Monthly Archives: October 2019

Researchers identify genetic variations linked to oxygen drops during sleep – National Institutes of Health

Posted: October 24, 2019 at 11:21 am

News Release

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Researchers have identified 57 genetic variations ofagenestrongly associated withdeclinesinbloodoxygen levelsduring sleep. Low oxygen levels during sleep are a clinical indicator of the severity of sleep apnea, a disorder that increases the risk of heart disease, dementia, and death. The study, published today in theAmerican Journal of Human Genetics, was funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of the National Institutes of Health.

A persons average blood oxygen levels during sleep are hereditary, and relatively easy to measure, said study author Susan Redline, M.D., senior physician in the Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders at Brigham and Womens Hospital, and professor at Harvard Medical School, Boston. Studying the genetic basis of this trait can help explain why some people are more susceptible to sleep disordered breathing and its related morbidities.

When we sleep, the oxygen level in our blood drops, due to interruptions in breathing. Lung and sleep disorders tend to decrease those levels further, and dangerously so. But the range of those levels during sleep varies widely between individuals and, researchers suspect, is greatly influenced by genetics.

Despite the key roleblood oxygen levelsplayin health outcomes,theinfluenceof genetics on theirvariabilityremains understudied. The current findings contribute toa betterunderstanding, particularly because researcherslookedat overnight measurementsof oxygen levels. Thoseprovide more variability than daytime levelsdue to the stressesassociated withdisordered breathing occurring during sleep.

The researchers analyzed whole genome sequence data from the NHLBIs Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) program. Tostrengthenthe data,they incorporated results of family-basedlinkage analysis, a method for mapping genes that carry hereditary traits to their location in the genome. Themethod usesdata fromfamilies with several members affected by aparticulardisorder.

This study highlights theadvantage of using family data in searching for rare variants, which is often missed in genome-wide association studies, said James Kiley, Ph.D., director of the Division of Lung Diseases at NHLBI. It showed that, when guided by family linkage data, whole genome sequence analysis can identify rare variants that signal disease risks, even with a small sample. In this case, the initial discovery was done with fewer than 500 samples.

The newly identified 57 variants of the DLC1 gene were clearly associated with the fluctuation in oxygen levels during sleep. In fact, they explained almost 1% ofthevariability in the oxygen levels in European Americans, which is relatively high for complex genetic phenotypes, or traits, that are influenced by myriad variants.

Notably,51 of the 57genetic variantsinfluence and regulate human lung fibroblast cells, a type of cell producing scar tissue in the lungs, according to study author XiaofengZhu, Ph.D., professor at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland.

This is important becauseMendelian Randomization analysis, a statistical approach for testing causal relationship between an exposure and an outcome, shows a potential causal relationship between how the DLC1 gene modifies fibroblasts cells andthechanges in oxygen levels during sleep, he said.

Thisrelationship,Kileyadded,suggests thata shared molecular pathway, or a common mechanism,may beinfluencing a persons susceptibility to the lack of oxygen caused by sleep disordered breathingand other lung illnesses such as emphysema.

The project was jointly led by Zhu and Redline, who also directs the National Sleep Research Resource, supported by NHLBI.

About theNational Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI): NHLBI is the global leader in conducting and supporting research in heart, lung, and blood diseases and sleep disorders that advances scientific knowledge, improves public health, and saves lives. For more information, visithttps://www.nhlbi.nih.gov.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH):NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov.

NIHTurning Discovery Into Health

Sequencing analysis at 8p23 identifies multiple rare variants in DLC1 associated with sleep related oxyhemoglobin saturation level.

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Takeaways from ASHG 2019 in Houston: Users of Bionano’s Saphyr System Presented Validation Results for FSHD, Repeat Expansion Disorders and Digital…

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SAN DIEGO, Oct. 24, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bionano Genomics, Inc. (NASDAQ: BNGO), a life sciences instrumentation company that develops and markets Saphyr, a platform for ultra-sensitive and ultra-specific structural variation detection in genome analysis, today announced the key takeaways from presentations given between October 15-19 by scientists from top institutes and diagnostic companies at the American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) Annual Meeting and at Bionanos satellite educational event in Houston, TX.

At ASHG and at the satellite education event held prior to the conference and organized by Bionano, clinicians and researchers using the Saphyr system to analyze samples from patients with genetic diseases and cancer presented a series of new findings and validation results that support the adoption of Saphyr as a complement to next-generation sequencing for variant discovery and as a replacement for traditional cytogenetic methods in variant detection for clinical applications.

Alka Chaubey, Ph.D., Head of Cytogenomics at PerkinElmer Genomics summarized the validation of Saphyr technology by PerkinElmer that enabled the development of PerkinElmers assay for Facioscapulohumeral Dystrophy (FSHD), which PerkinElmer and the University of Iowa developed based on the Bionano EnFocus FSHD Analysis tool. Dr. Chaubey presented 100% concordance between the assay and known disease state for publicly available cell lines, and 100% reproducibility among all runs and all FSHD patient samples at multiple test sites and with multiple operators.

Joe Devaney, Ph.D., Associate Director of R&D of diagnostic company GeneDx presented a Saphyr validation study for the detection of the disease-causing variants in FSHD and repeat expansion disorders such as Mytonic Dystrophy 1 and 2. For the 40 samples genotyped for the contraction causing FSHD and the 36 samples genotyped for CNBP gene expansion that causes Mytonic Dystrophy 2, the results generated with Saphyr had a sensitivity, specificity and Positive Predictive Value of 100%.

Dr. Gokce Toruner from the MD Anderson Cancer Center demonstrated 100% concordance between data generated with Saphyr and structural variant data generated with gold standard cytogenetic methods in five bone marrow specimens with hematological malignancies. All previously identified cytogenetic abnormalities detected by karyotyping, FISH or microarray analysis were detected by Saphyr. In addition, several novel structural and copy number changes were detected.

Professor Mark Ebbert from the Mayo Clinic used Saphyr to resolve challenging genomic regions implicated in neurodegenerative diseases on 31 brain samples collected post-mortem from patients with ALS, Parkinsons disease, and Alzheimers disease. One of the causes of ALS is an expansion of a repeat in a gene called C9orf72. While no technology commonly used today for genome analysis has been capable of spanning and measuring the larger repeat expansions of this gene, Dr. Ebbert was able to use the Saphyr system to size a range of expansions from a single brain biopsy, demonstrating a full continuum of mosaicism. In patients with Parkinsons disease, Saphyr resolved the structure of an inverted triplication of an associated gene. In patients with Alzheimers disease, Saphyr detected structural variants in CR1, an important gene with a repeat structure that cannot be fully analyzed with next-generation sequencing, and detected inversions in the Tau gene that protect against the disease.

Frances High, MD., Ph.D., from Massachusetts General Hospital for Children at Harvard University presented results of a study on 19 samples from patients with Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia (CDH), a common and severe structural birth defect that leads to malformation for the developing lungs. Using data from the Saphyr system, Dr. Highs team confirmed all high-confidence structural variants that were detected by cytogenetic methods, provided additional higher-resolution detail and elucidated the structure of several, and identified novel likely causative variants. Dr. High announced an upcoming larger study of 50 patient-parent trios, or 150 samples total, to identify novel structural variants that are causative for this disease.

Professor Jennifer Mulle from Emory University School of Medicine used the Saphyr system to study a genetic syndrome characterized by intellectual disability, autism and a 40-fold increased risk for schizophrenia. She identified a high degree of previously undocumented structural variation in the disease region, identified a new gene previously not known to be involved in the disease, and was able to develop a new hypothesis about the disease mechanism from the data generated by Saphyr.

Professors Eric Vilain and Hayk Barseghyan from the George Washington University and Childrens National Medical Center presented a number of cases from the Undiagnosed Diseases Network, patients with Disorders of Sex Development, Gitelmans Syndrome, FSHD and Beckwith-Wiedeman syndrome where Bionano was able to provide a molecular diagnosis, identify new likely causative genes, or identify structural variants affecting known or expected disease genes.

Other talks included those by Professor Claudia Carvalho of Baylor College of Medicine, who used data from the Saphyr system to analyze repeat-mediated inversions, which are complex genomic structures that are hard or impossible to resolve with other molecular methods but can predispose to genetic disease; Tina Graves-Lindsay from the McDonnell Genome Institute at Washington University, who corrected structural errors in the official human reference genomes with data generated with Saphyr; and Amir Trabelsi, CEO of Genoox, who announced the new release of a software pipeline that now automatically validates, annotates and classifies Bionano translocation calls from whole genome sequence data.

Erik Holmlin, Ph.D., CEO of Bionano, commented, The quality of the studies presented and wide variety of applications for Saphyr in genetic disease and cancer research is continuing to increase. Data generated by the Saphyr system are answering difficult questions in complex genetic diseases that have been historically very challenging according to each of the presenters who described their experiences with Saphyr. The validation studies for FSHD, repeat expansion disorders and hematological malignancies are setting the stage for Saphyr to become a routine tool in research and clinical settings. We are grateful to all our customers and collaborators for their inspiration and for their work in showing what Saphyr can do.

More information about Bionano Genomics is available at http://www.bionanogenomics.com.

About Bionano GenomicsBionano is a life sciences instrumentation company in the genome analysis space. Bionano develops and markets the Saphyr system, a platform for ultra-sensitive and ultra-specific structural variation detection that enables researchers and clinicians to accelerate the search for new diagnostics and therapeutic targets and to drive the adoption of digital cytogenetics, which is designed to be a more systematic, streamlined and industrialized form of traditional cytogenetics. The Saphyr system comprises an instrument, chip consumables, reagents and a suite of data analysis tools.

Forward-Looking StatementsThis press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as may, will, expect, plan, anticipate, estimate, intend and similar expressions (as well as other words or expressions referencing future events, conditions or circumstances) convey uncertainty of future events or outcomes and are intended to identify these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding our intentions, beliefs, projections, outlook, analyses or current expectations concerning, including among other things, adoption of Saphyr as a routine tool in research and clinical settings and the effectiveness and utility of the Saphyr system in such settings. Each of these forward-looking statements involves risks and uncertainties. Actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected or implied in these forward-looking statements. Factors that may cause such a difference include the risks that our sales, revenue, expense and other financial guidance may not be as expected, as well as risks and uncertainties associated with general market conditions; changes in the competitive landscape and the introduction of competitive products; changes in our strategic and commercial plans; our ability to obtain sufficient financing to fund our strategic plans and commercialization efforts; the ability of key clinical studies to demonstrate the effectiveness of our products; the loss of key members of management and our commercial team; and the risks and uncertainties associated with our business and financial condition in general, including the risks and uncertainties described in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, without limitation, our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018 and in other filings subsequently made by us with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date on which they were made and are based on management's assumptions and estimates as of such date. We do not undertake any obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of the receipt of new information, the occurrence of future events or otherwise.

Contacts

Company Contact:Mike Ward, CFOBionano Genomics, Inc. +1 (858) 888-7600mward@bionanogenomics.com

Investor Relations Contact:Ashley R. RobinsonLifeSci Advisors, LLC+1 (617) 775-5956arr@lifesciadvisors.com

Media Contact:Kirsten ThomasThe Ruth Group+1 (508) 280-6592kthomas@theruthgroup.com

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Study Shows Promise of ‘Precision Screening’ for Familial Hypercholesterolemia – Managed Care magazine

Posted: at 11:21 am

Using artificial Intelligence and health-encounter data from 933 people with familial hypercholesterolemia and 83,000 without it, researchers say they have developed a model for more precisely screening for the condition that leads to high LDL cholesterol levels and elevated risk for heart disease. By some estimates,1.3 million Americans have undiagnosed familial hypercholesterolemia, an inherited genetic condition.

Its fair to say that we think based on all of this data, precision screening for FH is now a reality,saidDaniel J. Rader, MD,one of the study authors and chair of the department of genetics and chief of the division of translational medicine and human genetics at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, said during a presentation this week.

Rader and his colleagues reported their resultsin the Lancet Digital Health this week and also presented thematan FH Foundation meeting. The foundation and Amgen, Sanofi, and Regeneron paid for the study.

When the researchers applied their model to a national database of 170 million patients, it flagged 1.3 million as possibly having familial hypercholesterolemia. When experts reviewed a small subset of those flagged people, they found that 87% were candidates for further evaluation and possible diagnosis andtreatment.

The researchers used the same process to sift through a smaller database of 173,000 patients at a number ofhealth care systems. The experts said 77% of a small subset of thoseflagged patients would bein the "should be evaluated" group.

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In the span of 16 hours, two giant biotech developments – The Boston Globe

Posted: at 11:21 am

Were in a new era of biotech, Alfred Sandrock, Biogens head of research and development and chief medical officer, said of both developments in a telephone interview. We have better drug targets validated by human genetics.

Many questions remain, particularly about Biogens stunning reversal. Still, the news involving two of the states biggest biotechs raised the hopes of families anddoctors desperate for drugs to treat the diseases.

Biogens announcement on Tuesday was the bigger bombshell. The firm has been working for years on the experimental drug aducanumab for Alzheimers. That form of dementia afflicts more than 5 million Americans, and no drugs significantly slow its ravages.

The hunt for an effective treatment has eluded some of the worlds biggest drug companies. According to an industry report, there were 146 failed attempts to develop medicines to treat and potentially prevent Alzheimers in the past two decades and only four new drugs approved to treat symptoms.

On March 21, Biogen said it was abandoning tests on aducanumab based on the recommendations of an independent monitoring board entrusted to protect patients in the study.

Biogen and its Japanese partner Eisai said they halted two late-stage clinical trials after concluding that the compound was unlikely to benefit patients.

The news sent Biogen stock into a free fall, and the company lost a staggering $18 billion the day of the announcement. With the setback, Biogen joined the long list of drug firms that had struck out on Alzheimers treatments.

It also appeared to mark the demise of a series of experimental Alzheimers drugs that targeted a protein in the brain called beta amyloid, all of which had failed.

But Michel Vounatsos, Biogens CEO, and Sandrock said the aducanumab story didnt end in March.

Biogen, in consultation with a team from the FDA, conducted a new analysis of a larger data set from the late-stage clinical trials that were halted, they said. The new analysis included additional data that became available after the prior analysis showed the study had no chance of success.

The new data showed that aducanumab was pharmacologically and clinically active in higher doses in reducing brain amyloid and in reducing clinical decline. Sandrock said the earlier data contained only about half the patients who had enrolled in the clinical trial and focused on people who had received smaller doses.

We didnt quite appreciate how important it was to get to a very high dose, he said.

On Monday, a dozen Biogen scientists and statisticians and two representatives of Eisai met for two hours with eight FDA neurology officials at the agencys Maryland headquarters, said Sandrock, who attended.

We shared with them the entire data set, and we were told it was reasonable to submit an application for approval of aducanumab, Sandrock said. Biogen expects to make the submission early next year.

Several analysts expressed deep skepticism that the FDA will OK the drug despite the new analysis.

Brian Skorney, an analyst with Baird, issued a report headlined If You Torture the Data Long Enough, It Will Confess to Anything.

Biogens decision to file for regulatory for aducanumab in Alzheimers, after halting the study for futility, is understandable given the addressable market, he wrote. However we do not share theirenthusiasm for the interpretation of the results and believe approval would rely on regulators with minimal capacity for critical analysis.

PiperJaffray analysts said in another report that aducanumabs return from the dead was a complete shocker and that they werent sure what to make of the drugs prospects.

However, Dr. Brent Forester, chief of geriatric psychiatry at McLean Hospital and a principal investigator in the aducanumab trial at his hospital, was delighted by the news.

Forester said six patients with early symptoms of Alzheimers received the drug. While its difficult to say whether it worked, he said, the patients seemed stable.

There was never any indication that Biogen would pull the plug because it wasnt working, he said.

Debbie Rosenkrantz, a 66-year-old retired clinical social worker in Cambridge, said she took the medicine in the trial for about eight months. She felt it halted the decline in her memory.

I actually felt like it was working, and then to be told that it wasnt working was kind of disappointing to me, she said. This was a nice turnaround.

The revival of aducanumab Tuesday sent Biogens stock up, and it closed up more than 26 percent on the Nasdaq. That helped the firm recoup some of the billions of dollars in value it lost when Biogen said it had pulled the plug on the compound.

Mondays announcement about Vertexs cystic fibrosis drug approval was widely expected but the speed of the government ruling caught the industry by surprise. The FDA had set a goal of deciding whether to approve the drug by March 2020.

Vertex already has three cystic fibrosis drugs on the market. Trikafta, the new combination drug, is expected to benefit up to 90 percent of the 27,000 CF patients in the country, according to the FDA.

The FDAs acting commissioner, Ned Sharpless, said after the drug won approval that the agency has been striving to speed the development of therapies for complex diseases.

Like Vertexs other drugs for cystic fibrosis, Trikafta has a jaw-dropping list price: $311,000 a year.

Joseph J. ODonnell, a Boston corporate tycoon whose son, Joey, died of cystic fibrosis in 1986 at the age of 12, was stunned to learn about the approval while on vacation.

ODonnell has helped to raise hundreds of millions of dollars for the nonprofit Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, much of which has gone to Vertex for research.

He said he and his wife, Kathy, were on a cruise ship near Athens on Monday night when they heard the news in a phone call from their daughter, Kate ODonnell.

The ODonnells celebrated over dinner with six other couples with whom they took the cruise, all of them contributors to the fund.

I knew this was going to happen sooner or later because all the results [of clinical trials] were so consistently good, ODonnell, 75, said in a phone interview. But I never dreamed it would happen before the first of the year.

Jonathan Saltzman can be reached at jsaltzman@globe.com

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Study: The Likelihood of Developing PTSD Following Trauma Is Party Determined by Genetics – The Swaddle

Posted: at 11:21 am

Our understanding of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), until now, is that it is a mental health disorder that occurs as a consequence of exposure to extreme, life-threatening stress, and/or serious injury. This exposure, by definition, is requisite for the development of PTSD, but not all those who face trauma necessarily develop it the individual susceptibility to PTSD varies widely. Since the turn of the century, scientists have been trying to find evidence for genetic influence on PTSD risk, with the last decade witnessing concerted efforts to identify specific DNA variants that can influence ones genetic susceptibility to develop PTSD.

New research, findings of which were published in Nature Communications, has, for the first time, identified a clear biological pathway for the mental health disorder, despite a section of science still viewing it as an entirely social construction. In the largest and most diverse genetic study of PTSD to date, scientists from the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine and more than 130 additional institutions have concluded that genetics do, in fact, play a role in determining whether or not a person will develop PTSD, similar to the biological pathways of depression and other forms of mental illness.

Our long-term goal is to develop tools that might help clinicians predict who is at greatest risk for PTSD and personalize their treatment approaches. We cant always protect people from trauma. But we can treat them in the best ways possible, at the best time, Dr. Caroline Nievergelt, the studys first author, associate professor of psychiatry at UC San Diego School of Medicine and associate director of neuroscience in the Center of Excellence for Stress and Mental Health at the Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System, said in a press release.

In collaboration with the Psychiatric Genomics Consortiums PTSD working group and Cohen Veterans Bioscience, a non-profit organization dedicated to accelerating PTSD and traumatic brain injury research, the studys authors built a 12-country network of more than 200 researchers, assembling data and DNA samples from more than 20,000 people with PTSD and 170,000 control subjects (those who did not develop PTSD following trauma).

At more than 200,000 people, the latest studys sample size is 10 times larger than the firstPsychiatric Genomics Consortium PTSD study, published in 2017, and includes both civilians and members of the military. The release notes the cohort is also the most ancestrally diverse for any psychiatric genetics study to date, with more than 23,000 people with PTSD of European ancestry and more than 4,000 of African ancestry.

Related on The Swaddle:

Researchers Find Genetic Hotspot Behind Autism

Putting this large database through statistical analyses, the studys authors measured the effect of gene variants at millions of different points on chromosomes across the human genomes on someones chances of developing PTSD.

According to the findings, PTSDs heritability the level of influence genetics has on the variability of PTSD risk among people is between 5% and 20%. Scientists found that, like other psychiatric disorders and several human traits, the risk of developing PTSD following trauma is a highly polygenic trait. This means there exist thousands of genes at different loci on different chromosomes that make tiny contributions to the disorder and when expressed together, add up to the heritable trait. Scientists have found gene variants at six loci that were strongly associated with PTSD risk.

Three of the six loci were specific to certain ancestral backgrounds two European and one African and three were only detected in men. The six loci hint that inflammatory and immune mechanisms may be involved in the disorder, which is consistent with findings from previous studies, the release summarises.

Further exploring the relatively nascent belief in science that many psychiatric disorders and behavioral traits have important molecular similarities at DNA-level, the study also analyzed genetic correlations between PTSD and 235 other disorders behaviors and physical traits. They found a significant overlap with 21, including depression, schizophrenia, insomnia, asthma, and coronary artery disease. Additionally, a Parkinsons disease gene involved in dopamine regulation was also found to be associated with PTSD. Similar to other mental disorders, the genetic contribution to PTSD correlates with that for many other traits. Further research is needed to determine what this means whether some of the same genes that influence risk for PTSD also influence risk for other diseases like, for example, depression, Karestan Koenen, a senior author of the study and associate member of the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at MIT and Harvard University, and a professor of psychiatric epidemiology in the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said in the release.

Koenen adds: Based on these findings, we can say with certainty that there is just as much of a genetic component to PTSD risk as major depression and other mental illnesses. Our limited ability to study the living human brain and uncover the biological roots of PTSD has contributed to the lack of treatments and the stigma around this debilitating condition. Genetics helps us make new discoveries, find opportunities for new therapies, and counter that stigma.

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Accumulation of DNA mutations found in healthy liver leads to disease – Cambridge Network

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Researchers discovered that these signatures of DNA mutations are also present in healthy and diseased liver, and that it is the accumulation of changes from these signatures that ultimately leads to serious health problems.

The study, published this week in Nature, is the largest study of the differences in genetic changes between healthy and diseased liver tissue, with a view to better understanding how liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) develop. These discoveries advance the possibility of one day using genomic data to predict the future risk of cancer in people suffering from chronic liver disease.

Chronic liver disease, which refers to conditions including cirrhosis, fatty liver disease and cancer, has risen by 400 per cent in the UK since 1970 to become the biggest cause of death among 35-49 year olds. The commonest causes in the UK are excessive alcohol intake and obesity. In 2016/17, almost 15,000 deaths were caused by liver disease in the UK*.

There has been a 162 per cent increase in cases of liver cancer in the UK since the 1990s, with around 5,900 new cases every year, and by 2035 the number of cases is predicted to rise by 38 per cent (from 2014 levels)**. The most common type of primary liver cancer is called hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)***. HCC is rare in people with a normal liver, but commonly develops in people with chronic liver disease.

DNA mutations**** play a prominent role in many forms of cancer and can be caused by a large number of factors, including genetic factors and things we are exposed to during life such as chemicals found in food or the environment. Liver cancer arises from the effects of particular types of DNA damage, which cause specific signatures of mutations.

The common genetic events and patterns of DNA mutation associated with liver cancers were previously known, but it was unknown in what order these events occur, or why some people with chronic liver disease develop cancer but others develop failure of the liver to perform its normal function.

The new study is the most comprehensive use of genomic analysis to compare normal liver tissue with tissue affected by chronic liver disease, providing researchers with an unprecedented level of detail on how the accumulation of DNA mutations over time leads to liver disease and cancer.

Tissue samples from five normal and nine cirrhotic livers were collected by Addenbrookes hospital in Cambridge*****. From these samples, scientists at the Wellcome Sanger Institute created 482 whole genome sequences so the DNA of the tissues could be analysed.

The team observed a substantial increase in the number of mutations in chronic liver disease compared to normal liver. Cirrhotic liver tissue contained around twice the number of mutations as healthy liver and HCC tumour tissue had an even higher numbers of mutations. The variety in the type of mutations in diseased and cancerous tissue was also much greater than healthy liver, with mutations causing more damage to the overall integrity of the DNA.

Only a few mutations associated with HCC were discovered in the chronically diseased liver, suggesting that the increased risk of liver cancer arises because the substantial DNA damage seen in liver disease promotes the emergence of cells with the potential to eventually become cancers.

The study also highlighted the way our environment can influence the patterns of DNA damage in the liver. For example, 10-20 per cent of DNA mutations in samples from one patient indicated exposure to a toxin produced by Aspergillus moulds. These moulds often contaminate crops and are prevalent in arable farmers, which was the occupation of the patient.

The researchers say that many things can cause DNA mutations associated with cancer, particularly in the liver because it processes many of the chemicals that we are exposed to in our diet and the environment. As such, the richest diversity of DNA mutations are found in liver cancer.

Dr Matthew Hoare, a lead author of the study from the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, said: Its incredibly compelling to be able to show how liver disease affects the DNA in our livers. We knew there was a link between chronic liver disease and liver cancer, so it was unexpected to find so few cancer-causing mutations among the DNA damage in liver disease. The next step will be to look for common patterns within this damage that might help us predict who is at a higher risk of cancer.

People with chronic liver disease have a higher risk of HCC, but it is not clear why this cancer occurs in some of these people and not in others. For now the exact cause of HCC remains unknown, but understanding that the processes involved in chronic liver disease are the same as those involved in HCC opens up the possibility of one day being able to predict an individuals risk of liver cancer.

Dr Peter Campbell, a lead author of the study and Senior Group Leader at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, said: Whats interesting about the findings of this study is that we have been able to observe how excessive alcohol intake and obesity are linked to DNA mutations in chronic liver disease as well as liver cancer. Though it is early days, we can start thinking about ways to predict a persons risk of liver cancer from the number and types of mutations in their DNA.

Image: Cirrhosis_ Nephron, Wikimedia Commons

*The British Liver Trust has information on liver disease and the rise in incidence https://britishlivertrust.org.uk/about-us/media-centre/statistics/

**For statistics on liver cancer in the UK, see the Cancer Research UK website https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/health-professional/cancer-statistics/statistics-by-cancer-type/liver-cancer

***HCC is more common in people with cirrhosis, a form of chronic liver disease where scarring forms as a result of damage to the liver. This can be caused by excess alcohol consumption, hepatitis B or hepatitis C. Cancer Research UK has more information on HCC and other liver cancers https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/liver-cancer/types

****DNA mutations are changes to a single letter of a persons genetic code and occur naturally as we go through life. Many mutations do not significantly alter how our body functions or are repaired by our bodies before they can interfere with our health. But when a large number of mutations occur, it increases the chances of something going wrong. The Genetics Home Reference website has a library of information on genetics and health https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/primer#mutationsanddisorders

******Patients recruited at Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge gave written informed consent with approval of the Local Research Ethics Committee (16/NI/0196). All tissue samples were snap-frozen in liquid nitrogen and stored at -80C in the Human Research Tissue Bank of the Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Publication:

Simon F Brunner, Nicola D Roberts and Luke A Wylie et al. (2019). Somatic mutations and clonal dynamics in healthy and cirrhotic human liver. Nature. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-019-1670-9

Funding:

This work was supported by Wellcome and a Cancer Research UK Grand Challenge Award. The Cambridge Human Research Tissue Bank is supported by the NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre.

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How startups help cities measure their economic development frontier – Brookings Institution

Posted: at 11:20 am

The most prosperous American cities have been able to establish a foothold in innovative, technology-driven industries. This economic development path tends to be paved by young, high-growth companies that achieve technological breakthroughs, create new markets, and yield quality job growth. Iconic examples include Amazon in Seattle, Qualcomm in San Diego, and Epic Systems in Madison, Wis. More often, this development occurs via thousands of less recognizable 50- to 250-person companies whose growth enhances prosperity across the American landscape every year. As a result, cities and states have placed technology entrepreneurship at the center of their economic development strategies.

The challenge for leaders guiding these types of strategies is that its difficult to identify the set of local companies on the cusp of achieving significant, valuable product and process breakthroughswhat we call the economic development frontier. But understanding that frontier is critical for strategy because it is increasingly the key source of new innovation, growth, and prosperity for any city or state.

This exploratory brief offers a new analysis that seeks to fill this knowledge gap by better measuring the economic development frontier of U.S. metropolitan areas, analyzing Crunchbase data of high-tech startups using principles and methods advanced by the field of economic complexity.

The economic development frontier is, by definition, future-oriented and very difficult to measure, especially in an advanced economy such as the United States.

Yet startups provide a useful metric for several reasons. First, recent evidence demonstrates the importance of young, dynamic firms in driving net job creation and productivity growth.1 Second, frontier activities at the local level are currently hard to measure using other traditional economic datasets. Industry datasets have a time lag and classify economic activities according to somewhat outdated definitions that do not fully capture the technological progress of recent years. Patent data measure technology inventionsan important catalyst for innovation-led growthbut typically via inscrutable definitions that do not coincide with how economic policymakers or business leaders think about the economy. Both classification systems, for instance, tend to miss new sources of economic value such as analytics, artificial intelligence, or cybersecurity.

This analysis deploys crowdsourced data from Crunchbase, a continuously updated platform of technology-based startups. Companies on the Crunchbase platform are tagged with hundreds of categories, ranging from cutting-edge technologies such as autonomous vehicles, neuroscience, and 3D technology, to niche markets including gamification, career planning, and content delivery networks. The benefit of Crunchbase is that it provides more up-to-date information on young firms, and these tags better align with the realities of the modern tech frontier. We identified 27,415 innovative, young U.S. firms on the Crunchbase platform, operating in 421 metro areas across 424 technology categories.2

The benefits of a dataset such as Crunchbase also come with challenges. While Crunchbase conducts quality checks on its data, its crowdsourced nature ensures that it will not include every relevant startup, and that it likely suffers from some selection bias issues. As such, this analysis should be treated as a preliminary look at the technology frontier, but in no way a definitive analysis of it.

Discussions on what drives regional economic growth often center around specialization, the degree to which a local economy concentrates its output in a limited variety of goods and services. From David Ricardos comparative advantage to Michael Porters industry clusters, a common belief among the economic development community is that creating conditions that foster specialization is key to future economic prosperity.

However, if specialization is all that matters, and (nearly) every economy has comparative advantages in some products, why are some places thriving while others are struggling? The answer is that not all specializations have equal value. It matters whether an existing specialization can easily be replicated in many other regions, thus making it not-so-special. This central insight informed Hidalgo and Hausmanns development of the economic complexity index, which showed that underlying economic capabilities could explain the productivity differences among countries.

What makes an economy complex? A metro areas economic development frontier can be defined by the diversity of technological capabilities it possesses, as well as the rarity of those capabilities it possesses.

Researchers have used various data to understand how economic complexity relates to regional economic outcomes. Our colleagues at Brookings calculated the complexity of U.S. metro areas using industry and occupation data, and showed that higher complexity is associated with higher population growth. Balland and Rigby analyzed patent data to determine the knowledge complexity of U.S. metro areas, revealing that it is highly correlated with long-term economic performance.

Our Startup Complexity Index (SCI) combines metrics of startup diversity and startup ubiquity. Startup diversity refers to the number of technological categories in which a metro areas startups exhibit advantage, or a higher-than-average propensity to innovate.3 Of the 99 metro areas we analyzed, San Francisco has the highest startup diversity, registering an advantage in 288 technology categories. By contrast, 15 metro areas have an advantage in just one technology category.

Startup ubiquity refers to the total number of metro areas that have an advantage in a technology category. Crunchbases broadest technology categories such as software, health care, and information technology are the most ubiquitous. The least ubiquitous categories include enterprise resource planning, podcasts, and fleet management, among others. The SCI therefore captures the complexity of startup ecosystem based on the interaction between diversity and ubiquity.4

Startup complexity is highly uneven across U.S. metro areas. Not surprisingly, the metro areas with the highest complexity in their startup ecosystem are San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, San Jose, Calif., and Boston. Collectively, these tech giants house more than half of all the companies in our sample, and dominate most of the technology categories. Among the least complex metro areas are Jacksonville, Fla., Louisville, Ky., Syracuse, N.Y., and Blacksburg-Christiansburg, Va. These metro areas exhibit an advantage in just one categorysoftware, the most ubiquitous technological category.

The largest and techiest U.S. metro areas boast higher Startup Complexity

Source: Brookings analysis of Crunchbase data

A closer look at the Startup Complexity Index distribution is even more concerning. Outside the tech hubs, most metro areas have low startup complexity. Notably, the complexity scores of college towns such as Madison, Wis., Boulder, Colo., Ann Arbor, Mich., and Durham, N.C.paragons of rise-of-the-rest dynamicsare dwarfed by the more established regional ecosystems.

The majority of U.S. metro areas have low startup complexity

Source: Brookings analysis of Crunchbase data

This highly uneven geography of startup complexity matters, because the SCI appears to be a strong indicator of local prosperity. In metro areas with a higher SCI, workers are more productive and earn higher wages, and households have higher incomes. To be clear, we are unable to determine whether these are causal relationships, but the SCI has very strong correlations with key metrics of regional prosperity.

Higher SCI is associated with higher wages, income, and output per job

Source: Brookings analysis of Crunchbase data

Note: Output per job is a measure of productivity

Similar to Rigby and Ballands Patent Complexity Index and even more powerfully than higher education attainment, the SCI is likely capturing technology and business capabilities that are highly valuable in the modern economy. Understanding these capabilities is critical for leaders who are seeking to guide and invest in the entrepreneurship activities that drive the economic development frontier forward.

We also think these data may have practical applications for economic development strategies, since they capture a metro areas relative position in key technology specializations much better than any source of which we are aware. In subsequent analyses, our goal is to practically apply these data to inform local development strategies, as forging new, more complex technological advantages is fundamental to advancing metropolitan prosperity.

Interactive by Alec Friedhoff.

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Aker and REV Ocean Pledge USD 11 million to Technology Initiatives for a Healthy Ocean – GlobeNewswire

Posted: at 11:20 am

Oslo, 23 October 2019 The Aker Group, REV Ocean and The Resource Group (TRG) today announced a joint pledge of USD 11 million to three initiatives dedicated to developing disruptive technology solutions for a healthy and productive ocean.

Throughout its 180-year history, the Aker group has been a driving force in the development of knowledge-based industry related to ocean resources. All our industrial activities are part of the ocean economy, said Aker President and CEO yvind Eriksen.

Today, our ocean is at risk and changes are needed. I strongly believe that solutions for the ocean are developed more robustly and swiftly if businesses like Aker join forces with governments, NGOs and other stakeholders. A healthier ocean is a shared interest, he said.

The USD 11 million pledge will go towards three initiatives, covering costs for the next three years. The initiatives include the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR) in Norway, which will receive USD 6 million, the Ocean Data Platform receiving USD 3 million, and the Plastic REVolution which is being granted USD 2 million. The initiatives will contribute towards preserving and sustainably using the ocean and marine resources through strong private sector engagement and technology drivers.

We will create disruptive technology solutions for Our Ocean, starting with gathering and sharing facts. The Ocean Data Platform, launched yesterday, will gather and liberate data, enabling solutions and people for one healthy ocean. Secondly, we will unite the right people. In the technology centre for the Ocean, we invite public and private partners to create collaborative solutions for the environment. And lastly, we translate ideas into action, through initiatives such as the Plastic REVolution Foundation, which was created to develop commercially viable and scalable solutions to fight plastic pollution, said Nina Jensen, CEO of REV Ocean.

About the three initiatives:

The Affiliated Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution in Norway (C4IR Norway) is being developed by the Aker Group and TRGs philanthropic initiatives. Focusing on the ocean health and wealth, it will be the only center in the World Economic Forums C4IR Network that is dedicated to the environment. The Centre will cooperate with the business community, research institutions, and in close dialogue with the Government of Norway, the High-Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy and others to design and pilot technology solutions and innovative policy frameworks. The center, which will be a non-profit foundation, aims to take a global leadership role in environmental innovation for the ocean leveraging on emerging 4IR technologies.

The Ocean Data Platform (ODP) is being developed by the Ocean Data Foundation, a philanthropic initiative by Kjell Inge Rkke, in close cooperation with REV Ocean. The ODP aims to liberate ocean data and connect people, data and technology to drive an ocean sustainability movement. The platform enables the entire ocean community such as academia, business and ocean policy /management to collaborate and share data for one healthy ocean by offering digital tools and services with easy access to data, immersive visualisation, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools.

The Plastic REVolution Foundation is a philanthropic entity founded by Kjell Inge Rkke. It works closely with REV Ocean. It is created to develop commercially viable and scalable solutions to fight plastic pollution. The Foundations initial project is a plastic-to-liquid chemical recycling plant in Accra, Ghana, coupled with plastic waste collection systems.

-Ends-

For further information, please contact:

Aker group:Atle Kigen, Head of Communicationsatle.kigen@akerasa.comTel: +47 907 84 878

REV Ocean:Lawrence Hislop, Communications Managerlawrence.hislop@recocean.org Tel: + +47 48 50 05 14

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Accounting Career and Education Resources – The CPA Journal

Posted: at 11:20 am

Accountants belong to a fulfilling and challenging profession, with tremendous opportunities for employment and growth. CPAs are in demand for all types of organizations, and the OnPay2019 Small Business Finance and HR Reportstates that the most trusted advisor for many small businesses is their accountant (http://bit.ly/2lWnJpA). Approximately 86% of survey respondents agreed or strongly agreed that their accountant is a trusted counselor. Interestingly, entrepreneurs who had the most faith in their accountant were more likely to expect revenue growth for the coming year, indicating that accountants are key figures in a positive economy.

Students and second-career candidates have many options for future engagement, but often know little about accounting opportunities. This months column looks at two great web-sites for accounting students, as well as for those mentoring future CPAs. Accounting instructors will also find helpful advising information and useful classroom materials. While there is some overlap in the topical coverage, each website has some unique features that make it worthwhile to explore.

Discover Accounting (https://discoveraccounting.org/) offers extensive materials covering accounting education, career options, and certifications, as well as a job board. It presents state-by-state information on requirements to sit for the CPA exam, as well as topical coverage on the exam. The websites News section (https://discoveraccounting.org/news/) contains several blog posts concerning careers in accounting.

The Accounting Degrees and Certifications Guide explains the value of an accounting degree; provides a list of the various common academic accreditations for colleges and universities; compares associates, bachelors, and masters degrees and the positions to which they may lead; and describes several accounting certifications (https://discoveraccounting.org/degree/). The bottom of this page provides hyperlinks to a mix of professional organizations and CPA exam information. An extensive discussion of national and state scholarship information is located athttps://discoveraccounting.org/scholarships/.

Career Resources (https://discoveraccounting.org/careers/) presents 24 career options or job titles and is the perfect place to send students who ask what they can do with an accounting degree. The content of the specific job pages varies, but, as an example, the Tax Accountant subsidiary page (https://discoveraccounting.org/careers/tax-accounting/) discusses background information on the tax accounting field and the tax specialization, such as business tax accounting and international tax accounting. The educational requirements and certification options for tax accountants are briefly covered, and the summary concludes with median salaries and career outlook.

The Resources section of the website is quite extensive and includes information on scholarships, salaries, public versus private accounting, and the CPA exam, among many other topics (https://discoveraccounting.org/resources/). The main page provides an overview of some of the website offerings, including brief descriptions of accounting associations, links to study resource websites, links to open access journals (includingThe CPA Journal), and links to certification study resources, among many others. Another option is use the sitemap to scan for specific items of interest (https://discoveraccounting.org/sitemap-resources/).

The Become a CPA main page (https://discoveraccounting.org/become-a-cpa/) offers background information on certification and licensure requirements, including the role of state boards of accountancy, and provides connections to state-specific details. The New York page, for example, covers education requirements for accounting, general business, ethics and professional responsibilities, and business and accounting communications (https://discoveraccounting.org/become-acpa/new-york/). There is also information on how to apply and sit for the CPA exam in New York, registration fees, required experience, and licensing and renewal requirements. The final item is average accounting salaries in the state, including in various geographic regions.

Accounting.com is another great website for anyone interested in learning more about accounting education and careers, as well as accounting information for small businesses. The site map (https://www.accounting.com/sitemap/) is an easy way to see a quick snapshot of website contents and focus in on specific resources. Another option is to start with the Resources main page (https://www.accounting.com/resources/), which contains a large collection of guides and groups content by featured, career resources, college planning, financial aid, and accounting knowledge. The guides are thorough and thought provoking, provide links to external resources, and are presented in webpage format and easily accessible on any electronic device or computer.

Top Reasons to Choose a Career in Accounting, (http://bit.ly/2lztpFW) by Susan Lowe, CPA, is a featured resource and provides excellent talking points for mentoring a student interested in pursuing accounting. The related Career section (https://www.accounting.com/resources/career-resources/) has several beneficial resources, including an Essential Guide to the CPA Exam, with a thorough discussion of eligibility, registration, and preparation, as well as multiple hyperlinks to AICPA materials.

Prospective CPAs need to pursue the appropriate accounting education, and the College Planning section contains more than two dozen guides, such as How to Choose a Program, SAT and GMAT guides, and undergraduate and graduate college application guides (https://www.accounting.com/resources/college-planning-resources/). The Internships and Practicums guide starts by explaining what an internship is, how it will help the student, and what to expect. It suggests that students look to their universitys career center, attend job fairs and recruiting events, reach out to an alumni network, and check out internship databases, such as the seven linked websites provided.

The Financial Aid Overview and Scholarships webpage has an extensive overview of information on the costs of higher education and options to help pay for expenses (https://www.accounting.com/resources/financial-aid/). Prospective students are reminded that education costs include not only tuition and housing, but books, equipment, and travel or commuting costs. The financial aid information covers the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) process, how to use personal and retirement savings, and how to obtain scholarships, grants, and private loans. The segment on federal student aid programs is especially helpful, with explanations of the Federal Direct Loan Program, Federal Perkins Loans, federal work-study programs, school-based financial aid, state aid, and veterans benefits.

The In Your State section is particularly well developed and includes background information on each state, a comprehensive directory of colleges and universities with accounting programs in that state, salaries for selected job titles and degree levels, top-paying cities in the state, and major CPA firms headquartered in the state. There is also a summary of requirements to become a CPA in that state, the costs to sit for the exam, and contact information for the state board and the NYSSCPA.

Susan B. Anders, PhD, CPA/CGMA is the Louis J. and Ramona Rodriguez Distinguished Professor of Accounting at Midwestern State University, Wichita Falls, Tex. She is a member ofThe CPA JournalEditorial Advisory Board.

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Seattle offers lessons in the dark side of the tech industry boom – Vancouver Sun

Posted: at 11:20 am

SEATTLE The first thing Chris Caculitan mentions, when asked how the Emerald City has changed in the years since he grew up here, is the tech companies. Theyre everywhere now.

Local media refer to the Pacific Northwest citys recent tech-fuelled economic boom as the second gold rush to hit town.

But that wealth hasnt lifted all boats, as Caculitan, 28, has seen first-hand. Caculitan, who studied social work at Seattle University, works for the Low-Income Housing Institute, a Seattle non-profit. Born in the Philippines, Caculitan immigrated to Seattle as a child. The support his working-class family received from the government and community members influenced his career choice, he said. I kind of saw what that struggle was like, so I wanted to make it a career, helping those who needed more.

As money poured into Seattle in recent years, some of Caculitans family and friends have been forced out. That will sound familiar to many Vancouverites, particularly renters. But in Seattle, even longtime homeowners with full-time jobs have had their property taxes soar beyond what theyre able to pay, forcing them to leave town.

Caculitan manages one of the tiny house villages that the City of Seattle has supported in recent years in response to the citys increasing homelessness. He works at the village in South Lake Union, a rapidly changing neighbourhood, home to expensive residential highrises and some of the citys and the worlds largest tech companies.

Chris Caculitan, a special projects manager for the Low Income Housing Institute, a Seattle non-profit housing provider, in the Lake Union Village, one of the citys tiny house villages for formerly homeless people.Dan Fumano / PNG

The village, which was an underutilized city-owned parking lot until last year, is home for 28 previously homeless Seattleites living in 22 wooden sheds. The homes are less than 100 sq. ft. each, but the villagers are happy to have a locking door and a roof that keeps out the rain.

The day before Caculitan gave The Vancouver Sun a tour of the village this month, a different Seattle was on display a six-minute Uber ride away, in a downtown hotel ballroom.

There was no shortage of optimism among government officials and business leaders from B.C., Washington and Oregon, gathered for the Cascadia Innovation Corridor Conference. The governor of Washington and premier of B.C. sat together on stage discussing big goals they share as allies, and the mayors of Vancouver and Seattle met to discuss their cities shared opportunities. There was much talk of how the Cascadia mega-region of 10 million people can be a bigger global competitor than any of its three urban centres Portland, Seattle and Vancouver could be on their own.

Brad Smith, president of Microsoft, told the crowd his trillion-dollar company has been so excited to see Vancouver increasingly take off.

We at Microsoft have been so enthusiastic about our development centre in Vancouver, said Smith, adding that its not surprising so many Seattle-based tech companies are moving north to Vancouver.

Microsoft isnt the only Washington giant growing in Vancouver. When Seattle-based online retailer Amazon unveiled plans last year to create 3,000 jobs in Vancouver in a 416,000-square-foot complex being built on top of the old Canada Post facility on West Georgia, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was there for the announcement.

B.C.s leaders have worked for years to boost the provinces tech sector. Government officials often talk about boosting the innovation economy as a way to produce high-paying jobs, generate tax revenue, and help move the economy away from dependence on resource-based industries and towards a more climate-friendly future.

Hours after Microsofts Smith sang the praises of Vancouver and Surrey, Premier John Horgan and Wash Gov. Jay Inslee took to the same stage.

The tech sector has certainly developed here, and then as it blossoms into British Columbia, we see synergies between the two jurisdictions that are compelling to investors, Horgan said. The opportunities are immense.

Some of B.C.s traditional industries, such as forestry, are struggling, but the provinces technology sector has been setting records for revenue and job numbers. The latest government numbers show more than 114,200 people are employed in B.C.s high-technology sector, with $31 billion in revenue in 2017, a 6.9 per cent increase over the previous year.

Sitting in the governors Seattle offices, Horgan listed Metro Vancouvers advantages in competing for top companies and talent from the U.S. and abroad: an educated population, top research universities, good health care, multicultural cities, order and stability.

And as U.S. immigration has tightened under President Donald Trump. it has become harder for American companies to bring in top international talent. But a Seattle-based company with a Vancouver office can attract foreign recruits to its northern outpost. That, Horgan said, represents a competitive advantage for us.

The B.C. government wants, Horgan said, to focus on lifting wages. We dont want to be the lowest common denominator.

That touches on one of B.C.s competitive advantages in the tech industry: cheap labour or at least relatively cheap. In 2017, when cities around North America made pitches to Amazon seeking to host its second headquarters, Vancouvers application highlighted: We have the lowest wages of all North American tech hubs.

Vancouvers bid, which drew criticism locally for boasting about its low-earning tech workers, cited an average salary for a software engineer in Vancouver as US$60,107 compared to $92,380 in Atlanta and $113,906 in Seattle. That means while a Vancouver software engineers average salary was almost half that of a Seattle counterpart, its still 65 per cent higher than Metro Vancouvers average market income. By some estimates, the wage gap between tech workers and other occupations is even wider in Seattle.

With the federal election days away, Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart said he hasnt heard anything on the campaign trail about promoting economic co-operation and development in Cascadia.

I havent heard it mentioned once, Stewart said after the Cascadia conference. It would be my job to make this Cascadia corridor idea clearer to the feds. The province and John Horgan are all over this. But whoever wins the federal election, I think one of the things that Ill be talking to them about is that weve got to take this more seriously.

Im a passionately proud Canadian, Horgan said, but I see there are obstacles because our east-west linkages often times get in the way of expanding our north-south relationship. Ottawa is 3,000 miles away from British Columbia physically, and sometimes, it feels like theyre a couple of light years away. So we have more in common north-south, quite often, than we do east-west.

B.C. Premier John Horgan in the Seattle offices of Washington Gov. Jay Inslee.See Notes / Direction / PNG

As a former NDP MP representing Burnaby, Stewart knows about that distance between B.C. and Ottawa. His first term was under Stephen Harpers Conservatives and his second under Justin Trudeaus Liberals, and both parties, he said, seemed Ottawa-centric and out of touch with the West Coast.

International companies are looking at us in a serious way, and I dont think were ready for that, Stewart said. Im getting ready for it, but we have to have a real conversation as a community about what we want this city to be. Because I think the opportunities are there, but its just weve got to make sure we take the right ones.

Leaders on both sides of the border acknowledge concerns about the dark side of the boom.

Metro Vancouver has grappled for years with a housing affordability and homelessness crisis. But the Seattle-King County area, with a similar overall population, has almost four times as many homeless people, including many full-time workers and families with children. Researchers have found Seattles recent surge in homelessness is not linked to increases in either population or poverty in the region, but instead to rising housing costs and wealth inequality.

Vancouvers chief planner, Gil Kelley, made a prediction on the subject of local wealth inequality in 2017, when he presented the citys new 10-year housing strategy to the previous mayor and council.

Kelley, whod arrived in Vancouver a year earlier from San Francisco, where he was director of citywide planning, said both cities faced housing challenges, but there were notable differences. One key element of San Franciscos housing crisis, that hasnt quite hit Vancouver yet, but likely will, with its growing high-tech economy, was the growing wage gap between high-technology workers and regular folks in San Francisco, Kelley said.

Gil Kelley, general manager of planning, urban design, and sustainability, at Vancouver City Hall.Arlen Redekop / PNG

Vancouver had high housing prices but not very high wages, and its housing affordability woes were instead largely driven by a very extreme level of speculative investment in real estate, he said.

To deal with Vancouvers near-zero rental vacancy rate, Kelleys housing strategy sought to boost construction of rental housing, a direction broadly supported by the current mayor and council.

Over the past decade, 77 per cent of homes built in Vancouver were condos and houses. Only 17 per cent were market rental homes and five per cent were social housing. That includes the uptick in rental housing in recent years, as Vancouver adopted policies to encourage private-sector apartment construction.

Its a dramatically different picture from Seattle, where the one saving grace has been the immense amount of apartment construction, said a University of Washington professor, Margaret OMara.

Policies in Seattle have been welcoming for big rental projects, while Vancouver developers have long complained their citys onerous approval process threatens the viability of such projects. A Seattle planning official recently gave a presentation to a room full of Vancouver developers, The Province reported in August, that elicited envious sighs when he talked about approving a proposed Seattle apartment tower in about a year.

Vancouver developers many increasingly active in Seattle point to Seattles rental construction boom and say Vancouver must build its way out of its own housing crisis. While Vancouvers rental vacancy rate remains below one per cent, Seattles vacancy rate is around 10 per cent, and rents in some Seattle neighbourhoods have started to drop.

But while Seattles rental supply increase has helped, somewhat, to ease the tight market, those apartments are still too expensive for many locals. And the fact that thousands of Seattleites are homeless while one in 10 apartments sit empty suggests a rental construction boom is not, on its own, the solution to the housing crisis.

Its market-rate housing, its meeting the tech workers needs, not the needs of a lower-income population, OMara said. Thats been the knock on Seattle.

Downtown Seattle.Dan Fumano / PNG

In the years since Kelleys 2017 presentation, government interventions such as Vancouvers empty homes tax and B.C.s speculation tax have been credited with helping cool the housing market.

In that context, it makes sense that a large enough influx of new people earning far above median local incomes could potentially undo the recent efforts to moderate the housing market, said Trevor Barnes, a professor of geography at the University of B.C.

San Francisco and Seattle provide examples of what a tech gold rush can do if it gets big enough, Barnes said. Vancouvers tech industry, he said, is not big enough, I think, at the moment to have that kind of effect, but it is a fast-growing sector, so I dont know how long its going to be before the tide turns.

Canada also has many locally born and bred tech companies, many of which have criticized the federal government for failing to give priority to the countrys homegrown digital economy. This month, more than 100 Canadian tech CEOs signed an open letter to the leaders of the federal Liberals, Conservatives, NDP and Greens, urging them to develop economic policies that advance innovative Canadian companies, claiming Canadas productivity is lagging.

There are concerns, too, about foreign tech companies coming here to exploit our comparatively cheap labour and take home most of the benefit.

Of course, thats the story of B.C., historically, Barnes said. Foreign companies that have come in to exploit resources here, lumber and minerals. Maybe this is another version of that. Except its our talent thats being exploited.

Its up to our governments, Barnes said, to ensure enough of that prosperity benefits regular Canadians, and not only a small number of tech executives in the U.S. He isnt sure those governments are up to the task, noting its certainly not been a major issue in the federal election.

B.C. Finance Minister Carole James is aware of concerns around upward pressure on housing prices. Indeed, she said, she hears directly from the tech sector about the importance of creating affordable housing options to attract and maintain skilled workers.

Good jobs and affordable communities go hand-in-hand and we are committed to delivering both, James said in an emailed statement. Our government has made tech and innovation a priority for economic growth across the province, from Surrey to Victoria to Kelowna, because we recognize British Columbias potential to be a global hub of innovation My ministry continually monitors the housing market, and so far I am cautiously optimistic the measures implemented by our government are beginning to bear results, with strong indications that moderation and stability are returning to B.C.s housing market.

Amazons presence in Seattle is especially large as thats where it is headquartered. But even if Vancouver becomes home to a number of branch offices for tech companies, it could be enough to bring unintended consequences, Stewart said, adding it could actually be more of a risk because the company has less of a connection with the community.

Microsoft touted its deep connection with the Seattle when, earlier this year, it announced an unprecedented commitment of US$500 million in loans and grants to support middle- and low-income housing in the area.

Of course, Stewart said, his cautious approach doesnt mean he doesnt want economic growth and job creation in Vancouver.

These opportunities might be the best that ever happen to us. We just have to be able to evaluate this, as a community, Stewart said. What can we learn from Seattle and San Francisco? Whats happened to them, both good and bad?

I like a bowl of ice cream. But I dont want to eat a bucket of ice cream. And I think thats what this kind of growth can be: It can have detrimental effects if you get too much of a good thing all at once.

dfumano@postmedia.com

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Seattle offers lessons in the dark side of the tech industry boom - Vancouver Sun

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