BOL: Related items

2024's Top 10 Science Breakthroughs: Innovations Shaping Our Future

LEGE — Mon, 30 Dec 2024 11:22:21 -0600

The year 2024 has been marked by remarkable scientific advancements across various disciplines, each contributing to a deeper understanding of our universe, our planet, and ourselves. Here are ten of the most intriguing breakthroughs that have captured the world's attention:

James Webb Space Telescope's Revelations: Since its launch, the James Webb Space Telescope has provided unprecedented insights into the cosmos, unveiling details about the early universe and distant galaxies that were previously beyond our reach.

Re-establishing Contact with Voyager 1: In a testament to human ingenuity, scientists successfully re-established communication with Voyager 1, the spacecraft launched in 1977 now traversing interstellar space, offering data from the far reaches of our solar system.

Advancements in Human Biology: The global cell atlas project released its initial findings, mapping human cells with unprecedented detail, akin to a "Google Maps for the body." Additionally, the first complete map of a fruit fly's brain was unveiled, promising new insights into neurological diseases.

Public Health Milestones: The rollout of the first malaria vaccines and the commencement of late-stage clinical trials for a new tuberculosis vaccine—the first in over a century—marked significant strides in combating these diseases. Efforts against HIV/AIDS also showed promising progress, particularly in Africa.

Weight-Loss Drugs' Expanded Potential: Medications initially developed for weight loss demonstrated potential in treating a range of other diseases, indicating a broader therapeutic application than previously anticipated.

Robotics and Quantum Computing: Technological advancements brought robots capable of performing more complex tasks and moved quantum computing closer to practical, real-world applications, heralding a new era in computing and automation.

Synthetic Biology Concerns: Leading researchers, including Nobel laureates, raised alarms about the potential risks associated with synthetic biology, particularly the creation of "mirror bacteria," underscoring the need for careful regulation in this rapidly evolving field.

Climate Change Insights: Studies indicated that global CO₂ emissions plateaued with only a 0.1% increase in 2023, suggesting a potential turning point in emission trends. However, concerns about climate tipping points, such as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Current, highlighted the urgency for continued action.

New Antibiotic Class Discovered: A novel class of antibiotics targeting multi-drug resistant bacteria was discovered, offering hope in the fight against antibiotic-resistant infections.

DNA tale of 3 to 4 years old Serbia boy

Rahul Agarwal — Tue, 26 Nov 2013 17:34:00 -0600

The genome of a young boy found underground at Mal’ta near Lake Baikal of eastern Siberia around 24,000 years ago came out as close relative of Europeans and Native Indians.

Link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/21/science/two-surprises-in-dna-of-boy-found-buried-in-siberia.html?_r=0

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature12736.html

04- Informatics Approach to Cancer - Interview with Dr. Joel Saltz

Mon, 07 Oct 2013 14:35:43 -0500

For additional information visit http://www.cancerquest.org/joel-saltz-interview. Dr. Joel Saltz is a Professor in the Departments of Pathology, Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, and Mathematics and Computer Science at Emory University. Dr. Saltz's research on bioinformatics spans several disciplines. One project involves applying computer analysis to medical imaging to yield better results for patients. As an example, a computer program may able to help doctors detect small cancers in a CT scan or mammogram. In this interview segment, Dr. Saltz discusses the informatics approach to cancer. To learn more about cancer and watch additional interviews, please visit the CancerQuest website at http://www.cancerquest.org.

Oldest Hominin DNA Sequenced

Surajeet — Fri, 27 Dec 2013 19:58:31 -0600

Matthias Meyer and his team from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, have developed new techniques for retrieving and sequencing highly degraded ancient DNA. They then joined forces with Juan-Luis Arsuaga and applied the new techniques to a cave bear from the Sima de los Huesos site. After this success, the researchers sampled two grams of bone powder from a hominin thigh bone from the cave. They extracted its DNA and sequenced the genome of the mitochondria or mtDNA, a small part of the genome that is passed down along the maternal line and occurs in many copies per cell. The researchers then compared this ancient mitochondrial DNA with Neandertals, Denisovans, present-day humans, and apes.

From the missing mutations in the old DNA sequences the researchers calculated that the Sima hominin lived about 400,000 years ago. They also found that it shared a common ancestor with the Denisovans, an extinct archaic group from Asia related to the Neandertals, about 700,000 years ago. "The fact that the mtDNA of the Sima de los Huesos hominin shares a common ancestor with Denisovan rather than Neandertal mtDNAs is unexpected since its skeletal remains carry Neandertal-derived features," says Matthias Meyer. Considering their age and Neandertal-like features, the Sima hominins were likely related to the population ancestral to both Neandertals and Denisovans. Another possibility is that gene flow from yet another group of hominins brought the Denisova-like mtDNA into the Sima hominins or their ancestors.

Reference

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/12/131204132018.htm

Landry Lab

Thu, 17 Jul 2014 14:33:57 -0500

EVOLUTIONARY AND INTEGRATIVE CELL BIOLOGY

Our research is at the crossroad between cell biology, ecological genomics, systems biology, molecular evolution and population genetics. We study the architecture and evolution of protein and signalling networks.

More at http://landrylab.ibis.ulaval.ca/

Yannick Wurm Lab

Thu, 07 Aug 2014 18:02:37 -0500

Evolutionary genomics of social insects. Extensive theoretical work has explained how and why complex societies evolve. However, only little is known about the genes and molecular mechanisms responsible for social phenotypes. We have been identifying genes and mechanisms involved in the evolution of insect societies using modern genomics tools (Illumina, RNAseq, RADseq...). For example we recently:

1. sequenced and analyzed the genome of the invasive red fire ant Solenopsis invicta (PNAS 2011)

2. discovered that a fundamental social trait in this species (how many queens are accepted in the colony) is determined by variants of a social chromosome (Nature 2013).

3. described the gene expression changes that occur in a virgin queen when she is given the opportunity of replacing her mother (Mol Ecol 2010).

Homepage: http://yannick.poulet.org/

Alignment of closely related whole genomes/scaffolds

Rahul Nayak — Fri, 29 Jan 2016 10:37:27 -0600

With the relative ease and low cost of current generation sequencing technologies has led to a dramatic increase in the number of sequenced genomes for species across the tree of life. This increasing volume of data requires tools that can quickly compare multiple whole-genome sequences, millions of base pairs in length, to aid in the study of populations, pan-genomes, and genome evolution.This bookmaks have been created to report new tools for whole genome alignments.

Please report new whole genome alignment tools under comment sections.

Address of the bookmark: http://www.cs.utoronto.ca/~brudno/721.full.pdf

Lawley Lab

Mon, 09 May 2016 03:29:51 -0500

Lawley Lab are covered with a complex microbial community, known as our microbiota, which plays important roles in our physiology, immunity, metabolism and sustenance. Within the human gastrointestinal tract alone there are over 1,000 bacterial species, which amounts to approximately 10 times more cells than we harbor in our entire body and 200 times more genes than are found within our genome. Lawley Lab are really a 'supraorganism' consisting of our 'human' and 'microbial' selves.

More at http://www.sanger.ac.uk/science/groups/lawley-lab

Method in Comparative genomics !!

Jit — Wed, 09 Nov 2016 16:29:24 -0600

We present methods for the automatic determination of genome correspondence. The algorithms enabled the automatic identification of orthologs for more than 90% of genes and intergenic regions across the four species despite the large number of duplicated genes in the yeast genome. The remaining ambiguities in the gene correspondence revealed recent gene family expansions in regions of rapid genomic change.

We present methods for the identification of protein-coding genes based on their patterns of nucleotide conservation across related species. We observed the pressure to conserve the reading frame of functional proteins and developed a test for gene identification with high sensitivity and specificity. We used this test to revisit the genome of S. cerevisiae, reducing the overall gene count by 500 genes (10% of previously annotated genes) and refining the gene structure of hundreds of genes. We present novel methods for the systematic de novo identification of regulatory motifs. The methods do not rely on previous knowledge of gene function and in that way differ from the current literature on computational motif discovery. Based on the genome-wide conservation patterns of known motifs, we developed three conservation criteria that we used to discover novel motifs. We used an enumeration approach to select strongly conserved motif cores, which we extended and collapsed into a small number of candidate regulatory motifs. These include most previously known regulatory motifs as well as several noteworthy novel motifs. The majority of discovered motifs are enriched in functionally related genes, allowing us to infer a candidate function for novel motifs.

Our results demonstrate the power of comparative genomics to further our understanding of any species. Our methods are validated by the extensive experimental knowledge in yeast, and will be invaluable in the study of complex genomes like that of human.

Address of the bookmark: http://web.mit.edu/manoli/www/publications/Kellis_JCB_04.pdf

Postdoctoral Research Assistant at RVC

Mon, 09 Jul 2018 00:47:38 -0500

This is a fixed term post for 24 months.

We wish to recruit a highly motivated, postdoctoral scientist to carry out a BBSRC funded project in the laboratory of Dr. Denis Larkin. The project is focused on developing and applying new methods and algorithms to study genome and chromosome evolution in mammals and other animals using whole-genome sequences and existing algorithms (e.g., Damas et al. Genome Res. 2017. 27(5):875-884; Kim et al., Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2013. 110 (5)). The post holder will use cutting edge computational and laboratory approaches to generate chromosomal assemblies for sequenced genomes, study chromosomal structures and differences between mammalian and other vertebrate genomes in attempt to identify species- and clade-specific genome signatures.

Applicants must have a Ph.D. and a track record of success, as indicated by first-author publications in international journals. They must possess excellent organisation skills and be capable of individual initiative and of interacting as part of a team. Applicants with extensive practical experience in bioinformatics or computer science, programming, visualization, handling of large data sets, high-performance computing are encouraged to apply. The post will involve collaboration with a wide range of academic partners both within the EU and worldwide.

Experience in programming, bioinformatics and comparative genome analysis is essential. Applicants should have a minimum of a degree and preferably a higher degree in a relevant subject.

The Royal Veterinary College has the largest range of veterinary, para-veterinary and animal science undergraduate and postgraduate courses of any veterinary school in the world and is one of the largest veterinary schools in Europe.

Prospective applicants are encouraged to contact Dr. Denis Larkin, Comparative Biomedical Sciences Department on +442071211906 or email: dlarkin@rvc.ac.uk

We offer a generous reward package.

For further information and to apply on-line please visit our website: www.rvc.ac.uk
Job reference CBS-0084-18

https://jobs.rvc.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx?ref=CBS-0084-18