BOL: Related items

Early Genome Screening: The New Health Horoscope!

LEGE — Thu, 02 Jan 2025 19:44:36 -0600

In an era where precision medicine is reshaping healthcare, genome screening is emerging as the modern equivalent of a health horoscope. It offers insights into our biological "stars," unraveling predispositions to various conditions and empowering individuals with knowledge to navigate their health journeys proactively. But how reliable is this "horoscope," and how does it impact our lives?

Understanding Genome Screening

Genome screening involves analyzing an individual's DNA to identify genetic variations that may influence health and disease susceptibility. This can range from simple single-gene tests to comprehensive whole-genome sequencing. By peering into our genetic blueprint, we can uncover risks for conditions like cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and even rare genetic disorders.

The process is straightforward: a saliva or blood sample is collected, and advanced sequencing technologies decipher the genetic code. The results provide a personalized health map, guiding lifestyle modifications, preventive measures, or medical interventions.

A Shift from Reactive to Proactive Healthcare

Traditional healthcare often focuses on treating diseases after they manifest. Genome screening flips this model on its head, enabling a shift toward prevention and early intervention. For instance:

Cancer Risk Management: Individuals with BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutations can opt for enhanced screening programs or preventive surgeries to mitigate their risk of breast and ovarian cancers.
Cardiovascular Health: Genetic predispositions to conditions like familial hypercholesterolemia can prompt early cholesterol monitoring and lifestyle adjustments.
Rare Diseases: Identifying carriers of genetic disorders can aid in family planning and reduce the incidence of inherited conditions.

The Ethical and Practical Concerns

While genome screening offers incredible promise, it is not without challenges:

Accuracy and Interpretation: Genetic predisposition does not guarantee disease. Misinterpretation of results can lead to unnecessary anxiety or unwarranted medical interventions.
Privacy and Data Security: Genetic data is highly sensitive. Ensuring robust data protection measures is crucial to prevent misuse.
Accessibility and Equity: High costs and limited availability may restrict access to genome screening, exacerbating health disparities.

Balancing Science and Pseudoscience

The comparison of genome screening to horoscopes isn’t entirely unfounded. Both offer predictive insights, but the scientific foundation of genome screening distinguishes it from astrology. Unlike the alignment of celestial bodies, genetic predictions are based on rigorous data and evidence. However, the probabilistic nature of genetic predispositions underscores the importance of interpreting results in conjunction with clinical and lifestyle factors.

The Road Ahead

As genome screening becomes more affordable and integrated into routine healthcare, its potential to transform lives is immense. Policymakers, healthcare providers, and genetic counselors must collaborate to ensure ethical implementation, public awareness, and equitable access.

Imagine a future where your genetic "horoscope" is a trusted guide, not just a prediction. Early genome screening could help chart a healthier path for generations, making it a cornerstone of personalized medicine. After all, our genes might just hold the key to unlocking a future of better health and well-being.

irishgrid: Irish Grid Mapping System

Jit — Fri, 26 Dec 2014 07:53:24 -0600

Perl module for creating geographic 10km-square maps using either SVG or PNG (with GD library) output format.

Originally design to map the location of objects in a 10 km map IrishGrid includes:

native support of the Irish Grid System (see http://www.osi.ie/)
optimize for speed (there's as less as possible data to conversion)
customized color functions

https://code.google.com/p/irishgrid/downloads/detail?name=irishgrid.pl

Address of the bookmark: https://code.google.com/p/irishgrid/

Does anyone have Nanopore latest updates?

Poonam Mahapatra — Mon, 12 Aug 2013 12:19:29 -0500

There was a lot of buzz about Oxford Nanopore Technologies® is developing the GridION™ system and miniaturised MinION™ device. These are a new generation of electronic molecular analysis system for use in scientific research, personalised medicine, crop science, security/defence and more. The platform technology uses nanopores to analyse single molecules including DNA/RNA and proteins. With a broad patent portfolio, the Oxford Nanopore pipeline includes biological nanopores and solid-state nanopores.

Is this available, or still under trial mode?

https://www.nanoporetech.com/

https://www.nanoporetech.com/technology/the-minion-device-a-miniaturised-sensing-system/the-minion-device-a-miniaturised-sensing-system

Teaching Assistant at SVIMS

Fri, 31 Jul 2015 10:15:16 -0500

Eligible candidates are invited for a walk-in-interview for recruitment of Teaching Assistant in the Department of Bioinformatics on 8.08.2015 at 10 A.M. in the Committee Hall, SVIMS, Tirupati. The candidates have to attend with all original certificates of qualification, experience on the date of interview. The engagement will be made purely on adhoc basis for a period of 6 months and it can be terminated at any time without notice or without assigning any reason thereof. This is purely an adhoc appointment and the candidate will not have any right to claim permanent benefits of any kind.

1. Remuneration : Rs. 12000/- per month (consolidated)

2. Qualification : M.Sc./M.Tech. Bioinformatics (preference will be given to the candidates with BINC / NET / GATE / Bioinformatics DBT-Traineeship / Studentship and teaching experience)

3. Place of work : Department of Bioinformatics, SVIMS, Tirupati

4. No. of Position : One

Terms and conditions:

1. Candidates are required to submit the Biodata, attested copies of relevant certificates in support of their age, educational qualification, experience etc., before the interview committee, SVIMS University, Tirupati.
2. No TA / DA will be paid for attending the interview.
3. Interim enquiries will not be entertained.
4. The maximum age limit for Teaching Assistant is 34 years as on 8th August, 2015.
5. The tenure of will be further extended subject to performance of the incumbent.

Advertisement: http://svimsbic.org/Teaching_Assistant_B.I._2015.pdf

A powerful, yet simple, gene set analysis tool for interpreting RNA-seq and NGS results.

Shani — Thu, 30 Oct 2014 09:19:29 -0500

LifeMap Sciences is introducing GeneAnalytics, our new gene set analysis tool, which is applicable for NGS results and differentially expressed gene lists from variable sources. GeneAnalytics provides gene associations with tissues & cells, diseases, pathways, GO terms and compounds.

Our main advantages over other similar tools are:

GeneAnalytics is very simple and intuitive to use.
GeneAnalytics is based on our proprietary databases – GeneCards, MalaCards, PathCards and LifeMap Discovery, each of them integrates information from a very large number of resources.
GeneAnalytics supplies links for extensive background information on each of the matched results.

I invite you to try it out for free at geneanalytics.genecards.org, and would be happy to hear your comments and thoughts on how we can improve.

Yours,

Shani Ben-Ari Fuchs

LifeMap Sciences Team

Interview with a bioinformatician series ...

Jitendra Narayan — Sat, 27 Dec 2014 13:30:15 -0600

The aim of this series to interviews some notable bioinformaticians to get their views on various aspects of bioinformatics research. Hopefully these answers will prove useful to others in the field, especially to those who are just starting their bioinformatics careers.

This series will be available at BOL every fortnight.

karyoploteR: plot whole genomes with arbitrary data

Abhimanyu Singh — Fri, 02 Feb 2018 03:24:28 -0600

karyoploteR is an R package to create karyoplots, that is, representations of whole genomes with arbitrary data plotted on them. It is inspired by the R base graphics system and does not depend on other graphics packages. The aim of karyoploteR is to offer the user an easy way to plot data along the genome to get broad genome-wide view to facilitate the identification of genome wide relations and distributions.

Address of the bookmark: https://bernatgel.github.io/karyoploter_tutorial/

BINC examination 2015 !!!

Jitendra Narayan — Mon, 29 Dec 2014 12:23:37 -0600

Pondicherry University,Puducherry,on behalf of Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, will conduct the BINC examination in 2015. The objective of this examination is to certify bioinformatics professionals, trained formally as well as self-trained.Registration for BINC examination 2015 will open soon.

Pondicherry University Puducherry has been identified as a nodal agency by the Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India to coordinate this examination along with nine centres namely, Pune University, Pune; Anna University, Chennai; Calcatta University (WBUT) Kolkata; Institute of Bioinformatics & Applied Biotechnology, Bangalore; North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad; University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram; Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and Assam Agricultural University, Guwahati.

In the BINC 2013 examination,17 candidates were certified. DBT has agreed to fund Research fellowships for all the BINC qualified Indian nationals to pursue Ph.D. in Indian Institutes/Universities. Note that the candidate must possess a postgraduate degree(or equivalent) & meet the criteria of the institutes/universities in order to avail research fellowship. In addition, cash prize of Rs. 10,000/- will be awarded to the top 10 BINC qualifiers.

More at http://210.212.230.224:9999/BINC/

GRASS: a generic algorithm for scaffolding next-generation sequencing assemblies.

Abhimanyu Singh — Tue, 23 May 2017 05:20:32 -0500

GRASS (GeneRic ASsembly Scaffolder)-a novel algorithm for scaffolding second-generation sequencing assemblies capable of using diverse information sources. GRASS offers a mixed-integer programming formulation of the contig scaffolding problem, which combines contig order, distance and orientation in a single optimization objective. The resulting optimization problem is solved using an expectation-maximization procedure and an unconstrained binary quadratic programming approximation of the original problem. We compared GRASS with existing HTS scaffolders using Illumina paired reads of three bacterial genomes. Our algorithm constructs a comparable number of scaffolds, but makes fewer errors. This result is further improved when additional data, in the form of related genome sequences, are used.

Address of the bookmark: https://github.com/AlexeyG/GRASS

JRF in Bioinformatics @ NEHU

Tue, 20 Jan 2015 22:57:49 -0600

Department of Botany & Bioinformatics Centre
NORTH-EASTERN HILL UNIVERSITY, SHILLONG 793022

Applications with complete bio-data from candidates possessing the required qualifications are invited for the posts of JRF (2) and Project Assistant (1) in

DBT, GOI-funded research project “Next Generation Sequencing (NGS)- based de novo assembly of expressed transcripts and genome information of Orchids in North-East India” in DBT’s Twinning programme for NE as per DBT sanction order and norms.

(i) JRF(2 nos.):

Qualifications: M.Tech/M.Sc in Life Sciences/ Botany/ Zoology/Biochemistry/ Biotechnology/ Bioinformatics; Desirable: Aptitude for Bioinformatics and Computer Programming/ Next generation sequencing data analysis

(ii) Project Assistant (1 no.):

Qualifications: Graduation in Science, Desirable: Experience of working in a Life Science/Plant Biotechnology lab. and familiarity with computers and field work viz. collection of samples.

The applications through email bicnehu@gmail.com or post must reach the undersigned
within 15 days from the date of publication of this advertisement. The advertised posts are purely temporary for the duration of the project and subject to availability of the funds from DBT. The appointment does not confer any entitlement or right over the posts for absorption in the University service.

Advertisement: www.nehu.ac.in/Advertisements/BICAdvtPV_200115.pdf