Mobile Menu

Genomics week in brief: Week ending 4th February

Check out the latest Genomics Week in Brief – full of intriguing news and research from the genomics space!

Top stories from the past week:

  • Researchers have used optical ‘tweezers’ to uncover the mechanisms by which the common chemotherapy drug etoposide destroys cancer cells (Nature).
  • Scientists from the American Chemical Society have presented a new hands-free, voice activated technology that can extract and prepare DNA in the lab (ACS Publications).
  • A new, less invasive cancer diagnostic technique that utilises CRISPR/Cas-13a technology has been developed that requires only a blood sample from patients (ACS Sensors).
  • Immunomodulatory antibodies that bind less tightly to cancer cells could be used to enhance immunotherapy treatments (Nature).
  • A new genomic surveillance study has identified patterns of transmission and antibiotic resistance in the bacteria Shigella during the recent outbreak in Seattle, Washington (The Lancet).
  • A meta-transcriptomics analysis has revealed the existence of thousands of previously unknown self-replicating viroids (Cell).
  • A new study has shown that the expression of genes typically governed by the circadian rhythm is altered after mating in female fruit flies (PNAS).
  • Scientists have developed a new technique to analyse G-quadruplexes that are responsible for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal dementia. The technology offers new hope in the fight against the two life-changing diseases (Nucleic Acids Research).
  • Novel mutations that are related to antibiotic resistance have been identified in non-tuberculosis mycobacteria species (Zoonoses).
  • Mothers who suffer from the inherited condition sickle cell disease are at higher risk of death during pregnancy and childbirth (JAMA).
  • Deletion of the gene SNX9 ‘exhausts’ T cells during the fight against cancer. This new discovery may help to improve the resilience of the cells used in immunotherapies (Nature).
  • Researchers have used single cell and spatial technologies to uncover the landscape of the lung tumour microenvironment (Nature).

In other news:

  • Saturday 4th February was World Cancer Day. The international event focused on fundraising for cancer research and raising awareness of the disease (World Cancer Day).
  • A company co-founded by the ‘founding father of genomics’, George Church, has this week announced their intention to ‘bring back the Dodo’ using revolutionary gene editing techniques (The Telegraph).

More on these topics

Cancer / CRISPR / Multi-omics / Week in brief