There is a project management joke that the first 90% of a project takes 90% of the time, whereas the last 10% of the project takes the other 90% of the time.

Genome sequencing initiated to investigate how chronic liver disease leads on to hepatocellular carcinoma has instead uncovered mutations that impact fat metabolism and reduce the sensitivity of hepatocytes to insulin.

Twenty years after the first, exclusively white human genomes were fully sequenced, science finds itself in the same position as the rest of society: with the uncomfortable realization that old inequalities are often morphing, rather than disappearing. Vocal racists – scientists of the stripe of a James Watson – are by no means a thing of the past. But they are only the tip of the iceberg.

Twenty years after the first, exclusively white human genomes were fully sequenced, science finds itself in the same position as the rest of society: with the uncomfortable realization that old inequalities are often morphing, rather than disappearing.

LONDON – A new national consortium of virologists has been set up to systematically assess how mutations in SARS-CoV-2 affect key outcomes such as effectiveness of vaccines and therapies, transmissibility of the virus and the severity of COVID-19 infections.

LONDON – A new national consortium of virologists has been set up to systematically assess how mutations in SARS-CoV-2 affect key outcomes such as effectiveness of vaccines and therapies, transmissibility of the virus and the severity of COVID-19 infections. Now is the critical time to do this, as the level of both natural and vaccine-conferred immunity that might drive natural selection is increasing, said Wendy Barclay, head of the department of infectious disease at Imperial College London, who is leading the G2P-UK (Genotype to Phenotype-UK) project.

Australian researchers led by the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney have compiled the first reference genome database of healthy older Australians, which potentially can predict disease-linked gene variants more accurately than has been previously possible.

DUBLIN – “Welcome to the conversation,” Abbvie Inc.’s head of genomic research, Howard Jacob, an early pioneer of genomics-driven medicine, told delegates during a keynote address at the Genomics Summit 2020 event Jan. 23. Ireland is very much a latecomer to that conversation and it has yet, as a country, to figure out what the shape of its contribution to the genomic era of medicine is going to be.

A reference genome from the Indian cobra compiled in an international collaborative study should lead to the development of new safer and more effective antivenoms, while the elucidated genome and predicted associated proteome may be a powerful platform for studies of venomous snakes.  

A reference genome from the Indian cobra compiled in an international collaborative study should lead to the development of new safer and more effective antivenoms, while the elucidated genome and predicted associated proteome may be a powerful platform for studies of venomous snakes.