Violent Portland Antifa IDd as 35-year-old trans woman – The Post Millennial

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As the big tech tyrants tighten their grip, join us for more free speech at Parlerthe anti-censorship social media platform.

The Post Millennial can report the verified identity of one of the masked Antifa militants involved in pepper-spraying people at a pro-police protest in Portland last week.

Isabel Rosa Araujo, formerly known as Philip Vincent Haskins-Delici, is a 35-year-old Portland-based transsexual Antifa militant with a history of extremism. Araujo was part of a group of around 20 Antifa in black bloc who confronted a small conservative pro-police rally last Thursday afternoon in downtown Portland. The two sides argued with each other outside the Justice Center before Araujo, who was wearing a gas mask, used bear mace against one of the right-wing protesters. She was not arrested for assault.

Though this was the latest incident involving Araujo, she has a long history of far-left extremism that once caught the attention of federal authorities. Originally from New Jersey and a one-time Philadelphia resident, Araujo is a prominent Antifa militant in Portland known for creating propaganda drawings and her participation in protests.

Under various monikers, she posts obsessively about Antifa and Maoist politics. She even has an Antifa tattoo on her chest.

On her blog, Ramblings of a Black-Clad Trans Femme, Araujo wrote in a March 2019 entry under the pen name Crime Minister of Antifa that she was investigated by the U.S. Secret Service and Philadelphia law enforcement in 2008 after drawing a graphic cartoon showing late Republican Arizona senator John McCain being shot in the head.

Araujo is also a prolific social media user under various anonymously-run accounts. On Mastodon, an unmoderated open-source social media network similar to Twitter, she posts under the username @AnarchaTransLatinx. Many of her posts show photographs of her posing in black bloc with guns.

Araujo has also made explicit threats against this reporter. In August 2019, she posted a photograph of a person she stalked in Portland who she believed to be Andy Ngo. Later in the year she wrote: Can someone empty a few bullets on Andy Ngo please? In November 2019, she asked, So is anyone going to volunteer to help with putting a cap in Andy Ngo's doxxing / kill list creating ass?

Araujo is also a prolific user on Twitter under the username @RedGuardinBloc where she shares images and radical political tweets. Her posts confirm her participation in last weeks violent downtown protest. Others show that she creates propaganda for Antifa through homemade drawings. One COVID-19 health warning about wearing masks tells Antifa to cover their faces along with the text: The people who wear MAGA hats are more likely to spread the virus, assault them!

She also tweets photographs of her posing with various weapons. One photograph posted on Nov. 10 shows her posing with a large baton. At night, I often sleep with and answer the door with this beefy 36" riot baton, Araujo tweeted. Safety is a relative term, I prefer to stay dangerous.

Araujo writes frequently about a fear of fascists killing her. She could not be reached for comment.

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Violent Portland Antifa IDd as 35-year-old trans woman - The Post Millennial

Alleged Antifa Leader Suspended from Twitter After Threatening Violence Against Donald Trump If He Fails to Concede 2020 Election by Deadline – The…

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A photo of Adam Rahuba of Pittsburgh, on an Instagram account in his name. The photo is also showcased on the homepage of http://www.disinformationartist.com. Rahuba appears to describe himself as an propagandist and American Troll.

UPDATE NOVEMBER 25, 2020 7:03 PM EASTERN. Sometimes after the publication of this story, the Instagram account for Adam Rahuba referenced (embedded) in the lower portion of this story was changed to private so some images from those embeds may not appear.

PITTSBURGH, PA Adam Rahuba, a self-purported Antifa leader in Pittsburgh, has had hisTwitter account suspendedfor what the social media giant claims are violations against theirpolicy on hateful conductafter allegedly calling for what amounts to an armed insurrection if President Donald Trump refused to concede the 2020 election to President-Elect Joe Biden by Sunday.

The tweet, which now onlyexists in screenshot formsince Rahubas Twitter account was suspended, was directed at Trumps @realDonaldTrump account and read as follows:

If you do not concede by Sunday at noon, we will begin to block roads in conservative areas. Your supporters will not be able to go to work or go to the grocery store to feed their families. We are armed and will retaliate to attempts of vehicular homicide.

Antifa is an organization comprised of activists who claim to oppose fascism and sometimes resort to violence and property damage in order to get their point across.

While Rahubas Twitter feed is currently suspended, all of his previous tweets are no longer able to be viewed; however,this reportalleges that his posting history was filled with repeated calls for hate and violence, especially against conservatives and Trump supporters. The Published Reporter is currently unable to verify these claims at this time due to Rahubas suspension.

However,according to a report by the Washington Post, Rahuba, 38, may actually wield little in the way of any real-world power; in contrast, he may actually be nothing more than an internet troll who stages numerous hoaxes and false claims on social media aimed at conservatives and right-wing groups, some of which have been picked up by news organizations such as Breitbart and the Gateway Pundit.

The Post article instead paints him as merely a part-time food-deliveryman and DJ who spent a period of time crashing on couches of friends in Pittsburgh. However, even if he is only a prankster and not a realactivist, this doesnt mean that his hoaxes couldnt or havent lead to others committing acts of violence on his behalf.

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Alleged Antifa Leader Suspended from Twitter After Threatening Violence Against Donald Trump If He Fails to Concede 2020 Election by Deadline - The...

Fly over Jupiter in this stunning video from NASA’s Juno spacecraft – Space.com

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What if you could hitch a ride on NASA's Juno spacecraft at Jupiter? We may be stuck on Earth, but the space agency has given us the next best option: a new video flyover of Jupiter based on photos from Juno's recent flyby in June.

The stunning video, which is made up of 41 images captured on June 2, gives us a glimpse of what we'd see if we were able to fly around Jupiter ourselves, combining pictures taken from different angles as the spacecraft sped by the solar system's largest planet.

Throughout the video, we see zoomed-in views of Jupiter's upper atmosphere at Juno's closest approach, when the spacecraft was about 2,100 miles (3,400 kilometers) above the planet's cloud tops, as well as zoomed-out views. At the spacecraft's closest point to Jupiter, the gas giant's powerful gravity sped the spacecraft up to an impressive 130,000 mph (209,000 kph) relative to the planet, according to a NASA statement.

In photos: Juno's amazing views of Jupiter

Citizen scientist Kevin Gill created the video with data from Juno's JunoCam, which digitally projects images onto a sphere with a virtual "camera," giving us these beautiful views of Jupiter. These pictures were taken between 5:47 a.m. and 7:25 a.m. EDT (0947 and 1125 GMT) on June 2 as the spacecraft made its 27th close flyby of the planet.

Juno launched in 2011 and, after a five-year trek through space, reached Jupiter in July 2016. The spacecraft circles the solar system's largest planet taking data so we can understand the origin and evolution of Jupiter. Since its first flyby, Juno has provided incredible information about the planet, including an up-close look at Jupiter's Great Red Spot, a giant storm swirling through the planet's atmosphere.

Though the spacecraft was meant to take a dive into Jupiter's atmosphere in 2018, NASA has extended its mission through 2021.

Follow Kasandra Brabaw on Twitter @KassieBrabaw. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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Fly over Jupiter in this stunning video from NASA's Juno spacecraft - Space.com

How NASA tech helped make your Thanksgiving food safe (and your family Zoom sessions, too) – Space.com

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Space technology and prepared foods developed for astronauts will also help keep Americans safe this Thanksgiving, as many prepare for a socially distanced family meal.

While the holidays may be a bit different this year, the video cameras used for virtual family dinners stem from tools that were originally developed in part by NASA. In fact, the space agency first modernized conference calling for the purpose of spaceflight, according to a statement from NASA.

More importantly, the packaged food system formally known as the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) system developed for astronauts on the Gemini and Apollo missions of the 1960s and 1970s is used commercially today to ensure food safety and reduce foodborne illnesses.

Video: Food on Thanksgiving table is safer because ... space travelThanksgiving in space 2020: Here's what astronauts will eat in orbit (video)

"It's one of these things where we maybe don't appreciate the benefits, we just take them for granted now, because HACCP is so ingrained in how we produce food," Alice Johnson, vice president of food safety and quality at Butterball Turkey LLC., said in the statement.

The HACCP system was originally developed in the early 1960s by Paul Lachance NASA's first flight food and nutrition coordinator and Howard Bauman, a microbiologist at Pillsbury. Their efforts were focused on eliminating potential hazards during the food production process to ensure safe food was manufactured for astronauts.

However, in addition to helping astronauts, the HACCP has helped improve food safety around the world. Following an outbreak of the food-borne illness botulism in 1971, canned food companies started following HACCP regulations. Soon thereafter, the same protocols were implemented for meat, poultry, seafood and juice industries. And, with the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Food Safety Modernization Act in 2011, all U.S. food producers and foriegn imports that register with the FDA must meet regulations originally established by the HACCP, according to the statement.

NASA recipe: How to make space cornbread dressingRelated: Space food photos: what astronauts eat in orbit

Implementing the HACCP system may vary across different food industries. For example, checkpoints at a Butterball plan may look for "farm residue," or pesticides, and ensure that refrigeration is below a certain temperature, whereas checkpoints at an Ocean Spray plant focus on filtration and metal detection. In addition, an important aspect of the HACCP is keeping meticulous records, which makes FDA inspections more effective.

"It takes a team of quality assurance folks, engineers, and scientists to identify critical control points for safety and quality," Katy Latimer, vice president of research and development for Ocean Spray, said in the statement.

Since HACCP was originally developed for astronauts, the system has helped to prevent outbreaks of food-borne illnesses linked to unsafe practices, as well as ensure safe meals on Thanksgiving, and all year round, NASA officials said.

Follow Samantha Mathewson @Sam_Ashley13. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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How NASA tech helped make your Thanksgiving food safe (and your family Zoom sessions, too) - Space.com

Nasa tells Toy Shows Adam ‘we cant wait for him to one day join our team of dreamers’ – Irish Examiner

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The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, better known as Nasa, has said they will be there when one of last nights Toy Show stars is ready.

Adam King, from Cork, won the hearts of the nation following his appearance on Fridays Late Late Toy Show.

Adam told host Ryan Tubridy that his dream is to become CAPCOM - capsule communicator or captain of ground control - at Nasa.

Ground control has since responded to Adam, with Nasa tweeting: Adams kind heart and adventurous spirit inspires us.

Theres space for everybody at NASA, and we cant wait for him to one day join our team of dreamers. Well be here when hes ready.

The Irish Embassy in the US had said they would reach out to Nasa and see if they can't help bring your dreams a little closer.

Adams kind heart and adventurous spirit inspires us.

Theres space for everybody at NASA, and we cant wait for him to one day join our team of dreamers. Well be here when hes ready. pic.twitter.com/WJCzue9O13

And that wasnt the only space shout out for the 6-year-old. Famed astronaut Chris Hadfield - who has completed three flights into space - also reached out on social media.

Adam - Ive been lucky enough to CAPCOM many spaceflights. We should talk space together. Take care, be good.

Adam - Ive been lucky enough to CAPCOM many spaceflights. We should talk space together. Take care, be good - Chris@RTELateLateShow https://t.co/XacYA9ncKT

And the space community werent finished yet!

The European Space Agency reached out to the Late Late team for Adams details so they could send some spacey goodies.

Plenty of other figures also came forward, including Nasa Astronaut Shane Kimbrough who said he was inspired by Adam.

Aeronautical engineer Dr Nora Patten said she would love to meet Adam, calling him a star while former astronaut Daniel Tank added: We need more Irish talent in the space program - Im behind you 100%!

Speaking to the Irish Examiner on Saturday, Adams father David said they had been humbled by the reaction to his appearance.

It came across that Adam was just being himself on the show. The outpouring of emotion, not just from Ireland, but from all over the world has been incredibly humbling, he said.

"I don't think it's hit home with us yet, the meaning of it."

David said they have Nora Patten and Chris Hadfield's books at home, and they are well worn and well-read.

"Our children would genuinely aspire to be like them. We are fortunate that we can see the International Space Station fly over our house, we can get the telescope out and see Mars and Venus in the sky because we live in the countryside.

He said that Adam and his siblings would jump at the chance to work with NASA and the European Space Agency.

Adam was surprised by Temple Street porter John Doyle on last night's, who Adam said was his friend who gave him presents when he attended the hospital.

Adams joy at seeing John was, for many, a highlight of the 2020 Toy Show.

John said Adam has an infectious smile and he brings the best out of people while Adam said that John is one of his heroes, with John replying in kind.

I am actually humbled that Adam is my friend, John said.

Who needs a (virtual) hug from Adam King right about now?#LateLateToyShow pic.twitter.com/4pMqwpEty6

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Nasa tells Toy Shows Adam 'we cant wait for him to one day join our team of dreamers' - Irish Examiner

NASA planning first-of-its-kind mission to rare asteroid – Yahoo News

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A giant metallic asteroid, about three times farther away from the sun than the Earth, has caught the attention of scientists and astronomers across the planet since 1852 - but now NASA has plans to travel to the rare, expensive find.

Scientists wonder whether this asteroid, named 16 Psyche, could be an exposed core of an early planet, once possibly as large as Mars, that lost its rocky outer layers after countless collisions billions of years ago. Scientists have numerous other theories for how 16 Psyche could have formed.

Astronomers have studied 16 Psyche in visible and infrared wavelengths, as well as radar, and have found that the asteroid's shape somewhat resembles a potato.

The extremely valuable piece of space debris, which is one of the most massive objects floating in our solar system's asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, is said to be worth an astounding $10,000,000,000,000,000,000. That is $10 quintillion, a financial amount greater than the world's total gross domestic product (GDP).

The reason this intriguing asteroid is worth so much money is that it is unlike most other asteroids that have rocky or icy bodies, NASA said. Scientists believe the asteroid is composed mostly of metallic iron and nickel, similar to Earth's core.

"We've seen meteorites that are mostly metal, but Psyche could be unique in that it might be an asteroid that is totally made of iron and nickel," Tracy Becker, a researcher with the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas, said in a statement. Becker was an author of a study on the asteroid that published earlier this fall.

This means this asteroid may represent a scale model of the Earth's core as it existed during planetary accretion, before gaining enough mass to become a planet. Psyche is the only known metallic corelike body currently floating close enough for us to access, according to Extreme Tech.

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"What makes Psyche and the other asteroids so interesting is that they're considered to be the building blocks of the solar system," Becker said.

The asteroid travels around the sun between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter at a distance ranging from 235 million to 309 million miles from the sun. Psyche takes about five Earth years to complete one orbit of the sun, but only a bit over four hours to rotate once on its axis (a Psyche "day"), NASA explained.

Observations indicate that its dimensions are 173 miles by 144 miles, by 117 miles. Its average diameter is about 140 miles - about 1/16 the diameter of Earth's moon or about the distance between Los Angeles and San Diego.

NASA is planning to launch a spacecraft to study the asteroid in 2022. However, it will be several years beyond that until researchers learn more specific details about the asteroid because the spacecraft won't arrive until early 2026.

"The Psyche mission will be the first mission to investigate a world of metal rather than of rock and ice," the NASA website says. "Psyche offers a unique window into the violent history of collisions and accretion that created terrestrial planets."

With a planned orbit that will last for 21 months, the spacecraft will map and study 16 Psyche's properties to understand whether Psyche is a core or unmelted material, as well as charting the topography of the asteroid and determine how it was formed in comparison to the Earth. They hope studying the asteroid will help them better understand Earth's core.

"To understand what really makes up a planet and to potentially see the inside of a planet is fascinating. Once we get to Psyche, we're really going to understand if that's the case, even if it doesn't turn out as we expect. Any time there's a surprise, it's always exciting," Becker said.

Studying 16 Psyche could provide the opportunity to learn more about an object that is akin to the inside of planets like Earth and unveil secrets of the solar system, researchers say.

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Hear Subtle Sounds NASA’s Perseverance Picked Up As It Travels Through Deep Space on the Way to Mars – SciTechDaily

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In this annotated illustration, the location of the Perseverance rovers entry, descent, and landing microphone is shown. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The first to be rigged with microphones, the agencys latest Mars rover picked up the subtle sounds of its own inner workings during interplanetary flight.

A microphone aboard NASAs Mars 2020 Perseverance rover has recorded the sounds of the spacecraft as it hurtles through interplanetary space. While another mic aboard the rover is intended specifically to listen for the laser zaps of the SuperCam instrument, this one is devoted to capturing some or all of the entry, descent, and landing (EDL) sequence from the firing of the mortar that releases the parachute to the Mars landing engines kicking in to the rover wheels crunching down onto the surface.

Data for the 60-second audio file was collected on October 19 during an in-flight checkout of the camera and microphone system that will pick up some of the landing drama at Mars Jezero Crater early next year.

You can listen to the sound file here:

The subdued whirring you hear is from the rovers heat rejection fluid pump. Located at the rear-starboard side of the Perseverance, the pump is part of the rovers thermal system, which will help maintain operational temperatures for vehicle components on even the coldest of winter nights. It does its job by circulating fluid through a heat exchanger mounted adjacent to the always-toasty Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator and then into a network of tubes spread throughout the rovers chassis.

With apologies to the person who came up with the slogan for Alien, I guess you could say that in space no one may be able to hear you scream, but they can hear your heat rejection fluid pump, said Dave Gruel, lead engineer for Mars 2020s EDL Camera and Microphone subsystem. The microphone we included to hear what its like to land on Mars was actually able to pick up Perseverances thermal system operating in the vacuum of space through mechanical vibration.

In this annotated illustration, the location of the Perseverance rovers entry, descent, and landing microphone is shown. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

As any fan of cinematic sci-fi knows, the vacuum of space is a less-than-optimal environment for auditory transmissions. But that doesnt mean sound cant find another way. Sound waves can travel through solid objects. When these mechanical vibrations are registered by an electrical component, they sometimes are turned into an electrical signal. (Anyone listening to music through in-ear headphones may have encountered this phenomenon as a rustling or thumping noise when the headphone cord brushes up against a surface.)

The sound file was processed by DPA Microphones of Alleroed, Denmark, which manufactured the EDL microphone hardware flying on Mars 2020.

As great as it is to pick up a little audio on spacecraft operations in-flight, the sound file has a more important meaning, Gruel added. It means that our system is working and ready to try to record some of the sound and fury of a Mars landing.

An electrical cable can be seen snaking its way along insulation material in this in-flight image of the interior of the Mars 2020 spacecraft on its way to the Red Planet. The picture was assembled using three images taken by the Perseverance rovers rear left Hazcam during a systems check on October 19, 2020. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The EDL microphone was not tailor-made for this mission or space exploration and the team does not know quite what to expect from their sound files of landing day.

Getting sound from landing is a nice-to-have, not a need-to-have, said Gruel. If it doesnt happen, it will not impede the rovers mission of discovery at Jezero Crater one bit. If even a portion of the landing sequence is captured on audio, that would be awesome.

Humanitys most sophisticated rover is traveling to the Red Planet with the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter. Together, they will enter the Martian atmosphere on Feb. 18, 2021, at 12:47 p.m. PST (3:47 p.m. EST) and will touchdown at Jezero Crater 410 seconds later.

A key objective of Perseverances mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planets geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust).

Subsequent missions, currently under consideration by NASA in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these cached samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.

The Mars 2020 mission is part of a larger program that includes missions to the Moon as a way to prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet. Charged with returning astronauts to the Moon by 2024, NASA will establish a sustained human presence on and around the Moon by 2028 through NASAs Artemis lunar exploration plans.

JPL, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover.

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Hear Subtle Sounds NASA's Perseverance Picked Up As It Travels Through Deep Space on the Way to Mars - SciTechDaily

Giving thanks to NASA this Thanksgiving – AZFamily

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Giving thanks to NASA this Thanksgiving - AZFamily

Sols 2954-2957: Rest and Be Thankful NASA’s Mars Exploration Program – NASA Mars Exploration

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The "Rest and Be Thankful" target is located up and to the left of the image center. This image was taken by Left Navigation Camera onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 2951. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech. Download image

We're planning four Martian days covering sols 2954 through 2957 ahead of the U.S. holiday break. Holidays, for me, are times to celebrate, reflect, or mourn. For some, it can be all three at once. In honor of Native American Heritage Month, I'd like to share a quote from Paula Peters of the Mashpee Wampanoag: "We are still here to acknowledge them, learn from them, talk about them, and give gratitude to the creator for them." While the "them" was in reference to the material objects from their culture that endures to this day, I think "them" can also mean our loved ones past and present.

Today, the science team reflected on the rocks on one of the many "benches" we're traversing over on our way to significant sulfate outcrops identified from orbit. Over the planning sols, we'll take five ChemCam observations named after the Scottish locations "Achnagarron" ("Field of the Geldings"), "Achnaha" ("Field by the Stable"), "Achnacarry" ("Field by the Wier"), "Achininver" ("Field by the River Mouth"), and "Achnasau" ("Field with the Barns") along with Mastcam documentation images of each. Additional observations include a Mastcam mosaic "along strike" (i.e. in the direction of the rock bedding plane) to the bench and a distant ChemCam RMI mosaic of the sulfates ahead. Before we drive off on sol 2956, the appropriate "Rest and Be Thankful" target, named after an actual location where hikers stopped in Scotland, will be cleaned by the Dust Removal Tool (DRT) and measured with APXS. Afterwards, we'll continue to drive ~75 meters towards the sulfates and take a Mastcam mosaic of the arm workspace in front of the rover, a Navcam cloud search movie, and a MARDI image looking at the rocks underneath the rover.

I recommend being like that target and "rest and be thankful" for the coming week.

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Sols 2954-2957: Rest and Be Thankful NASA's Mars Exploration Program - NASA Mars Exploration

Study Identifies Breast Cancer Risk and Disease-Causing Mutations in Women Over 65 – Cancer Network

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A study presented at the American Society of Human Genetics 2020 Virtual Meeting provided estimates of prevalence and breast cancer risks associated with pathogenic variants (PVs) in known breast cancer predisposition genes for the US population in women over the age of 65.1

Women with onset of breast cancer over age 65 typically do not qualify for genetic testing, however this study demonstrated that frequency of PVs and risk of breast cancer is not negligible in this patient population.

The median age of diagnosis for BC is 62 years, yet little is known about the frequency of pathogenic variants (PVs) in BC cancer predisposition genes in women over the age of 65, who represent a large percentage of women with BC, but often do not qualify for genetic testing, the investigators wrote in an abstract. The purpose of this study was to investigate the frequency of PVs in predisposition genes and to estimate residual risk of [breast cancer] in women over the age of 65.

In this study, research sequenced germline DNA from women over the age of 65 from population-based studies in the CARRIERS consortium to identify PVs in cancer predisposition genes using a custom multigene amplicon-based panel. In total, 26,707 women over the age of 65 were included in this study, with 13,762 (51.5%) cases and 12,945 (48.5%) controls. Notably, family history of breast cancer was present for 26% of cases and 18% of controls.

The frequency of PVs in 12 established breast cancer predisposition genes was found to be 3.18% for cases and 1.48% for controls. Genes with the highest frequencies observed includedATM(0.48%),BRCA1(0.18%),BRCA2 (0.49%),CHEK2(0.67%), andPALB2(0.23%).

This shows that a large number of women in this age category are predisposed to breast and other cancers, Nicholas Boddicker, PhD, a research associate at the Mayo Clinic, explained in a press release.2

Moreover, genes revealed to be associated with moderate risk of breast cancer included BRCA1 (OR, 3.37; 95% I, 1.68-7.51), BRCA2 (OR, 2.64; 95% CI, 1.78-4.02), PALB2 (OR, 3.09; 95% CI, 1.71-5.98), and CHEK2 (OR, 2.13; 95% CI, 1.53-3.02). However, ATM(OR, 1.38; 95% CI, 0.96-2.00) was not significantly associated with risk of breast cancer (P = .086).

Further, investigators found that the residual risk of breast cancer between the ages of 66 and 85 was 9.8% (95% CI, 6.8%-14.4%) forATM, 18.3% (95% CI, 9.5%-35.7%) forBRCA1, 18.6% (95% CI, 12.5%-28.0%) forBRCA2, 14.9% (95% CI, 10.8%-20.6%) forCHEK2, and 15.8% (95% CI, 9.0%-28.3%) forPALB2. For the general population, residual risk of breast cancer was 6.8%.

According to Boddicker, the frequency of disease-causing variants and the risks presented in this study can be used to inform cancer screening, risk management, and possibly clinical testing guidelines for women over 65.

In this study, women over 65 with no prior breast cancer found to have pathogenic variants in one of several genes would have remaining risk of breast cancer nearing 20% and could qualify for MRI surveillance in addition to mammography, he said. Without genetic testing, many of these women would not normally be screened this way.

Moving forward, the investigators indicated there are further areas which need to be explored, including combining other factors and measurements of risk with genetic testing to help better personalize risk estimates for women. In addition, more efforts to characterize these effects in other racial and ethnic groups are also still needed.

References:

1. Boddicker NJ, Hart S, Yadav S, et al. Residual breast cancer risk in genetically predisposed women diagnosed over age 65. Presented at the American Society of Human Genetics 2020 Virtual Meeting. Abstract #: 2412.

2. Breast Cancer Risk and Disease-Causing Mutations in Women Over Age 65 [news release]. Rockville, Maryland. Published October 26, 2020. Accessed November 17, 2020. https://www.ashg.org/publications-news/press-releases/breast-cancer-risk-disease-causing-mutations-women-over-age-65/

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Study Identifies Breast Cancer Risk and Disease-Causing Mutations in Women Over 65 - Cancer Network

Scientists say West Africans originally migrated to East Africa – Quartz Africa

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Africa is the cradle of humankind. All humans are descendants from this common pool of ancestors. Africa and its multitude of ethnolinguistic groups are therefore fundamental to learning more about humankind and our origins.

A human genome refers to the complete set of genetic information found in a human cell. We inherit our genomes from our parents. Studying the variations in different peoples genomes gives important clues to how genetic information influences peoples appearance and health. It can also tell us about our ancestry. To date, very few African individuals have been included in studies looking at genetic variation. Studying African genomes not only fills a gap in the current understanding of human genetic variation, but also reveals new insights into the history of African populations.

My colleagues and I, who are all members of the Human Heredity and Health (H3Africa) consortium, contributed to a landmark genetics study. This study focused on 426 individuals from 13 African countries. More than 50 different ethnolinguistic groups were represented in the studyone of the most diverse groups of Africans ever to be included in such an investigation. We sequenced the whole genome of each of these individualsthis means we could read every part of the genome to look for variation.

We were able to show that Zambia was most probably an intermediate site on the likely route of migration from West Africa to east and southern Africa.

This study contributes a major, new source of African genomic data, which showcases the complex and vast diversity of African genetic variation. And it will support research for decades to come.

Our findings have broad relevance, from learning more about African history and migration, to clinical research into the impact of specific variants on health outcomes.

One of the key outcomes was the discovery of more than 3 million new genetic variants. This is significant because we are learning more about human genetic diversity in general, and discovering more differences that could be linked to disease or traits in the future.

This study also adds details to what is known about the migration and expansion of groups across the continent. We were able to show that Zambia was most probably an intermediate site on the likely route of migration from West Africa to east and south Africa. Evidence supporting movement from east Africa to central Nigeria between 1,500 and 2,000 years ago was also revealed, through the identification of a substantial amount of east African ancestry in a central Nigerian ethnolinguistic group, the Berom.

The study also enabled us to reclassify certain variants that were previously suspected to cause disease. Variants that cause serious genetic diseases are often rare in the general population, mostly because their effect is so severe that a person with such a variant often does not reach adulthood. But we observed many of these variants at quite common levels in the studied populations. One wouldnt expect that these types of disease-causing variants would be this common in healthy adults. This finding helps to reclassify these variants for clinical interpretation.

Finally, we found a surprising number of regions with signatures of natural selection that have not been previously reported. Selection means that when individuals are exposed to environmental factors like a viral infection, or a drastic new dietary component, some gene variants may confer an added adaptive advantage to the humans that bear them in their genome.

Our best interpretation of these findings is that as humans across Africa were exposed to different environmentssometimes as a result of migrationthese variants were likely important to surviving in those new conditions. This has left an imprint on the genome and contributes to genomic diversity across the continent.

Our data has shown that we have not yet found all the variation in the human genome. There is more to learn by adding new, unstudied population groups. We know that less than a quarter of participants in genomics research are of non-European ancestry. Most available genetic data come from just three countriesthe UK (40%), the US (19%) and Iceland (12%).

It is essential to keep adding more genomic data from all global populationsincluding Africa. This will ensure that everyone can benefit from the advances in health that precision medicine offers. Precision medicine refers to the customization of healthcare to fit the individual. Including personal genetic information could radically change the nature and scope of healthcare options that would work best for that individual.

The Human Heredity and Health consortium is now in its eighth year of existence, and supports more than 51 diverse projects. These include studies focusing on diseases like diabetes, HIV, and tuberculosis. The reference data generated through our study are already being put to use by many of the consortiums studies.

Next, we are planning to take an even deeper look at the data to better understand what other types of genetic variation exist. We are also hoping to add further unstudied populations to grow and enrich this data set.

Building capacity for genomics research on the African continent is a key goal of Human Heredity and Health. An important aspect of this study is that it was driven and conducted by researchers and scientists from the African continent. Researchers from 24 institutions across Africa participated and led this investigation. This study showcases the availability of both infrastructure and skills for large-scale genomics research on the continent. It also highlights the prospect of future world-class research on this topic from Africa.

Zan Lombard, Principal Medical Scientist, Associate Professor, University of the Witwatersrand

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Scientists say West Africans originally migrated to East Africa - Quartz Africa

Major new study unveils complexity and vast diversity of Africa’s genetic variation – The Conversation CA

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Africa is the cradle of humankind. All humans are descendants from this common pool of ancestors. Africa and its multitude of ethnolinguistic groups are therefore fundamental to learning more about humankind and our origins.

A human genome refers to the complete set of genetic information found in a human cell. We inherit our genomes from our parents. Studying the variations in different peoples genomes gives important clues to how genetic information influences peoples appearance and health. It can also tell us about our ancestry. To date, very few African individuals have been included in studies looking at genetic variation. Studying African genomes not only fills a gap in the current understanding of human genetic variation, but also reveals new insights into the history of African populations.

My colleagues and I, who are all members of the Human Heredity and Health (H3Africa) consortium, contributed to a landmark genetics study. This study focused on 426 individuals from 13 African countries. More than 50 different ethnolinguistic groups were represented in the study one of the most diverse groups of Africans ever to be included in such an investigation. We sequenced the whole genome of each of these individuals this means we could read every part of the genome to look for variation.

This study contributes a major, new source of African genomic data, which showcases the complex and vast diversity of African genetic variation. And it will support research for decades to come.

Our findings have broad relevance, from learning more about African history and migration, to clinical research into the impact of specific variants on health outcomes.

One of the key outcomes was the discovery of more than three million new genetic variants. This is significant because we are learning more about human genetic diversity in general, and discovering more differences that could be linked to disease or traits in the future.

This study also adds details to what is known about the migration and expansion of groups across the continent. We were able to show that Zambia was most probably an intermediate site on the likely route of migration from west Africa to east and south Africa. Evidence supporting movement from east Africa to central Nigeria between 1,500 and 2,000 years ago was also revealed, through the identification of a substantial amount of east African ancestry in a central Nigerian ethnolinguistic group, the Berom.

The study also enabled us to reclassify certain variants that were previously suspected to cause disease. Variants that cause serious genetic diseases are often rare in the general population, mostly because their effect is so severe that a person with such a variant often does not reach adulthood. But we observed many of these variants at quite common levels in the studied populations. One wouldnt expect that these types of disease-causing variants would be this common in healthy adults. This finding helps to reclassify these variants for clinical interpretation.

Finally, we found a surprising number of regions with signatures of natural selection that have not been previously reported. Selection means that when individuals are exposed to environmental factors like a viral infection, or a drastic new dietary component, some gene variants may confer an added adaptive advantage to the humans that bear them in their genome.

Our best interpretation of these findings is that as humans across Africa were exposed to different environments sometimes as a result of migration these variants were likely important to surviving in those new conditions. This has left an imprint on the genome and contributes to genomic diversity across the continent.

Our data has shown that we have not yet found all the variation in the human genome. There is more to learn by adding new, unstudied population groups. We know that less than a quarter of participants in genomics research are of non-European ancestry. Most available genetic data come from just three countries the UK (40%), the US (19%) and Iceland (12%).

It is essential to keep adding more genomic data from all global populations including Africa. This will ensure that everyone can benefit from the advances in health that precision medicine offers. Precision medicine refers to the customisation of healthcare to fit the individual. Including personal genetic information could radically change the nature and scope of healthcare options that would work best for that individual.

The Human Heredity and Health consortium is now in its eighth year of existence, and supports more than 51 diverse projects. These include studies focusing on diseases like diabetes, HIV and tuberculosis. The reference data generated through our study are already being put to use by many of the consortiums studies.

Read more: What we've learnt from building Africa's biggest genome library

Next, we are planning to take an even deeper look at the data to better understand what other types of genetic variation exist. We are also hoping to add further unstudied populations to grow and enrich this data set.

Building capacity for genomics research on the African continent is a key goal of Human Heredity and Health. An important aspect of this study is that it was driven and conducted by researchers and scientists from the African continent. Researchers from 24 institutions across Africa participated and led this investigation. This study showcases the availability of both infrastructure and skills for large-scale genomics research on the continent. It also highlights the prospect of future world-class research on this topic from Africa.

Link:

Major new study unveils complexity and vast diversity of Africa's genetic variation - The Conversation CA

Future Visioning the Role of CRISPR Gene Editing: Navigating Law and Ethics to Regenerate Health and Cure Disease – IPWatchdog.com

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Despite the projected growth in market applications and abundant investment capital, there is a danger that legal and ethical concerns related to genetic research could put the brakes on gene editing technologies and product programs emanating therefrom.

As society adjusts to a new world of social distance and remote everything, rapid advancements in the digital, physical, and biological spheres are accelerating fundamental changes to the way we live, work, and relate to one another. What Klaus Schwab prophesized in his 2015 book, The Fourth Industrial Revolution, is playing out before our very eyes. Quantum computing power, a network architecture that is moving function closer to the edge of our interconnected devices, bandwidth speeds of 5G and beyond, natural language processing, artificial intelligence, and machine learning are all working together to accelerate innovation in fundamental ways. Given the global pandemic, in the biological sphere, government industrial policy drives the public sector to work hand-in-glove with private industry and academia to develop new therapies and vaccines to treat and prevent COVID-19 and other lethal diseases. This post will envision the future of gene editing technologies and the legal and ethical challenges that could imperil their mission of saving lives.

There are thousands of diseases occurring in humans, animals, and plants caused by aberrant DNA sequences. Traditional small molecule and biologic therapies have only had minimal success in treating many of these diseases because they mitigate symptoms while failing to address the underlying genetic causes. While human understanding of genetic diseases has increased tremendously since the mapping of the human genome in the late 1990s, our ability to treat them effectively has been limited by our historical inability to alter genetic sequences.

The science of gene editing was born in the 1990s, as scientists developed tools such as zinc-finger nucleases (ZFNs) and TALE nucleases (TALENs) to study the genome and attempt to alter sequences that caused disease. While these systems were an essential first step to demonstrate the potential of gene editing, their development was challenging in practice due to the complexity of engineering protein-DNA interactions.

Then, in 2011, Dr. Emmanuelle Charpentier, a French professor of microbiology, genetics, and biochemistry, and Jennifer Doudna, an American professor of biochemistry, pioneered a revolutionary new gene-editing technology called CRISPR/Cas9. Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) and Cas9 stands for CRISPR-associated protein 9. In 2020, the revolutionary work of Drs. Charpentier and Doudna developing CRISPR/Cas9 were recognized with the Nobel Prize for Chemistry. The technology was also the source of a long-running and high-profile patent battle between two groups of scientsists.

CRISPR/Cas9 for gene editing came about from a naturally occurring viral defense mechanism in bacteria. The system is cheaper and easier to use than previous technologies. It delivers the Cas9 nuclease complexed with a synthetic guide RNA (gRNA) into a cell, cutting the cells genome at the desired location, allowing existing genes to be removed and new ones added to a living organisms genome. The technique is essential in biotechnology and medicine as it provides for the genomes to be edited in vivo with extremely high precision, efficiently, and with comparative ease. It can create new drugs, agricultural products, and genetically modified organisms or control pathogens and pests. More possibilities include the treatment of inherited genetic diseases and diseases arising from somatic mutations such as cancer. However, its use in human germline genetic modification is highly controversial.

The following diagram from CRISPR Therapeutics AG, a Swiss company, illustrates how it functions:

In the 1990s, nanotechnology and gene editing were necessary plot points for science fiction films. In 2020, developments like nano-sensors and CRISPR gene editing technology have moved these technologies directly into the mainstream, opening a new frontier of novel market applications. According to The Business Research Company, the global CRISPR technology market reached a value of nearly $700 million in 2019, is expected to more than double in 2020, and reach $6.7 billion by 2030. Market applications target all forms of life, from animals to plants to humans.

Gene editings primary market applications are for the treatment of genetically-defined diseases. CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing promises to enable the engineering of genomes of cell-based therapies and make them safer and available to a broader group of patients. Cell therapies have already begun to make a meaningful impact on specific diseases, and gene editing helps to accelerate that progress across diverse disease areas, including oncology and diabetes.

In the area of human therapy, millions of people worldwide suffer from genetic conditions. Gene-editing technologies like CRISPR-Cas9 have introduced a way to address the cause of debilitating illnesses like cystic fibrosis and create better interventions and therapies. They also have promising market applications for agriculture, food safety, supply, and distribution. For example, grocery retailers are even looking at how gene editing could impact the products they sell. Scientists have created gene-edited crops like non-browning mushrooms and mildew-resistant grapes experiments that are part of an effort to prevent spoilage, which could ultimately change the way food is sold.

Despite the inability to travel and conduct face-to-face meetings, attend industry conferences or conduct business other than remotely or with social distance, the investment markets for venture, growth, and private equity capital, as well as corporate R&D budgets, have remained buoyant through 2020 to date. Indeed, the third quarter of 2020 was the second strongest quarter ever for VC-backed companies, with 88 companies raising rounds worth $100 million or more according to the latest PwC/Moneytree report. Healthcare startups raised over $8 billion in the quarter in the United States alone. Gene-editing company Mammouth Biosciences raised a $45 million round of Series B capital in the second quarter of 2020. CRISPR Therapeutics AG raised more in the public markets in primary and secondary capital.

Bayer, Humboldt Fund and Leaps are co-leading a $65 million Series A round for Metagenomi, a biotech startup launched by UC Berkeley scientists. Metagenomi, which will be run by Berkeleys Brian Thomas, is developing a toolbox of CRISPR- and non-CRISPR-based gene-editing systems beyond the Cas9 protein. The goal is to apply machine learning to search through the genomes of these microorganisms, finding new nucleases that can be used in gene therapies. Other investors in the Series A include Sozo Ventures, Agent Capital, InCube Ventures and HOF Capital. Given the focus on new therapies and vaccines to treat the novel coronavirus, we expect continued wind in the sails for gene-editing companies, particularly those with strong product portfolios that leverage the technology.

Despite the projected growth in market applications and abundant investment capital, there is a danger that legal and ethical concerns related to genetic research could put the brakes on gene-editing technologies and product programs emanating therefrom. The possibility of off-target effects, lack of informed consent for germline therapy, and other ethical concerns could cause government regulators to put a stop on important research and development required to cure disease and regenerate human health.

Gene-editing companies can only make money by developing products that involve editing the human genome. The clinical and commercial success of these product candidates depends on public acceptance of gene-editing therapies for the treatment of human diseases. Public attitudes could be influenced by claims that gene editing is unsafe, unethical, or immoral. Consequently, products created through gene editing may not gain the acceptance of the government, the public, or the medical community. Adverse public reaction to gene therapy, in general, could result in greater government regulation and stricter labeling requirements of gene-editing products. Stakeholders in government, third-party payors, the medical community, and private industry must work to create standards that are both safe and comply with prevailing ethical norms.

The most significant danger to growth in gene-editing technologies lies in ethical concerns about their application to human embryos or the human germline. In 2016, a group of scientists edited the genome of human embryos to modify the gene for hemoglobin beta, the gene in which a mutation occurs in patients with the inherited blood disorder beta thalassemia. Although conducted in non-viable embryos, it shocked the public that scientists could be experimenting with human eggs, sperm, and embryos to alter human life at creation. Then, in 2018, a biophysics researcher in China created the first human genetically edited babies, twin girls, causing public outcry (and triggering government sanctioning of the researcher). In response, the World Health Organization established a committee to advise on the creation of standards for gene editing oversight and governance standards on a global basis.

Some influential non-governmental agencies have called for a moratorium on gene editing, particularly as applied to altering the creation or editing of human life. Other have set forth guidelines on how to use gene-editing technologies in therapeutic applications. In the United States, the National Institute of Health has stated that it will not fund gene-editing studies in human embryos. A U.S. statute called The Dickey-Wicker Amendment prohibits the use of federal funds for research projects that would create or destroy human life. Laws in the United Kingdom prohibit genetically modified embryos from being implanted into women. Still, embryos can be altered in research labs under license from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority.

Regulations must keep pace with the change that CRISPR-Cas9 has brought to research labs worldwide. Developing international guidelines could be a step towards establishing cohesive national frameworks. The U.S. National Academy of Sciences recommended seven principles for the governance of human genome editing, including promoting well-being, transparency, due care, responsible science, respect for persons, fairness, and transnational co-operation. In the United Kingdom, a non-governmental organization formed in 1991 called The Nuffield Council has proposed two principles for the ethical acceptability of genome editing in the context of reproduction. First, the intervention intends to secure the welfare of the individual born due to such technology. Second, social justice and solidarity principles are upheld, and the intervention should not result in an intensifying of social divides or marginalizing of disadvantaged groups in society. In 2016, in application of the same, the Crick Institute in London was approved to use CRISPR-Cas9 in human embryos to study early development. In response to a cacophony of conflicting national frameworks, the International Summit on Human Gene Editing was formed in 2015 by NGOs in the United States, the United Kingdom and China, and is working to harmonize regulations global from both the ethical and safety perspectives. As CRISPR co-inventor Jennifer Doudna has written in a now infamous editorial in SCIENCE, stakeholders must engage in thoughtfully crafting regulations of the technology without stifling it.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced us to rely more on new technologies to keep us healthy, adapt to working from home, and more. The pandemic makes us more reliant on innovative digital, biological, and physical solutions. It has created a united sense of urgency among the public and private industry (together with government and academia) to be more creative about using technology to regenerate health. With continued advances in computing power, network architecture, communications bandwidths, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and gene editing, society will undoubtedly find more cures for debilitating disease and succeed in regenerating human health. As science advances, it inevitably intersects with legal and ethical norms, both for individuals and civil society, and there are new externalities to consider. Legal and ethical norms will adapt, rebalancing the interests of each. The fourth industrial revolution is accelerating, and hopefully towards curing disease.

Continue reading here:

Future Visioning the Role of CRISPR Gene Editing: Navigating Law and Ethics to Regenerate Health and Cure Disease - IPWatchdog.com

Future Visioning The Role Of CRISPR Gene Editing: Navigating Law And Ethics To Regenerate Health And Cure Disease – Technology – United States -…

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"Despite the projected growth in market applications andabundant investment capital, there is a danger that legal andethical concerns related to genetic research could put the brakeson gene editing technologies and product programs emanatingtherefrom."

There are thousands of diseases occurring in humans, animals,and plants caused by aberrant DNA sequences. Traditional smallmolecule and biologic therapies have only had minimal success intreating many of these diseases because they mitigate symptomswhile failing to address the underlying genetic causes. While humanunderstanding of genetic diseases has increased tremendously sincethe mapping of the human genome in the late 1990s, our ability totreat them effectively has been limited by our historical inabilityto alter genetic sequences.

The science of gene editing was born in the 1990s, as scientistsdeveloped tools such as zinc-finger nucleases (ZFNs) and TALEnucleases (TALENs) to study the genome and attempt to altersequences that caused disease. While these systems were anessential first step to demonstrate the potential of gene editing,their development was challenging in practice due to the complexityof engineering protein-DNA interactions.

Then, in 2011, Dr. Emmanuelle Charpentier, a French professor ofmicrobiology, genetics, and biochemistry, and Jennifer Doudna, anAmerican professor of biochemistry, pioneered a revolutionary newgene-editing technology called CRISPR/Cas9. Clustered Regularly InterspacedShort Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) and Cas9 stands forCRISPR-associated protein 9. In 2020, the revolutionary work ofDrs. Charpentier and Doudna developing CRISPR/Cas9 were recognizedwith the Nobel Prize for Chemistry. The technology was also thesource of a long-running and high-profile patent battle between two groups ofscientsists.

CRISPR/Cas9 for gene editing came about from a naturallyoccurring viral defense mechanism in bacteria. The system ischeaper and easier to use than previous technologies. It deliversthe Cas9 nuclease complexed with a synthetic guide RNA (gRNA) intoa cell, cutting the 'cell's genome at the desired location,allowing existing genes to be removed and new ones added to aliving organism's genome. The technique is essential inbiotechnology and medicine as it provides for the genomes to beedited in vivo with extremely high precision, efficiently, and withcomparative ease. It can create new drugs, agricultural products,and genetically modified organisms or control pathogens and pests.More possibilities include the treatment of inherited geneticdiseases and diseases arising from somatic mutations such ascancer. However, its use in human germline genetic modification ishighly controversial.

The following diagram from CRISPR Therapeutics AG, a Swisscompany, illustrates how it functions:

In the 1990s, nanotechnology and gene editing were necessaryplot points for science fiction films. In 2020, developments likenano-sensors and CRISPR gene editing technology have moved thesetechnologies directly into the mainstream, opening a new frontierof novel market applications. According to The Business ResearchCompany, the global CRISPR technology market reached a value ofnearly $700 million in 2019, is expected to more than double in2020, and reach $6.7 billion by 2030. Market applications targetall forms of life, from animals to plants to humans.

Gene editing's primary market applications are for thetreatment of genetically-defined diseases. CRISPR/Cas9 gene editingpromises to enable the engineering of genomes of cell-basedtherapies and make them safer and available to a broader group ofpatients. Cell therapies have already begun to make a meaningfulimpact on specific diseases, and gene editing helps to acceleratethat progress across diverse disease areas, including oncology anddiabetes.

In the area of human therapy, millions of people worldwidesuffer from genetic conditions. Gene-editing technologies likeCRISPR-Cas9 have introduced a way to address the cause ofdebilitating illnesses like cystic fibrosis and create betterinterventions and therapies. They also have promising marketapplications for agriculture, food safety, supply, anddistribution. For example, grocery retailers are even looking athow gene editing could impact the products they sell. Scientistshave created gene-edited crops like non-browning mushrooms andmildew-resistant grapes - experiments that are part of an effort toprevent spoilage, which could ultimately change the way food issold.

Despite the inability to travel and conduct face-to-facemeetings, attend industry conferences or conduct business otherthan remotely or with social distance, the investment markets forventure, growth, and private equity capital, as well as corporateR&D budgets, have remained buoyant through 2020 to date.Indeed, the third quarter of 2020 was the second strongest quarterever for VC-backed companies, with 88 companies raising roundsworth $100 million or more according to the latest PwC/Moneytreereport. Healthcare startups raised over $8 billion in the quarterin the United States alone. Gene-editing company MammouthBiosciences raised a $45 million round of Series B capital in thesecond quarter of 2020. CRISPR Therapeutics AG raised more in thepublic markets in primary and secondary capital.

Bayer, Humboldt Fund and Leaps are co-leading a $65 million Series A round for Metagenomi, abiotech startup launched by UC Berkeley scientists. Metagenomi,which will be run by Berkeley's Brian Thomas, is developing atoolbox of CRISPR- and non-CRISPR-based gene-editing systems beyondthe Cas9 protein. The goal is to apply machine learning to searchthrough the genomes of these microorganisms, finding new nucleasesthat can be used in gene therapies. Other investors in the Series Ainclude Sozo Ventures, Agent Capital, InCube Ventures and HOFCapital. Given the focus on new therapies and vaccines to treat thenovel coronavirus, we expect continued wind in the sails forgene-editing companies, particularly those with strong productportfolios that leverage the technology.

Despite the projected growth in market applications and abundantinvestment capital, there is a danger that legal and ethicalconcerns related to genetic research could put the brakes ongene-editing technologies and product programs emanating therefrom.The possibility of off-target effects, lack of informed consent forgermline therapy, and other ethical concerns could cause governmentregulators to put a stop on important research and developmentrequired to cure disease and regenerate human health.

Gene-editing companies can only make money by developingproducts that involve editing the human genome. The clinical andcommercial success of these product candidates depends on publicacceptance of gene-editing therapies for the treatment of humandiseases. Public attitudes could be influenced by claims that geneediting is unsafe, unethical, or immoral. Consequently, productscreated through gene editing may not gain the acceptance of thegovernment, the public, or the medical community. Adverse publicreaction to gene therapy, in general, could result in greatergovernment regulation and stricter labeling requirements ofgene-editing products. Stakeholders in government, third-partypayors, the medical community, and private industry must work tocreate standards that are both safe and comply with prevailingethical norms.

The most significant danger to growth in gene-editingtechnologies lies in ethical concerns about their application tohuman embryos or the human germline. In 2016, a group of scientistsedited the genome of human embryos to modify the gene forhemoglobin beta, the gene in which a mutation occurs in patientswith the inherited blood disorder beta thalassemia. Althoughconducted in non-viable embryos, it shocked the public thatscientists could be experimenting with human eggs, sperm, andembryos to alter human life at creation. Then, in 2018, abiophysics researcher in China created the first human geneticallyedited babies, twin girls, causing public outcry (and triggeringgovernment sanctioning of the researcher). In response, the WorldHealth Organization established a committee to advise on thecreation of standards for gene editing oversight and governancestandards on a global basis.

Some influential non-governmental agencies have called for amoratorium on gene editing, particularly as applied to altering thecreation or editing of human life. Other have set forth guidelineson how to use gene-editing technologies in therapeuticapplications. In the United States, the National Institute ofHealth has stated that it will not fund gene-editing studies inhuman embryos. A U.S. statute called "The Dickey-WickerAmendment" prohibits the use of federal funds for researchprojects that would create or destroy human life. Laws in theUnited Kingdom prohibit genetically modified embryos from beingimplanted into women. Still, embryos can be altered in researchlabs under license from the Human Fertilisation and EmbryologyAuthority.

Regulations must keep pace with the change that CRISPR-Cas9 hasbrought to research labs worldwide. Developing international guidelines could be a steptowards establishing cohesive national frameworks. The U.S.National Academy of Sciences recommended seven principles for thegovernance of human genome editing, including promoting well-being,transparency, due care, responsible science, respect for persons,fairness, and transnational co-operation. In the United Kingdom, anon-governmental organization formed in 1991 called The NuffieldCouncil has proposed two principles for the ethical acceptabilityof genome editing in the context of reproduction. First, theintervention intends to secure the welfare of the individual borndue to such technology. Second, social justice and solidarityprinciples are upheld, and the intervention should not result in anintensifying of social divides or marginalizing of disadvantagedgroups in society. In 2016, in application of the same, the CrickInstitute in London was approved to use CRISPR-Cas9 in humanembryos to study early development. In response to a cacophony ofconflicting national frameworks, the International Summit on HumanGene Editing was formed in 2015 by NGOs in the United States, theUnited Kingdom and China, and is working to harmonize regulationsglobal from both the ethical and safety perspectives. As CRISPRco-inventor Jennifer Doudna has written in a now infamous editorialin SCIENCE, "stakeholders must engage in thoughtfullycrafting regulations of the technology without stiflingit."

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced us to rely more on newtechnologies to keep us healthy, adapt to working from home, andmore. The pandemic makes us more reliant on innovative digital,biological, and physical solutions. It has created a united senseof urgency among the public and private industry (together withgovernment and academia) to be more creative about using technologyto regenerate health. With continued advances in computing power, networkarchitecture, communications bandwidths, artificial intelligence,machine learning, and gene editing, society will undoubtedly findmore cures for debilitating disease and succeed in regeneratinghuman health. As science advances, it inevitably intersects withlegal and ethical norms, both for individuals and civil society,and there are new externalities to consider. Legal and ethicalnorms will adapt, rebalancing the interests of each. The fourthindustrial revolution is accelerating, and hopefully towards curingdisease.

Originally published by IPWatchdog.com, November 24,2020.

The content of this article is intended to provide a generalguide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be soughtabout your specific circumstances.

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Future Visioning The Role Of CRISPR Gene Editing: Navigating Law And Ethics To Regenerate Health And Cure Disease - Technology - United States -...

Understanding the immunology of COVID-19 – SelectScience

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Watch this on-demand webinar with Dr. Petter Brodin to learn about new insights into the immune response to SARS-CoV-2

A popular SelectScience webinar that provides important new insights into the immune system responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection is now available on demand. The studies, conducted by Dr. Petter Brodin's group at Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, took a systems-level approach to analyze both the cellular and protein components involved, using methodologies including mass cytometry, flow cytometry and high-multiplex proteomics.

A longitudinal study of severe COVID-19 patients identified distinct patterns of immune cell coregulation in four different stages of the disease and demonstrated a shared trajectory of immunological recovery that may provide future biomarkers of disease progression. In an investigation of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), a relatively rare complication of SARS-CoV-2 infection in children, important differences in inflammatory response were seen between MIS-C and severe COVID-19 in adults. Moreover, while some similarities were observed between inflammatory responses in MIS-C and Kawasaki disease, important differences were also apparent, particularly in the T cell subsets involved.

Read on for highlights from the live Q&A discussion with Dr. Brodin or register to watch the full webinar on demand >>

PB: If we start with MIS-C and Kawasaki disease, then Kawasaki disease occurs in young children 2-4 years of age in the wintertime. It's a viral infection of a different kind and the thing about Kawasaki disease is that children present with a rash and sometimes heart involvement. Initially, when this MIS-C presentation started to occur, people mistook them for Kawasaki Disease. However, we've now learned that Kawasaki disease and MIS-C often involve different populations of children. MIS-C typically involves older kids, children of teenage years and often much more severe in presentation than the typical Kawasaki disease. They often have abdominal involvement with vomiting, stomach ache, and so on, which is not typical in Kawasaki disease. There are clearly clinical differences between MIS-C and Kawasaki disease.

When it comes to acute COVID and these other post-infectious conditions, they are quite distinct. Acute COVID typically begins with a respiratory infection, coughing, fever, and then, later on, might develop into a hyperinflammatory disease. At that time, during the hyperinflammatory later phases of the infection, then there can be similarities between MIS-C and acute COVID, but that is sort of in the later stages.

PB: This has been probably the most important issue to sort out since we started to learn about this new virus because what's pretty evident is that for the majority of patients and people infected with SARS-CoV-2, the infection is rather mild. A lot of people have fevers and a cough, and so on. Young children more frequently are asymptomatic, but then in all age groups, some individuals develop very severe disease. Most commonly, of course, men more than women, and older people more than young people. There is a very big variation in presentation with patients with COVID-19.

We've learned quite a bit over these past 10 months, with 30,000 papers published. There has been an extraordinary development in understanding both the virus, but also the immune response to the virus. We know now that men suffer often more severe disease than women when it comes to acute COVID, are more likely to end up in intensive care units and more likely to die. We think that this is related to differences in the immune system between men and women because the infection rate, the likelihood of being infected, is not different in men and women, as far as we know.

What are those immune system differences? There have been a couple of reports, and we know from other people's work that, for example, vaccine responses differ between men and women. We also know that many autoimmune diseases, particularly diseases such as lupus, which involves interferon responses, are much more prominent in women than in men, more common in women than in men. A lot of evidence points towards differences in men and women with respect to innate, initial antiviral immune responses, both before COVID-19 but also now.

I think that is probably the best determinant we have to date, to explain the differences in COVID-19 severity. It has to do with the ability to mount a robust early immune response to the virus, involving type 1 interferons but also other factors probably.

PB: I think that relates to the MIS-C work, which was done in children. The question implies that there are genetic differences when it comes to the likelihood of getting the infection. That particular question we have not studied. It's very difficult to study whether people are resistant to a particular virus. Those people are very difficult to find. We are looking into genetic host factors that would explain both why some children develop MIS-C, while most children obviously don't, and also those factors, genetics and other things, that might determine why an individual develops severe COVID versus a milder COVID. There has been some progress made in that area by researchers such as Jean-Laurent Casanovas Lab at the Rockefeller Institute, Helen Su at the NIH, leading a large consortium called Human Genetic Effort. Their patients with rare immunodeficiencies involving viral sensing and interferon responses have been reported and those are individuals that are very rare, but they presented with life-threatening COVID-19. That's related in general to the infection, not specifically children.

PB: My guess is that it might involve prior coronaviruses, but that remains to be determined. I believe, and I think quite a few people believe, that the coronaviruses are so abundant that not only children would carry immunity to such viruses but probably also quite a few adults. Therefore, it does not entirely, in my opinion, explain why children are so able to manage this infection without severe disease in general. I think probably this points more to differences in the immune system. If you think about it from an evolutionary point of view, or life history point of view, children are experts at responding to new pathogens because the younger a child is, the less experience that child would have, and the more able the child must be to respond to a new infection. While adult people, and especially older people, they can get by quite well by relying on their memory responses of prior exposures. Typically, older people might be less equipped to respond to new pathogens. This can be explained by many different factors, the lower number of naive cells in the adaptive immune system, thymic involution, and then lack of production of naive T cells, and so on. I think there are many different pieces to this puzzle, and we only know a little bit of that at the moment.

Q: What do you see are the biggest advantages of combining the two platforms used in your studies?

PB: Sometimes people say that immune responses don't occur in the blood, and so there's no point in looking in the blood. Instead, all the relevant responses occur in tissues. Obviously, it's true that the blood is not the main siteof immune activity; it is definitely tissue, specific responses that we cannot see in the blood. Given the fact that we can sample the blood so easily and we can collect non-determinable samples, there is real potential in detecting important signals in the blood, even if the immune response is actually going on primarily in a distal tissue, like the lung.What do we do to study the blood in the best possible way? My group has reasoned that by looking at the various components of blood and the immune cells and proteins that make up the blood immune system, and the circulating immune system, and doing that in the most comprehensive way that we can, we believe this gives us a very strong potential, sort of an ability to actually look at the immune response in younger children, or over time in a patient. This combination of technologies, the Olink platform for plasma protein measurements which gives very reproducible signals with very low background signal, and then the mass cytometry assay, which gives us very broad coverage of the immune cell components, we think it's a very strong combination of features.

Watch this on-demand webinar to find out more in-depth insights about the immune responses of COVID-19>>

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Understanding the immunology of COVID-19 - SelectScience

Scientists successfully implanted human genes into monkeys to increase their brain mass – Boing Boing

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From Popular Mechanics:

Researchers from Germany's Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Germany and Japan's Central Institute for Experimental Animals introduced a specifically human gene,ARHGAP11B, into the fetus of a common marmoset monkey, causing the enlargement of its brain's neocortex. The scientistsreported their findings in Science.

Those findings include a good indication that the ARHGAP11B gene played a key role in the development of the human neocortex, and, by extension, human evolution overall. (A 2015 study saw similar results with ARHGAP11B implanted in mice embryos, which "produced many more neural progenitor cells and could even undergo folding of their normally unfolded neocortex.")

In a press alert, the scientists behind the study were careful to specifically refer to their subjects as "transgenic non-human primates," which differentiates them from transgenic common marmosets, or humans (we're not given a cool classification for the sake of objectivity). They also included this ethical caveat:

We confined our analyses to marmoset fetuses, because we anticipated that the expression of this human-specific gene would affect the neocortex development in the marmoset. In light of potential unforeseeable consequences with regard to postnatal brain function, we considered it a prerequisite and mandatory from an ethical point of view to first determine the effects of ARHGAP11B on the development of fetal marmoset neocortex.

So, we're still a little ways away from a horrible interactive Planet of the Apes remix. That's good.

Somewhat related: I re-read Karen Joy Fowler's award-winning fiction-about-science novel We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves this summer, which I think every human being should read if they have not yet.

Uh-Oh, Scientists Used Human Genes to Make Monkey Brains Bigger [Tim Childers / Popular Mechanics]

Human-specific ARHGAP11B increases size and folding of primate neocortex in the fetal marmoset [Michael Heide, Christiane Haffner, Ayako Murayama, Yoko Kurotaki, Haruka Shinohara, Hideyuki Okano, Erika Sasaki, and Wieland B. Huttner]

Human brain size gene triggers bigger brain in monkeys [EurekaAlert!]

Image: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

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Scientists successfully implanted human genes into monkeys to increase their brain mass - Boing Boing

Thirteen TUM researchers among the most cited worldwide – India Education Diary

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Thirteen researchers from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) are among the most cited in their respective fields. This is shown by the current edition of the ranking Highly Cited Researchers.In their publications, scientists cite the most important papers previously published on the respective topic. The frequency of citations is therefore a good indicator of the quality and worldwide recognition of a research work and its authors. Using the Web of Science database, which records scientific publications from a wide range of disciplines, the US company Clarivate Analytics once a year identifies the Highly Cited Researchers.

The current edition of the ranking lists the scientists who were cited most frequently in their respective fields from 2009 to 2019. Researchers who were cited frequently in various fields are listed in the Cross-Field category. In total, the list includes about 6,400 persons in no particular order, including the following researchers from TUM:

Agricultural Sciences:

Chemistry:

Clinical Medicine:

Psychiatry and Psychology:

Environment and Ecology:

Cross-Field:

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Thirteen TUM researchers among the most cited worldwide - India Education Diary

Twist Bioscience Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year Fiscal 2020 Financial Results – Business Wire

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SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ: TWST), a company enabling customers to succeed through its offering of high-quality synthetic DNA using its silicon platform, today reported financial results and business highlights for the fourth quarter and full year fiscal 2020 ended September 30, 2020.

We ended our fiscal year with record revenue and orders against the backdrop of a global pandemic and significant uncertainty, said Emily M. Leproust, Ph.D., CEO and co-founder of Twist Bioscience. While we are proud of the new products we introduced to aid in the fight against COVID-19, which complemented our revenue, it was our core synthetic biology and next-generation sequencing (NGS) product lines that drove our overarching success.

We have aggressive plans for growth and expansion in fiscal 2021 and beyond, continuing to build our foundation for sustained success across synthetic biology, NGS, biopharma and DNA data storage.

FISCAL 2020 FINANCIAL RESULTS

FISCAL 2020 FOURTH QUARTER FINANCIAL RESULTS

"Over the last year, we delivered on revenue, orders, margin and product pipeline in a very challenging environment, commented Jim Thorburn, CFO of Twist. We have a strong balance sheet and momentum moving into fiscal 2021, and look forward to an exciting year ahead.

Fiscal Fourth Quarter 2020 and Recent Highlights

Fiscal 2021 Financial Guidance

The following statements are based on Twists current expectations for fiscal 2021. The following statements are forward-looking, and actual results could differ materially depending on market conditions and the factors set forth under Forward-Looking Statements below. Twist does not plan to update, nor does it undertake any obligation to update, this outlook in the future.

For the full fiscal year 2021, Twist provided the following financial guidance:

Fiscal 2021 First Quarter Financial Guidance

For the first quarter of fiscal 2021, Twist provided the following financial guidance:

COVID-19 Considerations

During the three months ended September 30, 2020, financial results of the Company were not significantly affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. However, the extent to which the COVID-19 outbreak affects Twists future financial results and operations is subject to a high degree of uncertainty and will depend on future developments, including the duration, spread and treatment of the outbreak domestically and abroad.

Conference Call Information

The company plans to hold a conference call and live audio webcast for analysts and investors today at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time to discuss its financial results and provide an update on the companys business. The call can be accessed by dialing (866) 688-0947 (domestic) or (409) 217-8781 (international) and refer to the conference ID 2947139. A telephonic replay of the conference call will be available beginning approximately four hours after the call through November 30, 2020 and may be accessed by dialing (855) 859-2056 (domestic) or (404) 537-3406 (international). The replay conference ID is 2947139. The webcast replay will be available for two weeks.

Given the circumstances globally, it is recommended to dial-in at most 15 to 20 minutes prior to the call start to reduce waiting times. If a participant will be listen-only, they are encouraged to listen via the webcast on Twists investor page.

About Twist Bioscience Corporation

Twist Bioscience is a leading and rapidly growing synthetic biology and genomics company that has developed a disruptive DNA synthesis platform to industrialize the engineering of biology. The core of the platform is a proprietary technology that pioneers a new method of manufacturing synthetic DNA by writing DNA on a silicon chip. Twist is leveraging its unique technology to manufacture a broad range of synthetic DNA-based products, including synthetic genes, tools for next-generation sequencing (NGS) preparation, and antibody libraries for drug discovery and development. Twist is also pursuing longer-term opportunities in digital data storage in DNA and biologics drug discovery. Twist makes products for use across many industries including healthcare, industrial chemicals, agriculture and academic research.

Follow us on Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | YouTube

Investor Relations Information

Twist uses the investor relations section on its website as a means of complying with its disclosure obligations under Regulation FD. Accordingly, investors should monitor Twist's investor relations website in addition to following Twist's press releases, SEC filings, and public conference calls and webcasts.

Legal Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical facts contained herein are forward-looking statements reflecting the current beliefs and expectations of management made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, but not limited to, statements under the headings Fiscal 2021 Financial Guidance and Fiscal 2021 First Quarter Financial Guidance, future growth and expansion plans and Twists other expectations regarding its future financial performance, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Twists future financial performance, and Twists ability to address the challenges posed by the business and economic impacts of COVID-19 pandemic, diversification and revenue growth across all product categories, introduction of new products, the use of our products by the healthcare sectors for the potential detection and treatment of diseases, and expectations regarding newly announced partnerships. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other important factors that may cause Twists actual results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, among others, the risks and uncertainties of the duration, extent and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, including any reductions in demand for our products (or deferred or canceled orders) globally or in certain regions; the ability to attract new customers and retain and grow sales from existing customers; risks and uncertainties of rapidly changing technologies and extensive competition in synthetic biology could make the products Twist is developing obsolete or non-competitive; uncertainties of the retention of significant customers; supply chain and other disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic or otherwise; risks of third party claims alleging infringement of patents and proprietary rights or seeking to invalidate Twists patents or proprietary rights; and the risk that Twists proprietary rights may be insufficient to protect its technologies. For a further description of the risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those expressed in these forward-looking statements, as well as risks relating to Twists business in general, see Twists risk factors set forth in Twists Annual Report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on August 12, 2020 and subsequent filings with the SEC. Additional risk factors may be described in the Risk Factors section of Twists Annual Report on Form 10-K to be filed with the SEC on or about November 25, 2020. In addition, many of the foregoing risks and uncertainties are, and could be, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and any worsening of global or regional business and economic environment as a result. We cannot at this time predict the extent of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and any resulting business or economic impact, but it could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Any forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date hereof, and Twist Bioscience specifically disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Twist Bioscience Corporation

Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations

(Unaudited)

(in thousands, except per share data)

Three months ended September 30,

Twelve months ended September 30,

2020

2019

2020

2019

32,432

15,736

90,100

54,385

17,578

12,386

61,406

47,426

11,636

10,496

43,006

35,683

27,185

24,423

103,267

80,126

-

-

22,500

-

56,399

47,305

230,179

163,235

(23,967

)

(31,569

)

(140,079

)

(108,850

)

112

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Twist Bioscience Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year Fiscal 2020 Financial Results - Business Wire

Spaceflight does some weird things to astronauts bodies – MIT Technology Review

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The Twins Study gave us a first sketch of the human bodys molecular responses to spaceflight, but these outlines needed to be filled in, says Christopher Mason, an associate professor of physiology and biophysics at Weill Cornell Medicine. The changes we saw needed more context and replication. We needed additional studies to map out the frequency of the changes we observed in other astronauts, and other organisms, that go into space, and also to see if the degree of change was similar for shorter missions.

That brings us to a new package of research that builds on the Twins Study, reanalyzing some of the original data with new techniques and providing comparisons with other astronauts. In a set of 19 studies published today in a slew of different journals (along with 10 preprints still under peer review), researchers like Mason (a senior author on 14 of the papers) studied the physiological, biochemical, and genetic changes that occurred in 56 astronauts (including Kelly) who have spent time in spacethe largest study of its kind ever conducted.

The new papers, which incorporate results from cell-profiling and gene-sequencing techniques that have become easier to run only recently, reveal that there are some features of spaceflight that consistently appear in humans, mice, and other animals when they go to space, says Mason. There appears to be a core mammalian set of adaptations and responses to the rigors of spaceflight.

The researchers highlightsix biological changesthat occur in all astronauts during spaceflight: oxidative stress (an excessive accumulation of free radicals in the bodys cells), DNA damage, dysfunction of the mitochondria, changes in gene regulation, alterations in the length of telomeres (the ends of chromosomes, which shorten with age), and changes in the gut microbiome.

Of these six changes, the biggest and most surprising one for scientists wasmitochondrial dysfunction. Mitochondria play a critical role in producing the chemical energy necessary to keep cellsand by extension, tissue and organsfunctional. Researchers found irregular mitochondrial performance in dozens of astronauts and were able to broadly characterize these changes thanks to new genomics and proteomics techniques. Afshin Beheshti, a bioinformatician at NASA and senior author of one study, says mitochondrial suppression helps explain how many of the problems astronauts experienced (like immune system deficiencies, disrupted circadian rhythm, and organ complications) are actually holistically related to each other, since they all rely on the same metabolic pathways.

When youre in space, its not just one are or organ thats affected, its the whole body thats affected, says Beheshti. "We started connecting the dots."

Other research homed in on problems observed at the genetic level. The Twins Study showed that Kellys telomeres got longer in space before shrinking back to normal or even shorter lengths soon after he returned to Earth. Telomeres are supposed to shorten with age, so lengthening makes little sense, and the Twins Study didnt provide enough data to prompt any real conclusions as to why it happened and what the effects were.

Susan Bailey, a Colorado State University expert on telomere research and a senior author for several of the papers, says the new research found that 10 other astronautsexperienced the same telomere lengthening Kelly did irrespective of mission durationas well as the same telomere shrinking once they came back to Earth.

Notably, one of the papers in the new package found that longer telomeres were also associated with climbers of Mount Everest. For Bailey and her colleagues, this suggests that telomere lengthening isaffected by oxidative stresssomething that climbers and astronauts both experience, and that disrupts proper telomere maintenance.

NASA

They are still trying to pinpoint how these pathways work and exactly what the consequences could be (its probably not a secret to longevity), but we now have a foundation to build onwe know what to look for and be aware of in future astronauts on long-duration [and deep space] exploration missions, she says.

Though some of the changes are unexpected, many are no cause for concern. What is amazing to me is how well we adapt to space, says Jeffrey Sutton, director of the Baylor College of Medicines Center for Space Medicine, who was not involved with the new research.Blood cell mutations decreased in Kelly while he was in space(a total surprise for Mason). Astronauts also exhibiteddecreased levels of biomarkers associated with agingandincreased levels of microRNAsthat regulate the vascular systems response to radiation damage and microgravity. One of the strangest findings was that astronauts gut microbiomes managed to bring space microbes found on the ISS back to Earth.

The studies individually and collectively are truly impressive, says Sutton. We have entered a new era of space biomedical research, where the approaches and tools of precision and translational medicine are being applied to advance our understanding of human adaptation to space.

Ultimately, however, the data highlights just how much havoc and stress even the healthiest bodies face during space missionswhich should have an impact on planning for longer missions. I dont think were close to sending untrained people into space for really long periods of time, says Scott Kelly.

Physiologically, he thinks its probably safe to send people to Mars and back. In the distant future, however, instead of going to Mars, were going to be going to the moons of Jupiter or Saturn, he says. Youre going to be in space for years. And at that point, well have to take a closer look at artificial gravity as a mitigation. I wouldnt want to be arriving on the surface of another planetary body and not be able to function. A year or so is workable. Several years probably isnt.

NASA

Were still far away from having to evaluate those kinds of risks. Mason and his colleagues suggest that there should be pharmacological strategies for reducing the impact of gravity on the bodies of returning astronauts.

Sutton believesprecision medicinecould play a huge role in tailoring those drugs to protect astronauts against the effects of microgravity and radiation. And the shared biological responses between astronauts and Mount Everest climbers suggest that some interventions used to protect extreme sports athletes from oxidative stress could be applied to astronauts too.

What we need is more dataand more populations to use for comparison. Mason, Bailey, and their colleagues are starting to collect cell and gene profiles of more astronauts, especially those going on future year-long missions. They also want to study people whove experienced other conditions similar in some way to spaceflight, such as radiotherapy patients, pilots, and flight attendants.

The more we know about the health effects of long-duration spaceflight, the better able we will be to help maintain the health and performance of astronauts during and after spaceflight, says Bailey. Such knowledge benefits those of us on Earth as wellwe are all concerned about getting older, and being in poor health.

This post has been updated with comments from Afshin Beheshti.

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Spaceflight does some weird things to astronauts bodies - MIT Technology Review

Amgen To Present At The Evercore ISI Virtual HealthCONx Conference – GuruFocus.com

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THOUSAND OAKS, Calif., Nov. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) will present at the Evercore ISI Virtual HealthCONx Conference at 1:50 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020. David M. Reese, M.D., executive vice president of Research and Development and Peter H. Griffith, executive vice president and chief financial officer at Amgen will present at the conference. Live audio of the presentation can be accessed from the Events Calendar on Amgen's website, http://www.amgen.com, under Investors. A replay of the webcast will also be available on Amgen's website for at least 90 days following the event.

About AmgenAmgen is committed to unlocking the potential of biology for patients suffering from serious illnesses by discovering, developing, manufacturing and delivering innovative human therapeutics. This approach begins by using tools like advanced human genetics to unravel the complexities of disease and understand the fundamentals of human biology.

Amgen focuses on areas of high unmet medical need and leverages its expertise to strive for solutions that improve health outcomes and dramatically improve people's lives. A biotechnology pioneer since 1980, Amgen has grown to be one of the world's leading independent biotechnology companies, has reached millions of patients around the world and is developing a pipeline of medicines with breakaway potential.

For more information, visit http://www.amgen.com and follow us on http://www.twitter.com/amgen.

CONTACT: Amgen, Thousand Oaks Megan Fox, 805-447-1423 (media)Trish Rowland, 805-447-5631 (media) Arvind Sood, 805-447-1060 (investors)

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Amgen To Present At The Evercore ISI Virtual HealthCONx Conference - GuruFocus.com