatives released as part of Mot Hennessys Living Soils Living Together programme. Last week, the business inaugurated its new Robert-Jean de Vog Research Centre near its Mont Aigu winery in Oiry, Champagne. The centre, which cost the group some 20m (17m), is dedicated to advancing knowledge of future environmental and production challenges, tackling climate change, and to developing sustainable winemaking practices.

Faced with the two main environmental challenges of climate change and the loss of biodiversity, Mot Hennessy has structured all of its actions in its Living Soils Living Together programme, our social and environmental commitment, Mot Hennessy chief sustainability officer, Sandrine Sommers told Decanter. We have set ourselves ambitious goals for 2030 To support this we need research, innovations and new solutions and our new [centre] is crucial to meet the challenges of viticulture of tomorrow.

Conceived by architect Giovanni Pace, the new research centre covers an area of 4,000m2 and the building itself is designed to showcase Mot Hennessys commitment to sustainability. It is made from materials that grant natural insulation, which helps reduce energy consumption, and is embedded in a gently sloping earthen embankment to ensure it blends graciously with the surrounding landscape.

Its research efforts will focus on four key areas: a microbiology and biotechnology hub will be dedicated to better understand the impact of microorganisms on vineyards and on the fermentation process, while a further hub will focus on plant physiology, to mitigate the impact of climate change on vines and grapes and tackle the challenges induced by warming temperatures. The plant physiology team will benefit from innovative infrastructures such as climate chambers, which are capable of simulating climate changes in Mot Hennessy vineyards across the globe.

A process engineering hub will be destined to analyse the winemaking process, from pressing to bottling, with the aim to optimise it and to promote recyclability. Lastly, the sensory analysis and formulation hub will focus on studying the organoleptic profile of Mot Hennessy products throughout the different stages of the manufacturing process to maximise wine quality.

The research centre will be a hub for sharing knowledge both between [our] houses and with public sector researchers and will also embrace collaboration with other external structures, said Schaus. Indeed, over 10 partners will collaborate with the centre, including the Comit Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne (CIVC), the University of Reims Champagne Ardennes, and Frances National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE de Colmar).

The new centre is named after Mot Hennessy former president and innovator, Robert-Jean de Vog, who contributed to the creation of the CIVC in 1941. Robert-Jean de Vog always thought a quarter-hour ahead, Schaus said. A great figure in the world of wine, he left an indelible impression on his era with his innovative spirit and activities with Maison Mot & Chandon in France and around the world.

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Mot Hennessy pledges to reduce its carbon footprint and invest in sustainability - decanter.com

Physiology

NFF: Coaching course will take us back to 1994 era, says Okoson – Punch Newspapers

Published 30 October 2021

Robinson Okoson, the Deputy Director technical and Head Psychology unit of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) on Friday said coaching courses will help to take Nigeria back the golden era of 1994.

Okoson told journalists at the end of a five-day coaching course that the training course was targeted at the train the trainers.

He said the name of the course entitled Elite Instructor Coaches Course, will take Nigeria back to the golden era where a lot of football physiology was found in every club and players will play the same pattern.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the coaching course was organised by the NFF in collaboration with the Confederation of African Football (CAF).

Okoson said 32 coaches participated in the course, saying that coaches were selected randomly from all the 36 states, including Abuja.

We came up with this programme that will enhance the quality of our coaches which will help us on the quality of play in the league and help all our players generally.

The training covers their physiology, tastics and technical aspects of the game, he said.

He said in the nearest future, Nigeria will start to reap the results of the training.

These coaches trained, will go to grassroots to impart what they have learnt.

In the nearest future let say six to ten years we will be reaping the results of what we just did in terms of bringing out players across the country in a physiology way, he said.

He said they will also organise the CAF A and CAF B license course.

We are also going to do another programme where we will also bring another set of Coaches.

We have a lot of other coaches in Nigeria we want to put a stop to all these academies that are just springing up here and there, Academies that dont really have access to the level of coaching we have, he said.

NAN reports that the five-day Elites Instructor Coaches Course which started on Monday ended on Friday (NAN)

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NFF: Coaching course will take us back to 1994 era, says Okoson - Punch Newspapers

Genetics

Scientists find genetic goldmine in driest place on Earth that may boost crop resilience – ZME Science

The Atacama Desert. Credit: Pixabay.

For years, Chilean researchers have collected plant samples from the Atacama Desert and sequenced their DNA in an effort to understand how, against all odds, theyre able to withstand one of the harshest places on Earth. In a new study, the scientists have reported a range of genes that have enabled these hardy plants to flourish with no rainwater and which, in the future, may help our food crops cope with increasingly dried climates.

The Atacama Desert in Chile stretches across a roughly 600-mile (1,000-kilometer) tract of land wedged between the coastal Cordillera de la Costa mountain range and the Andes Mountains, an unusual topography that blocks rainfall from the east and prevents the formation of clouds of rain. The annual rainfall across the Atacama is only 15 millimeters, which makes it the driest place on Earth by far. Some parts of the desert see rain only once in a couple of centuries and its extreme arid landscape has made it a film directors favorite place to shoot movies about Mars.

But even though the Atacama Desert sounds like a hell hole, there are some plants that have found a way to cope with the extreme dryness, high altitude, poor nutrient soil, and excessive radiation from the sun. These are generally small, deep-rooted, thorny plants that can reach deep underground to capture some of the moisture found there. These include the saltbush, tufted grass, buckwheat bush, black bush, tola shrubs, rice grass, ferns, little leaf horsebrush, black sage, and chrysothamnus.

For the last decade, Rodrigo Gutirrez, professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology at Pontificia Universidad Catlica de Chile, has collected plants from 22 different sites covering a wide range of vegetation and elevations. For each sample, Gutirrez and colleagues recorded a variety of factors, such as temperature, radiation levels, soil quality, and water content.

This characterization for each sample, along with DNA sequencing, allowed the researchers to assemble a genetic profile for 32 of the most important plant species in the Atacama. The analysis also assessed the plant-associated soil microbes based on these DNA sequencing, showing that some of the plants developed symbiotic bacteria near their roots that optimize the intake of nitrogen, a critical nutrient for plant growth that is severely lacking in this desert.

Colleagues at New York University led by Gloria Coruzzi from the Department of Biology and Center for Genomics and Systems Biology identified the specific genes that are associated with adaptations in the Atacama plants by comparing the 32 desert plants with 32 non-adapted but genetically similar sister species.

The goal was to use this evolutionary tree based on genome sequences to identify the changes in amino acid sequences encoded in the genes that support the evolution of the Atacama plant adaptation to desert conditions, said Coruzzi.

This state-of-the-art genetic analysis pinpointed 265 genes whose protein sequence may have been selected by evolutionary forces, forged by millions of years of life in the harsh Atacama desert. These include genes involved in photosynthesis that may allow the plants to cope with the high radiation, as well as those involved in the regulation of stress, salt, and metal ions, which may explain how the plants can grow in the nutrient-poor soil.

Our study of plants in the Atacama Desert is directly relevant to regions around the world that are becoming increasingly arid, with factors such as drought, extreme temperatures, and salt in water and soil posing a significant threat to global food production, said Gutirrez, who likens the findings to a genetic goldmine.

Some of the Atacama plants are related to staple crops, such as grains, legumes, and potatoes. As such, these newly identified candidate genes could be used to engineer more resilient crops and improve our food security in the face of increased desertification of the planet.

The findings appeared in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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Scientists find genetic goldmine in driest place on Earth that may boost crop resilience - ZME Science

Genetics

Into the woods: Genetics of rainforest tree reveal its past and possible future – EurekAlert

image:Researchers from the University of Tsukuba have found that Shorea parvifolia, a tropical rainforest tree species widely distributed through Southeast Asia, has had a recent migration to Borneo followed by a population increase. The teams analyses of the species genetic structure revealed that the Borneo populations have a high genetic diversity, indicating a recent population expansion. The studys results support the use of locally sourced seeds for planting as a tool for maintaining genetic diversity. view more

Credit: University of Tsukuba

Tsukuba, Japan For most people who go for a walk in a forest, their surroundings seem unchanging. But researchers from Japan have discovered that, on a geological time scale, one rainforest tree species has been getting up to all sorts of antics.

In a study published this month in Tree Genetics & Genomes, researchers from the University of Tsukuba have revealed that a tropical rainforest tree species underwent a recent and rapid population expansion in Borneo, showing that an understanding of a species past is important for ensuring its future.

Biodiversity loss is one of the most pressing problems of our time. Ecosystems such as tropical rainforests, which have high biodiversity and species richness, face ongoing threats from changing land use and over-exploitation by humans. To conserve the tree species living in these environments, it is important to understand their genetics and how their current genetic structures were established.

We investigated the genetics of Shorea parvifolia, a widely distributed tropical forest tree in Southeast Asia, says senior author of the study, Professor Yoshihiko Tsumura. Its genetic structure has been affected by repeated glacial and interglacial fluctuations; these genetic changes provide key knowledge for sustainable use and conservation.

S. parvifolia is important for ecosystem function and forestry in Southeast Asia. To examine its genetics, the researchers took leaf samples from trees in natural populations that covered almost the entire geographical range of S. parvifolia. The team used nuclear DNA markers and the DNA sequencing data of chloroplasts (the plant cell structures that carry out photosynthesis) to examine the genetic structure of S. parvifolia and how it was established.

The nuclear DNA analysis of the genetic structure showed a clear separation between the Borneo populations and the others, explains Professor Tsumura.

Although the genetic structure shown by the chloroplast DNA was less pronounced, further analysis showed important differences in the Borneo populations. The results indicated that S. parvifolia has had a recent population expansion in Borneo.

The high genetic diversity at particular genetic markers in the Borneo samples suggest that during the most recent glacial period, populations of this species likely migrated from the Malay Peninsula to Borneo and then underwent a major population increase, amassing considerable genetic diversity, says Professor Tsumura.

On the basis of the results of their study, the researchers have suggested that conservation units in this area be divided into three regions: the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, and Borneo. The teams findings also highlight the benefit of using locally sourced seeds for plantings aimed at improving conservation and sustainability in tropical forests of Southeast Asia, because doing so could maintain species genetic diversity.

###

The article, Genetic structure of an important widely distributed tropical forest tree, Shorea parvifolia, in Southeast Asia, was published in Tree Genetics & Genomes at DOI: 10.1007/s11295-021-01525-8

Funding: The study was partly supported by Grant-in-Aids for Scientific Research (Nos. 24405034, 18255010) provided by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan and the Global Environment Research Program (No. E-091) supported by the Ministry of Environment of Japan.

Genetic structure of an important widely distributed tropical forest tree, Shorea parvifolia, in Southeast Asia

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.

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Into the woods: Genetics of rainforest tree reveal its past and possible future - EurekAlert

Genetics

Helio Health and Fulgent Genetics to Present New Data on HelioLiver in Late-Breaking Presentation at The Liver Meeting 2021 – PRNewswire

IRVINE, Calif.and TEMPLE CITY, Calif., Nov. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --Helio Health("Helio"), an AI-driven healthcare company developing blood-based early cancer detection tests, and Fulgent Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ: FLGT) ("Fulgent"), a technology-based genetic testing company focused on transforming patient care in oncology, infectious and rare diseases, and reproductive health, today announced its upcoming late-breaking poster presentation on the performanceof HelioLiver, a multi-analyte blood test that utilizes both cell-free DNA (cfDNA) methylation patterns and protein tumor markers for the detection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), at The Liver Meeting 2021. The annual meeting is hosted by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) and will be held virtually November 12-15, 2021.

Details of the poster presentation are as follows:

Poster Title:A Multi-Analyte Blood Test for Accurate and Early Detection of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Publication Number:LP44Session Title: Late-breaking Abstract Posters Presenter: David J. Taggart, PhD, NRCC(CC) Laboratory Director and Vice President of Laboratory Operations and Regulatory Affairs, Helio Health Inc.

The full abstract can be found here. The poster presentation will be available for viewing by the attendees of The Liver Meeting throughout the entire meeting.

About Helio Health

Helio Health is an AI-driven healthcare company focused on commercializing early cancer detection tests from a simple blood draw. The company's mission is to simplify cancer screening so lives can be saved by detecting cancer earlier. With Helio's AI-driven technology, both physicians and their patients gain powerful insights from accurate, accessible, and convenient blood tests.

Building on a robust research and development program, and with access to thousands of patient samples, the company is currently in clinical trials in the US and China with its lead liver cancer detection test. Helio's development program is focused on liver, colon, breast and lung cancer.

Helio Health is headquartered in Irvine, CA, with R&D, GMP and CLIA facilities in Irvine, CA and West Lafayette, IN, Guangzhou and Beijing.

About Fulgent Genetics

Fulgent Genetics is a technology-based genetic testing company focused on transforming patient care in oncology, infectious and rare diseases, and reproductive health. Fulgent's proprietary technology platform has created a broad, flexible test menu and the ability to continually expand and improve its proprietary genetic reference library while maintaining accessible pricing, high accuracy, and competitive turnaround times. Combining next generation sequencing with its technology platform, Fulgent performs full-gene sequencing with deletion/duplication analysis in an array of panels that can be tailored to meet specific customer needs. A cornerstone of our business is our ability to provide expansive options and flexibility for all clients' unique testing needs through a comprehensive technology offering including cloud computing, pipeline services, record management, web portal services, clinical workflow, sequencing as a service and automated lab services.

About Helio Health and Fulgent Genetics Partnership

In a strategic partnership announced in August of 2021, Helio Health and Fulgent Genetics plan to commercialize and co-brand HelioLiver, a cell-free DNA (cfDNA) methylation blood test that incorporates protein markers and demographics for the detection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) or liver cancer. HelioLiver is currently undergoing clinical trials in the U.S. and China. Fulgent will be responsible for laboratory operations, supply chain operations, and marketing and sales leveraging its operational excellence and significant market reach, initially focused in the U.S. and Canada. Helio will provide intellectual property and continued support across research and development, publication development, market access and sales, as well as reimbursement operations. Fulgent and Helio will also collaborate on the development of additional liquid biopsy tests for different types of cancer in the future.

SOURCE Helio Health and Fulgent Genetics, Inc.

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Helio Health and Fulgent Genetics to Present New Data on HelioLiver in Late-Breaking Presentation at The Liver Meeting 2021 - PRNewswire

Genetics

Genetics Discovery Reveals How Legumes Give Oxygen to Symbiotic Bacteria in Their Roots – SciTechDaily

Legume Root nodules colored pink by leghaemoglobin and caused by a symbiotic relationship between the plant and beneficial bacteria. Credit: John Innes Centre

Scientists discover the genetics inside legumes that control the production of an oxygen-carrying molecule, crucial to the plants close relationships with nitrogen-fixing bacteria.

The finding offers the potential to give other plants the ability to produce ammonia from bacteria reducing the need for the fossil fuel-dependent and polluting practice of applying synthetic fertilizer to crops.

The roots of legume plants are home to symbiotic bacteria. These bacteria can fix nitrogen from the air, turning it into ammonia, a key nutrient for plants.

In return, the plants house the bacteria in root nodules, providing sugars and oxygen. The amount of oxygen needs to be just right to support the symbiosis, the bacteria need oxygen to fuel their chemical reactions, but too much inhibits a key enzyme that turns nitrogen in the air into the ammonia that can be used by the plant.

The plants solution to this oxygen paradox of biological nitrogen fixation is a molecule called leghemoglobin. Like hemoglobin that carries oxygen in our blood, leghemoglobin binds to oxygen and is red; it gives legume nodules their pink color. Until now its been unclear how plants control how much of this molecule is produced.

The research team have identified two transcription factors that control how much leghemoglobin is made in legume nodules.

This gives a key insight into how legume plants create the microaerobic environment needed for nitrogen-fixation. This knowledge could be useful for improving nitrogen-fixation in legumes and would be essential for transfer of nodulation to non-legume crops, explains corresponding author Dr. Jeremy Murray, CEPAMS Group Leader.

Dr. Jeremy Murray continues, While many genes involved in other nodulation processes have been identified, this is the first breakthrough on the gene regulatory network involved directly in control of nitrogen fixation.

The research was carried out by a collaborative team, led by Dr. Suyu Jiang in Dr Jeremy Murrays group at theCAS-JIC Centre of Excellence for Plant and Microbial Science (CEPAMS), Centre for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences (CEMPS), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China, with collaboration from Dr. Pascal Gamas and Dr. Marie-Franoise Jardinaud at LIPME (Universit de Toulouse, France).

Using the model legume,Medicago truncatula, the research team looked at a family of proteins in plants which has several members with roles in nodulation. They looked at which proteins in this class are produced in symbiosis-housing nodules and found that there was two NIN and NLP2, and that when these are inactive, nitrogen fixation is reduced. This suggested that they are involved in nitrogen fixation.

To investigate further, they grew plants in an aeroponic system, without soil, to be able to look at the nodules, and found the plants lacking NIN and NLP2 were smaller in size and had smaller and less-pink nodules. On closer inspection, they had lower levels of leghemoglobin. Further experiments found that NIN and NLP2 directly activate the expression of leghemoglobin genes.

This research project was purely curiosity-driven, all we knew at the outset was that the transcription factor we were studying was highly and specifically expressed in nitrogen-fixing cells, we were initially not aware of any connection to leghemoglobins, reflects Dr. Murray.

The research has also given insights into the evolution of this important symbiosis. They found that other members of the transcription factors family regulate the production of non-symbiotic hemoglobins found in plants, which are involved in plants response to low oxygen levels.

Jeremy explains further, This was exciting because it suggests that these transcription factors and their hemoglobin targets were recruited to nodulation as modules to help improve energetics in nitrogen-fixing cells, giving a rare glimpse into how this symbiosis evolved.

Reference: NIN-like protein transcription factors regulate leghemoglobin genes in legume nodules 28 October 2021, Science.DOI: 10.1126/science.abg5945

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Genetics Discovery Reveals How Legumes Give Oxygen to Symbiotic Bacteria in Their Roots - SciTechDaily

Genetics

Moving past conflation of race and genetics | Penn Today – Penn Today

In a new viewpoint article in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Pediatrics, two researchers from Penns School of Nursing explore the history behind, and implications of, the conflation of race and genetics using examples from the pediatric literature. They provide insight into why its a fallacy and what scientists and clinicians can do to move past the use of race as a tool for classification in laboratory and clinical research.

We need to admit that race is a social construct and conduct research accordingly. Continuing education is urgently needed for scientists and clinicians about the differences between genetics and race, says Rebecca Clark, assistant professor of nursing at the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research and one of the authors of the article.

In the article, the authors discuss two studies which examined racial differences in the development and treatment of neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS), sometimes more specifically called neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome (NOWS), among Black and white newborns. The studies reported racial differences in treatment and interpreted this as reflecting genetic differences between the study participants, instead of interpreting their findings as an example of racism appearing in the form of inequitable treatment according to race.

Read more at Penn Nursing News.

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