Tuesday February 11th, 2014
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GeneTrends
Human
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Sister macaques Ningning and Mingming are the first primate GMOs whose genomes have been monkeyed with using CRISPR/Cas9 technology. (CREDIT: Credit: Cell, Niu et al.)
A genetic modification system called CRISPR/Cas has recently shown breakthrough success in primates, and seems poised to make the futurist's dreams of an easily customized genome a reality.
Agriculture
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Producers are listening to their consumers, argues full-time farmer Dave Walton, but what seems to get lost in the discussion is the fact that most farmers are not selling directly to families looking for food.
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Today, parents don't need to deal with the knowledge of genetic pitfalls that might lie ahead for their offspring. But that day is coming.
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Scientists may have used the newly-discovered environmental stress method for inducing pluripotency in human cells. This could change everything.
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The life of a scientist in biotechnology is demanding, but there's a good chance that you could positively impact human or environmental health.
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An upsurge in reported bee deaths--often referred to incorrectly as Colony Collapse Disorder--has led to concerns that GMOs and/or a class of pesticides known as neonics might be the key driver. Europe has temporarily banned the chemicals and Canada is debating a moratorium. As new studies roll in, the GLP's Jon Entine looks at the story behind the story.
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China's latest economic espionage target may be biotech seeds in an attempt to circumvent years of costly and expensive research.
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On either side of the GMO fight, you find combatants in fierce agreement about the right of all people to affordable nutritious food, protection of the environment and giving poor farmers a viable livelihood.
A Washington State University project aims to turn poplars into factories for premium chemicals like 2-phenylethanol, which is what gives roses their characteristically sweet scent.
Despite the serious complexity of multicelluar organisms, synthetic biology in plants has been progressing rapidly. This editorial examines the way plant synthetic biology is progressing via "bootstrapping" and a reductionist approach.
In the first day of testimony in an alleged genetic modification "contamination" case that has garnered world-wide attention, an Australian organic farmer sought damages and a GM planting ban against his longtime neighbor who farms GM canola, stirring deep emotions on all sides.
The NYT carried a front-page story about genetic screening techniques that have been around for two decades, raising familiar ethical concerns and presenting them as novel.
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