Monthly Archives: April 2014

DNA in American Sniper case could delay trial

Posted: April 2, 2014 at 8:44 am

Eddie Ray Routh was indicted in the case.

STEPHENVILLE, Texas

A dispute over DNA testing could delay the trial of the man charged with killing famed Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle.

The Stephenville Empire-Tribune reportsthat Eddie Ray Routh's scheduled May trial date for the shootings of Kyle and friend Chad Littlefield could be in jeopardy.

While Routh's attorneys and prosecutors agreed on DNA testing of six items of evidence, they asked for a hearing Tuesday on evidence in which testing remains in dispute.

A state expert testified that new state law that vastly expands DNA testing in death penalty cases could require the testing, which may take several weeks more and force a delay.

Kyle is reputed to be the deadliest sniper in American history and the best-selling author of the memoir "American Sniper."

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First Sequenced Genome in Space | Cutting Edge Group (2014) – Video

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First Sequenced Genome in Space | Cutting Edge Group (2014)
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UM Institute for Genome Sciences receives FDA contract to expand genome sequence database

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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

1-Apr-2014

Contact: Sarah Pick spick@som.umaryland.edu 410-707-2543 University of Maryland Medical Center

Baltimore, Md. -- April 1, 2014. Researchers at the Institute for Genome Sciences at the University of Maryland School of Medicine have been awarded a research program contract from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to sequence, assemble, and annotate a population of bacterial pathogens using two high-throughput sequencing (HTS) technologies in support of the expansion of a vetted public reference database.

The continued development of HTS technologies for accurate identification of microorganisms for diagnostic use will have significant impact on human healthcare, biothreat response, food safety, and other areas. Developing a comprehensive, curated database of microbial genome sequences and associated metadata will serve as a valuable reference to evaluate and assess HTS-based diagnostic devices. Leading the sequencing and analysis phases of the project, the Genomics Resource Center (GRC) at the Institute is a cutting-edge genomic sequencing and analysis center with a long history of high-quality microbial genomics research that has sequenced and analyzed more than 5,000 microbial genome sequences in just the past five years.

The genome sequencing will use two HTS platforms, Illumina and Pacific Biosciences, and multiple genome assembler software packages and assembly QA/QC pipelines to assemble and validate the resulting draft genome sequences. By using two complementary sequencing platforms, GRC researchers will be able to cross-validate consensus sequences to generate the highest possible genome sequence accuracy. The comprehensive, curated database to which these annotated genome sequences will be added will enable high confidence confirmation of in vitro microbial pathogen identification. This database will be accessible through the collection of the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI)'s public domain databases. The combination of genomic data and metadata will help to advance the goal of developing HTS-based in vitro diagnostics and the assessment of their potential.

The GRC was formed to serve the global genomics and bioinformatics communities, and its reputation is built on both its deep history in sequencing, genomics and analysis, and its end-to-end service level from initial project consultation through publication. The GRC is led by Luke Tallon, scientific director and founding leader of the GRC, and Lisa Sadzewicz, administrator director of the facility. "We are excited to contribute our genome sequencing and analysis expertise to this important project with the FDA," says Tallon.

"This database will be an important reference for the scientific and medical diagnostic communities," says Claire Fraser, PhD, Director of the Institute for Genome Sciences. "We have worked with federal agencies and global scientific partners to sequence and analyze an extensive population of bacterial pathogens since our Institute launched in 2007 and are pleased to develop this reference database with the FDA."

"The Institute for Genome Sciences is truly unique to an academic medical university because it houses cutting-edge sequencing technologies overseen by internationally renowned experts in the field who are deeply engaged in the research enterprise," says E. Albert Reece, MD, PhD, MBA, vice president for medical affairs at the University of Maryland, and John Z. and Akiko K. Bowers distinguished professor and dean of the University of Maryland School of Medicine. "This award recognizes the strength of the University of Maryland School of Medicine's genomics program, which will make significant contributions to better identifying and, ultimately, treating infectious diseases."

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Institute for Genome Sciences Awarded FDA Contract to Expand Genome Sequence Database for Pathogen Identification

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Newswise Baltimore, Md. April 1, 2014. Researchers at the Institute for Genome Sciences at the University of Maryland School of Medicine have been awarded a research program contract from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to sequence, assemble, and annotate a population of bacterial pathogens using two high-throughput sequencing (HTS) technologies in support of the expansion of a vetted public reference database.

The continued development of HTS technologies for accurate identification of microorganisms for diagnostic use will have significant impact on human healthcare, biothreat response, food safety, and other areas. Developing a comprehensive, curated database of microbial genome sequences and associated metadata will serve as a valuable reference to evaluate and assess HTS-based diagnostic devices. Leading the sequencing and analysis phases of the project, the Genomics Resource Center (GRC) at the Institute is a cutting-edge genomic sequencing and analysis center with a long history of high-quality microbial genomics research that has sequenced and analyzed more than 5,000 microbial genome sequences in just the past five years.

The genome sequencing will use two HTS platforms, Illumina and Pacific Biosciences, and multiple genome assembler software packages and assembly QA/QC pipelines to assemble and validate the resulting draft genome sequences. By using two complementary sequencing platforms, GRC researchers will be able to cross-validate consensus sequences to generate the highest possible genome sequence accuracy. The comprehensive, curated database to which these annotated genome sequences will be added will enable high confidence confirmation of in vitro microbial pathogen identification. This database will be accessible through the collection of the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI)s public domain databases. The combination of genomic data and metadata will help to advance the goal of developing HTS-based in vitro diagnostics and the assessment of their potential.

The GRC was formed to serve the global genomics and bioinformatics communities, and its reputation is built on both its deep history in sequencing, genomics and analysis, and its end-to-end service level from initial project consultation through publication. The GRC is led by Luke Tallon, scientific director and founding leader of the GRC, and Lisa Sadzewicz, administrator director of the facility. We are excited to contribute our genome sequencing and analysis expertise to this important project with the FDA, says Tallon.

This database will be an important reference for the scientific and medical diagnostic communities, says Claire Fraser, PhD, Director of the Institute for Genome Sciences. We have worked with federal agencies and global scientific partners to sequence and analyze an extensive population of bacterial pathogens since our Institute launched in 2007 and are pleased to develop this reference database with the FDA.

The Institute for Genome Sciences is truly unique to an academic medical university because it houses cutting-edge sequencing technologies overseen by internationally renowned experts in the field who are deeply engaged in the research enterprise, says E. Albert Reece, MD, PhD, MBA, vice president for medical affairs at the University of Maryland, and John Z. and Akiko K. Bowers distinguished professor and dean of the University of Maryland School of Medicine. This award recognizes the strength of the University of Maryland School of Medicines genomics program, which will make significant contributions to better identifying and, ultimately, treating infectious diseases.

About the University of Maryland School of Medicine Established in 1807, the University of Maryland School of Medicine is the first public medical school in the United States, the first to institute a residency-training program. The School of Medicine was the founding school of the University of Maryland and today is an integral part of the 11-campus University System of Maryland. On the University of Marylands Baltimore campus, the School of Medicine serves as the anchor for a large academic health center which aims to provide the best medical education, conduct the most innovative biomedical research and provide the best patient care and community service to Maryland and beyond. http://www.medschool.umaryland.edu

About the Institute for Genome Sciences The Institute for Genome Sciences (IGS) is an international research center within the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Comprised of an interdisciplinary, multidepartment team of investigators, the Institute uses the powerful tools of genomics and bioinformatics to understand genome function in health and disease, to study molecular and cellular networks in a variety of model systems, and to generate data and bioinformatics resources of value to the international scientific community. http://www.igs.umaryland.edu

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100 is the new 60: company aims to help increase healthy human lifespan

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"The goal is to promote healthy aging": Dr J. Craig Venter. Photo: Dallas Kilponen

J. Craig Venter, the man who raced the US government to sequence the first human genome, has a new goal: help everyone live to 100, in good health.

"Our goal is to make 100-years-old the new 60," said Peter Diamandis, who co-founded with Venter a company that aims to scan the DNA of as many as 100,000 people a year to create a massive database that will lead to new tests and therapies to help extend healthy human life spans.

Human Longevity will use machines from Illumina, which has a stake in the company, to decode the DNA of people from children to centenarians. San Diego-based Human Longevity will compile the information into a database that will include information on both the genome and the microbiome, the microbes that live in our gut. The aim is to help researchers understand and address diseases associated with age-related decline.

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The company, with $US70 million ($78.3 million) in initial funding, will focus first on cancer, according to a statement.

"We are setting up the world's largest human genome sequencing facility," said Venter, who led a private team that sequenced one of the first two human genomes more than a decade ago. "The goal is to promote healthy aging using advanced genomics and stem cell therapy."

Venter started the closely held company with Diamandis, the X Prize Foundation chairman, and stem cell researcher Robert Hariri. Hariri is founder and chief scientific officer of Celgene Cellular Therapeutics, a unit of Celgene, which is working on stem cell treatments.

Improved machines

The speed and accuracy of DNA-scanning machines increased to the point that for the first time makes massive clinically oriented sequencing efforts possible, Venter said.

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Singapore Chronic Eczema Sufferer Creates Blog to Help Others after Finding Cure to Chronic Eczema through Published …

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(PRWEB) April 01, 2014

Singapore beauty, Juliana is helping a lot of Red Skin Syndrome sufferers more than what she could imagine. Her blog gets daily hits from people all over the world and it all started when she found the answer to her steroid induced eczema through the International Topical Steroid Awareness Network (ITSAN). She publicly thanks the non-profit for the published research and support she needed to endure the wearisome drug withdrawal all the way through.

Steroid addiction was documented and published in the 1979 International Society of Topical Dermatology Journal by Dr. Albert M. Kligman M.D. Ph.D. and Dr. Peter J. Frosch M.D.

Quote from the journal: "Addiction to (Topical) Steroids is a serious problem which reaches tragic proportions in some cases. It is more common than realized, sly and seductive and will be prevented only when the physician becomes as impressed with the capacity of the steroids to do harm as they are with their power to suppress, not cure, virtually any inflammatory disorder."

In 2003, Dr. Mark Lebwohl and Marvin Rapaport M.D. co-authored "Corticosteroid Addiction and Withdrawal in the Atopic:The Red Burning Skin Syndrome" published in Clinics in Dermatology. Japanese doctor, Dr. Fukaya M.D. also wrote a 2010 book on steroid addiction and made a video on it as well for You Tube. These resources offered on the ITSAN site offered a life ring to Juliana and so many others suffering like her.

Juliana suffered through graduated steps of more and more steroid cream until she searched the internet via Google which led her to the Addicted Skin website now called ITSAN.org. Even though there were only four photos of Red Skin Syndrome posted, Juliana could tell that she was experiencing the exact same condition also described as topical steroid addiction recognized by certified dermatologists.

It was a huge encouragement to learn that this was something that she could recover from in time and started a blog with progressive pictures to prove it. You can read her story on the highly visited blog and see how she helps many others who come to her site for support and encouragement through their own steroid withdrawal.

In her words, "back then before ITSAN was formed, it was just a small community of people going through the same thing, giving each other support and encouragement through the Google forum. Till this day, I think the non-profit group has not changed in that aspect, it is still striving to help others by being there for one another. While ITSAN is not a medical authority, we seek emotional comfort from other skin friends and share experiences that may help others. Steroid withdrawal is a very daunting journey, it is just like exploring a new found planet where every symptom is foreign and new to us.

It is through ITSAN that I managed to ease my worries during those times when no doctor can explain my conditions. Knowing that someone else is going through the exact same thing as you makes things appear more normal than you initially thought it was, and that makes things easier to swallow - that Im not alone in this fight. In unity, I find strength.

After having gone through steroid withdrawal, I am happy to say that this is the best decision I have ever made, even though when I was in the midst of it I could hardly ever convince myself so due to the pain and depression that I was in. It was a hard and tough journey, but it has strengthened me in ways I can never imagine. It has changed my skin for the better, and changed me into a better person.

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Ease Psoriasis by Bob Chan – Video

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Ease Psoriasis by Bob Chan
The effective treatment should be in a bath, with sea salt and a little olive oil in warm water. When you are in the bath, you have to hold a tool to rub ove...

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Acne Psoriasis Eczema Dermatitis Skin The Sugars #35 – Video

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Acne Psoriasis Eczema Dermatitis Skin The Sugars #35
Stop consuming all added sugars to see if sugar is causing your skin issues.

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$2.5 million Defense Department grant funds gene therapy study for Lou Gehrig's disease

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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

1-Apr-2014

Contact: Sandy Van sandy@prpacific.com 808-526-1708 Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

LOS ANGELES (April 1, 2014) The Cedars-Sinai Regenerative Medicine Institute has received a $2.5 million grant from the Department of Defense to conduct animal studies that, if successful, could provide the basis for a clinical trial of a gene therapy product for patients with Lou Gehrig's disease, also called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS.

The incurable disorder attacks muscle-controlling nerve cells motor neurons in the brain, brainstem and spinal cord. As the neurons die, the ability to initiate and control muscle movement is lost. Patients experience muscle weakness that steadily leads to paralysis; the disease usually is fatal within five years of diagnosis. Several genes have been identified in familial forms of ALS, but most cases are caused by a complex combination of unknown genetic and environmental factors, experts believe.

Because ALS affects a higher-than-expected percentage of military veterans, especially those returning from overseas duties, the Defense Department invests $7.5 million annually to search for causes and treatments. The Cedars-Sinai study, led by Clive Svendsen, PhD, professor and director of the Regenerative Medicine Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, and Genevive Gowing, PhD, a senior scientist in his laboratory, also will involve a research team at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and a Netherlands-based biotechnology company, uniQure, that has extensive experience in human gene therapy research and development.

The research will be conducted in laboratory rats bred to model a genetic form of ALS. If successful, it could have implications for patients with other types of the disease and could translate into a gene therapy clinical trial for this devastating disease.

It centers on a protein, GDNF, that promotes the survival of neurons. In theory, transporting GDNF into the spinal cord could protect neurons and slow disease progression, but attempts so far have failed, largely because the protein does not readily penetrate into the spinal cord. Regenerative Medicine Institute scientists previously showed that spinal transplantation of stem cells that were engineered to produce GDNF increased motor neuron survival, but this had no functional benefit because it did not prevent nerve cell deterioration at a critical site, the "neuromuscular junction" the point where nerve fibers connect with muscle fibers to stimulate muscle action.

Masatoshi Suzuki, PhD, DVM, assistant professor of comparative biosciences at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, who previously worked in the Svendsen Laboratory and remains a close collaborator, recently found that stem cells derived from human bone marrow and engineered to produce GDNF protected nerve cells, improved motor function and increased lifespan when transplanted into muscle groups of a rat model of ALS.

"It seems clear that GDNF has potent neuroprotective effects on motor neuron function when the protein is delivered at the level of the muscle, regardless of the delivery method. We think GDNF will be able to help maintain these connections in patients and thereby keep the motor neuron network functional," Suzuki said.

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Gene Therapy Expert to Join The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

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Newswise Philadelphia, April 1, 2014 Beverly L. Davidson, Ph.D., a nationally prominent expert in gene therapy, is joining The Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) today.

Dr. Davidson, who investigates gene therapy for neurodegenerative diseases, arrives from the Center for Gene Therapy at the University of Iowa. She served as associate director at that Center, as well as director of the Gene Therapy Vector Core, and held the Roy J. Carver Biomedical Research Chair in Internal Medicine at the University. She also was Vice Chair of the Department of Internal Medicine and was a Professor in Internal Medicine, Neurology, and Physiology & Biophysics.

She has been named to the Arthur V. Meigs Chair in Pediatrics at CHOP and will join the hospitals Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. We heartily welcome Dr. Davidson to our hospital, and are excited that she has chosen to continue her groundbreaking gene therapy research here, said Robert W. Doms, M.D., Ph.D., pathologist-in-chief at The Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia. She will greatly enhance our abilities to translate important biological discoveries into pioneering treatments for deadly diseases.

In addition, Dr. Davidson will serve as the new director of the Center for Cellular and Molecular Therapeutics at CHOP. The mission of the Center is to use pioneering research in cell and gene therapy to develop novel therapeutic approaches for hitherto untreatable illnesses. The inaugural director of the Center, Katherine A. High, M.D., said, I am thrilled that we have been able to recruit one of the premier translational investigators in the U.S. to serve as the next director of the Center. I have led the Center for the last ten years, and I eagerly look forward to the innovations of the next decade, under Dr. Davidsons leadership.

Dr. Davidson has concentrated on inherited genetic diseases that attack the central nervous system, with a particular focus on childhood-onset neurodegenerative diseases such as Batten disease and similar diseases called lysosomal storage disorders. In these disorders, the lack of an enzyme impairs lysosomes, proteins that perform crucial roles in removing unwanted by-products of cellular metabolism. Toxic waste products then accumulate in the brain and cause progressively severe brain damage.

Dr. Davidson has studied the cell biology and biochemistry of these disorders, and has developed novel methods to deliver therapeutic genes to the central nervous system. Her laboratory team has succeeded in reversing neurological deficits in small and large animal models of disease, and is working to advance this approach to treating human diseases.

In addition to lysosomal storage disorders, she has studied other inherited neurological diseases such as Huntingtons disease and spino-cerebellar ataxia. In these studies, she has delivered forms of RNA to the brains of animals to silence the activity of disease-causing genes. She also is collaborating with scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital in animal studies of Alzheimers disease.

Although much of Dr. Davidsons research has centered on delivering beneficial genes to the central nervous system, the viral vectors that she has developed are applicable to other organs and tissuesfor example, in gene therapy directed to the lungs or the liver.

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