The man who helped to first sequence the human genome ten years ago, is looking to use biology to tackle the energy problem.

Researchers from the Salk Institute in La Jolla, CA have been studying the power struggle between the master genetic switches within plant cells that determine the orientation for growth - that is which end will put down roots, and which end will grow the shoot.

Researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy and Karolinska Institutet have used novel technology to reveal the different genetic patterns of neuroblastoma, an aggressive form of childhood cancer. This discovery may lead to significant advances in the treatment of this malignant disease, which mainly affects small children.

 Using just four hairs and a few small fragments of bone from an ancient man discovered in the permafrost of western Greenland, a research team from the University of Copenhagen have sequenced about 80% of the ancient man's genome. 

How difficult it must be to have to face off as a sperm! From the moment you arrive you are racing along in a wave of competitors. Now complicate that with the fact that your host mammal has been making the rounds! Live together die alone (if you know what that means its our secret) is apparently the biological answer.

As published in Nature's advanced online edition yesterday, researchers from the Beijing Genomics Institute have successfully completed the sequencing and initial analyses of a draft version of the giant panda genome. One surprising discovery is that the Chinese bear lacks any recognizable genes required for digesting its staple food, bamboo.

A multi-institutional research team have recently identified a gene - called Microfibril-Associated Glycoprotein 2, or MAGP2 - that offers promise as a personalized treatment target for ovarian cancer. Not previously associated with any type of cancer, MAGP2 was found to be over-expressed in papillary serous ovarian tumors of patients who died more quickly from the disease.

The Genetics and Public Policy Center (GPPC) was established by Johns Hopkins University by PEW charitable trusts. Originally published in The American Journal of Human Genetics, Volume 85, the GPPC conducted a survey of over 4500 individuals pertaining to views on Privacy in Genetics and Participation in Biobank research.

From the Salk Institute

LA JOLLA, CA-When you eat may be just as vital to your health as what you eat, found researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Their experiments in mice revealed that the daily waxing and waning of thousands of genes in the liver-the body's metabolic clearinghouse-is mostly controlled by food intake and not by the body's circadian clock as conventional wisdom had it.

On November 21, 2009 the sections of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) related to employment will go into effect. GINA was signed into law on May 21, 2008 by former president George Bush.