dgmacarthur
Posts by this author
August 12, 2009
The announcement of the Helicos genome sequence (which I've already discussed in detail) engendered a huge amount of media interest, sometimes for the wrong reasons.
Having the media attention directed elsewhere in the third-generation sequencing space was clearly an unwelcome experience for…
August 11, 2009
David Dooling has an entertaining take on the Helicos genome sequence I discussed yesterday entitled "Another rich white guy sequences own genome".
I noted in my post yesterday that the alleged price drop for the Helicos sequence over current technologies was an illusion, but David includes a…
August 11, 2009
A reader pointed me to this press release on the dire financial state of Icelandic biotech deCODE Genetics.
The slow financial train-wreck that is deCODE has been sliding off the rails for years (see stock price chart below), but things look set to reach their final resolution one way or another…
August 10, 2009
Pushkarev, D., Neff, N., & Quake, S. (2009). Single-molecule sequencing of an individual human genome Nature Biotechnology DOI: 10.1038/nbt.1561
Yes, it's yet another "complete" individual genome sequence, following on the heels of Craig Venter, James Watson, an anonymous African male (twice,…
August 6, 2009
CNN reports:
At the Chongqing Children's Palace, experts are hoping to revolutionize child-rearing with the help of science. About 30 children aged 3 to 12 years old and their parents are participating in a new program that uses DNA testing to identify genetic gifts and predict the future.
The…
August 4, 2009
While I continue my work-induced blog coma, here's a guest post from Luke Jostins, a genetic epidemiology PhD student and the author of the blog Genetic Inference, delivering a fairly scathing critique of a recent whole-genome sequencing paper based on Life Technologies' SOLiD platform.
McKernan…
August 3, 2009
Those interested in the commercial, technical or ethical issues around the emerging industry of personal genomics now have a chance to put their questions to the co-founder of 23andMe, Anne Wojcicki. The NY Times blog Freakonomics is inviting readers to add their questions to the comments section…
July 17, 2009
Purcell et al. (2009). Common polygenic variation contributes to risk of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder Nature DOI: 10.1038/nature08185
Neil Walker has been doing a spectacular job of serving up useful information in the comments recently, so I asked him to write the first ever guest post on…
July 9, 2009
A quick pointer to a new blog on the genomics scene that's just been officially launched: Genomics Law Report, a corporate blog from legal firm Robinson, Bradshaw and Hinson. One of the contributors, Dan Vorhaus, is an advisor to the Personal Genome Project and provides one of the highest signal-to…
July 8, 2009
I just received the following email from the Nuffield Council on Bioethics - I'd recommend anyone interested in the future of personalised medicine in the UK consider submitting their views to the inquiry. I'll be putting together my own submission, which I'll also post here on Genetic Future.…
July 7, 2009
Personal genomics company 23andMe has always differentiated itself from its more sober competitors through an emphasis on collaborative, consumer-driven research - essentially, encouraging its customers to contribute their genetic and trait data to internal research projects designed to find new…
July 7, 2009
The UK House of Lords Science and Technology Committee has published the long-awaited report (PDF) from its inquiry into genomic medicine.
Mark Henderson at The Times has been busy today, putting out three excellent pieces on the report: a summary of the major implications, an opinion piece…
July 6, 2009
A while back I pondered the possibility of creating icons for conference presenters to add to their first slide to alert bloggers/tweeters in the audience about whether the presented data was "blog-safe". This was provoked by a recent episode illustrating general confusion among bloggers (in this…
June 24, 2009
Pharmacogenetics Reporter has a lengthy article (subscription required) on the California bill SB 482, sponsored by personal genomics company 23andMe, which seeks "to distinguish so-called "post-CLIA bioinformatics services" from entities providing laboratory services".
In other words, 23andMe is…
June 24, 2009
GenomeWeb reports that the advocacy group Genetic Alliance is lobbying the FDA for the construction of a public registry of genetic tests:
[Genetic Alliance Director of Genetics and Health Policy Kristi] Zonno said FDA should create a public registry for genetic tests to "enable transparency and…
June 24, 2009
Geoff Brumfiel has done a great job in this article for Nature News on the promise and perils of conference blogging. On the promise side there is discussion of the wildly successful FriendFeed coverage of last year's ISMB meeting, which ended up being aggregated into a journal article; in the…
June 23, 2009
Update: In the comments below, SNPedia co-founder Michael Cariaso notes that Duncan has already lost his crown to the anonymous European NA07022, recently sequenced by Complete Genomics, who weighs in with 5891 associations to Duncan's 5321. Records don't last long in the age of high-throughput…
June 19, 2009
Added in edit: the original version of this post implied that the Nature editorial was recent, when it was in fact published in February this year; I was sent a link to it today and assumed it was new. I've edited the post to reflect this.
One of the major reasons for concern from presenters and…
June 19, 2009
Misha Angrist points me to the launch of TruGenetics, which basically looks like just another genome scan company with a unique gimmick: they're giving 10,000 scans away free.
What's the business model here? The registration page provides some hints:
Your questionnaire responses and genetic…
June 18, 2009
Readers who haven't seen it already may be interested in the post and subsequent discussion on conference blogging taking place on Dr Isis' blog.
I feel that Dr Isis' post misrepresents my position in several ways (see this clarifying comment from me), but she does provide an interesting argument…
June 17, 2009
The rather contentious result of my live-blogging of the Biology of Genomes meeting last month made it very clear to me that the scientific community needs to do a better job of communicating in advance whether a presentation is off-limits to audience live-bloggers. I've since been involved in a…
June 16, 2009
Emily Singer has been doing a great job of covering the consumer genetics beat over at Technology Review; her most recent piece draws on a recent presentation by former head of the National Human Genome Research
Institute Francis Collins.
Collins caused a bit of a stir during his presentation (at…
June 16, 2009
Regular readers will be aware that my last attempt to report on the presentations at last month's Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Biology of Genomes meeting resulted in some controversy, as well as some fruitful (if sometimes heated) discussion on the topic of conference blogging.
My next attempt…
June 16, 2009
I've stumbled rather late across a very promising new blog on the experience of a consumer genomics customer, Fantastic Voyage. The blog is primarily written by Grant Wood, the senior IT strategist for a clinical genetics institute in Salt Lake City; the premise of the blog is that Wood will…
June 12, 2009
Harvard biostatistician Peter Kraft (co-author of an excellent recent article on genetic risk prediction in the New England Journal of Medicine) has just added an interesting comment on his experience of this week's Consumer Genetics Show:
I just wanted to share what for me were two stand-out…
June 11, 2009
The buzz leading up to this week's Consumer Genetics Show in Boston suggested that a major announcement would be made by the CEO of genomics technology provider Illumina, Jay Flatley. Illumina provides the most popular second-generation sequencing instrument currently on the market, the Genome…
June 10, 2009
From Emily Singer's article yesterday in Technology Review:
A number of companies offering direct-to-consumer genetic testing have
cropped up in the past two years to capitalize on these advances, from 23andMe and Navigenics, which offer genome-wide scans to identify specific disease-linked genetic…
June 10, 2009
Not my highlights, sadly - I would have loved to attend the Consumer Genetics Show but was curiously unable to get anyone to pay for my plane tickets...
Fortunately for me, others have done a sterling job of covering day one of the meeting. The freshest coverage by far is coming in 140-character…
June 7, 2009
David Dooling has a great post that starts with the conference blogging issue, and then leaps off in a different but related direction - the curious double standard in the data release policies applying to large genome sequencing centres compared to other genomic researchers.
As David notes, the…
June 5, 2009
A reader has pointed me to the latest issue of the American Journal of Bioethics, which is devoted to social networking and personal genomics. I'm still working my way through the many interesting articles, but for now I wanted to cover some useful points in the editorial (entitled "A Pragmatic…