South Park Season 1 Episode 7 - An Elephant Makes Love to a Pig
http://www.southparkseries.com Kyle gets an elephant, but his parents won #39;t let him keep it because it is too big. Mr. Garrison gives a lecture on genetic engineering, which gives Kyle the idea of making a pot-bellied elephant by splicing the genes of his elephant with a pot bellied pig. Terrence bets that he can clone a human before Kyle can make his animal. Kyle and the boys go to the South Park Genetic Engineering Ranch, where they meet a Mephesto. Mephesto takes some blood from Stan, which Terrence uses to make a clone. Chef tells the boys that in order to make a pot-bellied elephant, the elephant would have to make love to a pig. The boys get the animals drunk, and the deed is done, but the Stan clone, starts wreaking havoc on South Park. South Park s01e07 South Park S1e7 s01e7 S1e7 1x7 Season 1 episode 7 tv shows S1 s01 se1 e7 ep7 1x7 4 S01 E7 HQ episodes serie series watch online complete full tv television hd hq part 1 part 2 part 3 part 4. Watch South Park Season 1 Episode 7 An Elephant Makes Love to a Pig full episode watch South Park Season 1 Episode 7 An Elephant Makes Love to a Pig free online watch South Park Season 1 Episode 7 An Elephant Makes Love to a Pig full free watch South Park Season 1 Episode 7 An Elephant Makes Love to a Pig watch online watch full South Park Season 1 Episode 7 An Elephant Makes Love to a Pig watch South Park Season 1 Episode 7 An Elephant Makes Love to a Pig for free watch South Park Season 1 Episode 7 An Elephant Makes Love to a Pig ...From:gvv2503Views:0 0ratingsTime:09:32More inPeople Blogs

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Mimic: The Director #39;s Cut (Blu-ray Trailer)
Guillermo Del Toro (Pan #39;s Labyrinth, Hellboy) presents "Mimic" like you #39;ve never seen it before in a visually stunning Director #39;s Cut. Starring Academy Award winner Mira Sorvino (Mighty Aphrodite), Charles S. Dutton (A Time To Kill) and Josh Brolin (True Grit), "Mimic" brings the epic battle between man and nature to life when a team of scientists discover that their experiment in genetic engineering has gone horribly awry. Recut and presented with in-depth special features that take you inside the film, "Mimic: The Director #39;s Cut" restores Guillermo del Toro #39;s vision for this chilling modern cult classic. This film is not rated. Produced released by Miramax Films, an Filmyard Holdings company. Distributed by Lionsgate Entertainment.From:BMTPTrailerCentralV4Views:0 0ratingsTime:01:51More inEntertainment

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03 24 2011 Genetic Engineering
Date: To access the full archive and all the latest daily shows please visit and subscribe to this channel: http://www.youtube.com IF you would like to be notified the minute the daily show is released each day why not subscribe here http://www.youtube.com Also please subscribe on TWITTER heres the address or just click the twitter link on the right of the channel page twitter.com FACEBOOK heres the address or just click the facebook link on the right of the channel page http://www.facebook.comFrom:UFOwirelessViews:0 0ratingsTime:02:33:35More inEducation

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How to beat Aging by Dr Vincent Giampapa
WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR ? JOIN THE NUMBER 1 TEAM in Jeunesse Global - We are the fastest growing team worldwide and provide you with the tools, unmatched support and invest our time with you to ensure your success. WHY WAIT this is happening with or without you. IF YOU HAVE EVER WANTED TO PARTNER WITH INDUSTRY LEADERS AND TOP INCOME EARNERS TO LEVERAGE YOURSELF TO MASSIVE RESIDUAL INCOME AND WEALTH. Contact: UltimateFreedomTeam@gmail.com and we will help you make it to the top in record time. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr. Giampapa received his MD degree from Mt. Sinai Medical School in New York City, New York and continued his medical training in aesthetic plastic surgery. Upon becoming a certified plastic surgeon, Dr. Giampapa completed a year of microsurgery and hand fellowship at New York University Medical Center. He is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, a Founding Member of the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine and served as President of the American Board of Anti-Aging Medicine. He was one of the first Board Certified anti-aging aesthetic plastic surgeons in the world. Over the past seven years, Dr. Giampapa has been featured in many radio and television programs, including Phil Donahue, Joan Rivers, Geraldo Rivers and the McLaughlin Report. He has also published numerous articles in both national and international plastic surgical journals as well as book ...From:Greg AtkinsViews:0 0ratingsTime:02:01More inScience Technology

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Public release date: 31-Oct-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Vicki Cohn vcohn@liebertpub.com 914-740-2100 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News

New Rochelle, NY, October 31, 2012In a paper published today by Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers, researchers found that New York Times readers who were led to believe the newspaper's paywall was motivated by financial need were generally supportive and willing to pay, while those who believed it was motivated by profit were generally unsupportive and unwilling to pay. The article "Paying for What Was Free: Lessons from the New York Times Paywall," written by Jonathan Cook, Associate Research Scientist in the Department of Psychology at Columbia University, and Shahzeen Attari, Assistant Professor in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA) at Indiana University-Bloomington is available free on the Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking website.

An online survey conducted shortly before the newspaper introduced its paywall found that most readers planned not to pay for access. The same people were surveyed 10 weeks later and the researchers randomly assigned half to read a justification for the paywall based on financial need and half to read a justification for the paywall based on profit motive. They found that most readers did not pay for content. Readers devalued the newspaper, visited its website less frequently, and used loopholes to read New York Times content. However, the researchers also found that readers' attitudes and behavior could be changed by providing a compelling justification that emphasizes fairness. Those readers who were given the justification for the paywall based on financial need said they were more likely to pay for New York Times content.

###

About the Journal

Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking is a peer-reviewed journal published monthly online that explores the psychological and social issues surrounding the Internet and interactive technologies. Complete tables of content and a sample issue may be viewed on the Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking website.

About the Publisher

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including Games for Health Journal, Telemedicine and e-Health, and Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology. Its biotechnology trade magazine, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN), was the first in its field and is today the industry's most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm's 70 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available on the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers website.

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For New York Times readers, fairness matters when it comes to paying for content

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Public release date: 25-Oct-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Marv Kropko mrk107@case.edu 216-368-6890 Case Western Reserve University

CLEVELAND Someday soon, men and women could be able to direct human evolution possibly to the point where parents could prevent passing on an inherent disease to their children, or space explorers might become more suited for travel to other planets.

In his new book officially published in October 2012, Maxwell J. Mehlman examines matters of law and bioethics certain to emerge.

Transhumanist Dreams and Dystopian Nightmares: The Promise and Peril of Genetic Engineering (Johns Hopkins University Press) is about balancing genetic innovation with caution. Natural evolution is a gradual process. Advances in genetic engineering are changing that picture with ways to improve human mental and physical capacities.

Mehlman is Arthur E. Petersilge Professor of Law at Case Western Reserve University School of Law. He is co-director of The Law-Medicine Center at the university's law school and a professor of biomedical ethics at Case Western Reserve's School of Medicine.

With available technology, parents will be able to make crucial decisions about forming the next generation. Reproductive cells can be altered, for example, to remove risk of a disease passing to offspring. Mehlman refers to such genetic design as "evolutionary engineering."

In his book, Mehlman explains that "transhumanists" are those who are certain humanity can be improved and are convinced that evolutionary engineering will make humans disease-free, long-lived and perhaps even immortal, resilient to environmental change, and adaptable to new habitats.

"Quite literally, it could be our ticket to the stars," he writes.

He acknowledges that there are those whose belief systems are threatened by directed evolution. There are also concerns among members in the scientific community, who point to the intricacies of genetics and a need to better understand interactions between genes and the environment.

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CWRU's Maxwell J. Mehlman's book examines issues emerging in genetic engineering

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DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/kknlff/therapeutic) has announced the addition of Woodhead Publishing Ltd's new book "Therapeutic antibody engineering: Current and future advances driving the strongest growth area in the pharmaceutical industry" to their offering.

Therapeutic Antibody Engineering examines all aspects of engineering monoclonal antibodies and analyses the effect that various genetic engineering approaches will have on candidates of the future. Chapters in the first part of the book provide an introduction to monoclonal antibodies, their discovery and development and the fundamental technologies used in their production. In the following chapters, the book covers a number of specific issues relating to different aspects of antibody engineering, including variable chain engineering, targets and mechanisms of action, classes of antibody and the use of antibody fragments, among many other topics. The last part of the book examines development issues, the interaction of human IgGs with non-human systems, and cell line development, before a conclusion looking at future issues affecting the field of therapeutic antibody engineering.

Key Topics Covered:

- Introduction to biologics and monoclonal antibodies

- Value proposition for therapeutic monoclonal antibodies and Fc fusion proteins

- Antibody structure-function relationships

- Fundamental technologies for antibody engineering

- Sources of antibody variable chains

- Variable chain engineering - humanization and optimization approaches

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In the debate over genetically modified foods, scientists often point to what they see as a double standard. Why such fear and loathing about a technology that's essentially a more precise way of doing what plant breeders have been doing for thousands of years?

Myriad crops with desirable traits have been created via conventional plant-breeding methods. Breeders might, for example, mate a commercial potato with a wild potato that is resistant to an insect pest. By repeatedly crossing the resulting hybrid back to commercial potatoes, they hope to end up with a spud that mostly has genes of the commercial potato but contains the new, disease-resistant trait.

Invariably, many other wild genes are present in the final result, said Kevin Folta, a plant molecular biologist at the University of Florida in Gainesville. With conventional breeding, "who knows what you're doing?" he said. Genetic engineering, by contrast, introduces just a few well-characterized genes, he said.

In the 20th century, researchers incorporated more high-tech approaches in breeding new varieties: treating plant tissue with ionizing radiation or chemicals that cause genetic mutations with the hope of prompting a mutation that might be helpful. Red grapefruits are the result of radiation-induced mutations, as is a fungus-resistant Japanese pear called Osa gold, for example. Another breeding method is to fuse together cells from different varieties or species to transfer a useful trait to a plant.

For the most part, the products of conventional breeding are benign. But scientists have created a few doozies.

In the 1960s and again in the 1990s, potatoes with dangerously high levels of a natural pest-fighting chemical called solanine were withdrawn from the market. Celery plants conventionally bred for insect resistance have been linked to rashes in grocery workers in cases dating back to 1984 and in field hands since 1961. Though breeders may monitor the levels of toxic natural chemicals in their products, the U.S. government doesn't require them to do so.

Though this may seem illogical, "regulations are not based solely on science," said Gregory Jaffe, director of the biotechnology project at the Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington. "Sometimes we're trying to improve consumer confidence about something new and novel."

rosie.mestel@latimes.com

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Advancing Health Care: Personalized Genetic Medicine
The Partners HealthCare Center for Personalized Genetic Medicine (PCPGM) was launched in recognition of the excitement of the Human Genome Project and as a commitment to the importance that genetic and genomic knowledge would play in human health.From:PartnersHealthCareViews:57 0ratingsTime:03:28More inScience Technology

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Implementing of Genetic Medicine Programs: Laboratories - Debra Leonard
Genomic Medicine Centers Meeting III May 3-4, 2012 More: http://www.genome.govFrom:GenomeTVViews:108 0ratingsTime:27:24More inScience Technology

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Deadly Medicine Panel Discussion: Meanings and Implications of Nazism and Eugenics
On March 29, 2012, a distinguished panel of speakers shared personal experiences and scholarly knowledge of eugenics in Nazi Germany at the University of Michigan. This panel provided an opportunity for the speakers to reflect on the past, and discuss the implications of the exhibition Deadly Medicine to memory, medical practice, and genetic medicine today. Sabine Hildebrandt, MD, moderated the discussion of the panelists: Martin Lowenberg; Emanuel Tanay, MD; Geoff Eley, Ph.D; and Sharon LR Kardia, Ph.D. The Deadly Medicine exhibit installation and related events were generously cosponsored by the University of Michigan #39;s Medical School Dean #39;s Office, Center for Bioethics and Social Sciences in Medicine, Center for International and Comparative Studies, Institute for the Humanities, Department of Medical Education: Division of Anatomical Sciences, History Department, Jean Samuel Frankel Center for Judaic Studies, Germanic Languages and Literatures, Program in Science, Technology and Society, Genetic Counseling Program, and Department of Human Genetics. Music adapted from: "Pond" by Shimoda ccmixter.org is licensed under a Creative Commons license: creativecommons.org Except where otherwise noted, this work is subject to a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. Details and exceptions (www.lib.umich.eduFrom:umlibraryViews:107 1ratingsTime:01:02:58More inEducation

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Cancer Trends Plenary Session (part II) -- Bio-IT World Expo 2012
A plenary roundtable on cancer research trends recorded on April 26, 2012, at the Bio-IT World Expo in Boston. Moderated by Kevin Davies (Bio-IT World chief editor), the guests are (from left to right): John Quackenbush, Professor, Biostatistics and Computational Biology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; Julian Adams, President, R D, Infinity Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Jose Baselga, Chief, Division of Hematology/Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston; and Sir John Burn, Professor of Clinical Genetics, Institute of Genetic Medicine, Newcastle University, UK; Medical Director, QuantuMDx LtdFrom:CambridgeHealthtechViews:61 0ratingsTime:43:04More inScience Technology

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Targeting genetic medicine
Tue, Jun 19: A new centre at SickKids is bringing together the brightest minds in patient care, education, policy and research with the goal of one day making individualized treatment a standard of care. Beatrice Politi reports.From:GlobalTorontoViews:17 0ratingsTime:02:15More inNews Politics

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LA Society for the Arts in Healthcare Event
Coverage of a networking party at the home of Lynn and Dr. Ed Crandall involving the USC Institute for Genetic Medicine Art Gallery which is a member of the Society for the Arts in HealthcareFrom:harrisfromparisViews:133 0ratingsTime:03:37More inEducation

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Yolantha Harrison-Pace: Author, Poet, Playwright
Yolantha Harrison-Pace, Mama Haiti, Haiti, Visual Artist, Poet, Performance Artist, Author, Playwright, Teaching Artist. (Please read artist #39;s statement below.) Artist #39;s Statement: INTERNATIONAL LITERARY ARTIST AND PERFORMANCE WRITER Branded as one of America #39;s Top 100 African American Literary Divas besides such greats as Maya Angelou, Niki Giovanni, Gwendolyn Brooks and Oprah Winfrey, Yolantha Harrison-Pace speaks and shares candidly on how she did it, how she does it and how she insures that she will continue to do it: WRITE! WRITE!! WRITE!!! Guest Newspaper Columnist for the Kentucky Advocate Messenger, Adjunct Reporter and Art Critic for the University of Southern California Institute of Genetic Medicine Arts Museum, co-founder of Germany #39;s Arts Over The Ocean Artists Collaboration, award winning author, and playwright, Pace storms full force into the fray on the war against "writer #39;s block". Her writing workbook, I CAIN #39;T FIND NO PUNKINS, her writing workshops and performance readings provide inspiration, strategies and tools for the novice as well as seasoned literary artist to always be able to craft and hone his or her writing skills.From:FinepointTVViews:6 0ratingsTime:07:51More inPeople Blogs

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Dolan Lecture Series 2000 - Ronald G. Crystal, MD
Therapy for the New Millennium: Using Genetic Medicine to Regenerate Diseased OrgansFrom:DolanLectureSeriesViews:6 0ratingsTime:01:00:37More inPeople Blogs

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Implementation of Genetic Medicine Programs: Laboratories - Stephen Chanok
June 28-29, 2012 - Sequencing in Cohort Studies and Large Sample Collections More: http://www.genome.govFrom:GenomeTVViews:30 1ratingsTime:20:54More inScience Technology

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Shane McKee: Showreel 1
Never let Shane out in Israel with an iPhone. This is a showreel I put together for PastPreservers, purely from footage hand-shot with an iPhone, and some photos audio patched in. I #39;m a Clinical Geneticist (doctor in Genetic Medicine), so that #39;s the area I can claim proper expertise in, but my other science communication interests include: the Middle East (ancient and modern), Egyptology, General Science, the Religion-Science debate, Human Origins and lots more.From:Shane McKeeViews:47 1ratingsTime:04:54More inEducation

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3D Printing: The Future of Manufacturing
Alex Daley of Casey Research discusses the 3D printing revolution and its impact on the future of manufacturing. He also sheds light on curing cancer, biological medicine, genetic medicine, digital content, computer technology, electronic devices, popular mechanics, the human genome, globalization, monoclonal antibodies, biotechnology and much more. Michael Nuschke, author of Retirement Singularity, discusses the technology and science behind 3D printing 3D manufacturing and how this will impact investors. ****************************************** Original source: http://www.youtube.com Blog: http://www.RetirementSingularity.com Facebook http://www.facebook.com Twitter: twitter.com Google+: plus.google.comFrom:RetireSingularityViews:318 9ratingsTime:09:25More inEducation

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Richard Morimoto, 2nd International Conference «Genetics of Aging and Longevity»
Richard Morimoto (Northwestern Center for Genetic Medicine, USA) "The stress of misfolded proteins in biology, aging and disease".From: #1060; #1086; #1085; #1076; #1059; #1052; #1040;Views:4 0ratingsTime:37:27More inScience Technology

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Update on Down Syndrome Research: A Collaboration Between DSRTF and NDSS
In celebration of October 2012 as Down Syndrome Awareness Month, the National Down Syndrome Society and the Down Syndrome Research and Treatment Foundation collaborated with Dr. Roger Reeves to update the Down syndrome community on the status of Down syndrome cognition research. Dr. Roger Reeves is Professor in the Department of Physiology and a Core Faculty Member of the McKusick-Nathans Institute for Genetic Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He is noted for his contributions to the study of genes using animal models to understand to identify genetic modifiers that contribute to more or less severe presentation of Down syndrome. Slides from the presentation are available at http://www.ndss.orgFrom:NDSSorgViews:292 0ratingsTime:58:16More inNonprofits Activism

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October 31, 2012

Image Caption: A Selkirk Rex cat. Credit: Vetmeduni Vienna/Filler

April Flowers for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online

Appearance plays a large part in choosing a mate, whether that is your human spouse or your animal pet. Many human societies place a high value on curly hair for appearance as generations of perm-offering hair dressers can attest. It should be no surprise that pet owners and breeders are attracted to curly haired animals more frequently.

Three curly-haired varieties have been recognized and developed into competitive breeds already. A new study from the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, describes a fourth curly haired breed, the Selkirk Rex, as genetically distinct from previously known breeds. Published in the Journal of Heredity, the study presents a genetic analysis of this unusual feline.

The history of the breed starts in Montana. A domestic cat rescued from a shelter in 1987 gave birth to a curly haired kitten. This kitten mated with a Persian male and gave birth to a mixed litter of curly and straight haired kittens, strongly suggesting that the mutation for curly hair in the original rescued cat is dominant. The presence of the mutation on one of the two copies of the gene involved is sufficient to cause cats to have curly hair. The curly haired Persian mix kittens were attractive and soon recognized as a new breed: the Selkirk Rex.

Extremely popular, the Selkirk Rex can be found at breeders worldwide. Even with this popularity, there had been no attempt to characterize the mutation responsible for the curly hair. Serina Filler of the University of Veterinary Medicine, along with colleagues from the University of California, Davis and Agrobiogen, has investigated the new breed to present an initial description of the underlying genetic mechanism.

The mutation is dominant, meaning Selkirk Rex cats could be either homozygous carrying two copies of the mutation or heterozygous carrying only one copy of the mutation and one normal copy of the gene. Heterozygous Selkirk Rex cats are more popular. They present rounded ears, a more rounded head and a fully curled coat, which all conform to the written standard for the breed. Homozygous cats, on the other hand, tend to lose a large amount of hair when young. They do not show bald areas of skin, however.

Filler and her team investigated the pattern of inheritance for these traits. They examined the DNA for nearly 150 cats and were able to show that the gene mutated in Selkirk Rex is distinct from mutations in other recognized breeds. They named this mutation Selkirk Autosomal Dominant Rex, or SADRE. An analysis of the 20 available pedigrees suggests that the original mutation presented approximately 8 or 9 generations ago, fitting in with the breeds known history.

Cross breeding in cats is very closely controlled. It is permitted to cross Selkirk Rex with a variety of other breeds, including Persians, Exotic Shorthairs, British Shorthairs, and British Longhairs. This crossbreeding makes the Selkirk Rex a genetically diverse breed with a low coefficient of inbreeding. The breed seems to be closely related to both Persian and British Shorthairs, probably reflecting the frequency with which they are crossbred. The British Shorthair influence seems more pronounced and is consistent with the overall body shape of the Selkirk Rex.

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Genetic Analysis Of Unusually Curly Haired Selkirk Rex Completed

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Public release date: 31-Oct-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Haley Bridger hbridger@broadinstitute.org 617-714-7968 Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard

Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) inflammatory diseases of the gastrointestinal tract have puzzled the scientific community for decades. Ten years ago, researchers recognized that both genes and the environment contributed to these diseases but knew little about precisely how and why illness occurred. To begin to narrow in on the key pathways involved, they would need thousands of patients' samples, millions of data points, and the commitment of physicians and scientists at dozens of institutions.

Today, researchers from across the CD and UC communities have come together to share raw data as well as newly collected genetic information to dissect the biology of a group of conditions that affects millions of people worldwide. Their research centers on the two diseases, which are collectively known as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and suggests a fundamental connection between risk of IBD and genes involved in other immune-related diseases and the immune system's response to pathogens. The work by researchers from the Broad Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital, Yale School of Medicine, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, and dozens of other organizations appears in a Nature paper this week.

"This study marks the first time we've acquired and combined the raw data from so many research studies around the world and also the first time we've jointly analyzed Crohn's with ulcerative colitis," said author Mark Daly, one of the senior authors of the work and senior associate member of the Broad Institute and co-director of its Program in Medical and Population Genetics. Daly is also chief of the Analytic and Translational Genetics Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and an associate professor at Harvard Medical School. "We've been able, with this study, to evaluate the evidence for both diseases simultaneously, and discovered that the majority of genetic risk factors are associated with both diseases."

"There's been a paradigm shift in our understanding of IBD. This gene discovery process offers an opportunity to begin identifying new targets for treatment, better diagnostic tools, and in the long-term, personalized care for patients," said co-author Ramnik Xavier, a senior associate member of the Broad Institute, Chief of Gastroenterology and Director of the Center for the Study of Inflammatory Bowel Disease at MGH. "We now have the necessary starting material to understand the pathways that contribute to Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, and we also have a framework to better appreciate that they may not be two distinct diseases, but rather collections of many different diseases."

Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) share much in common both cause many of the same gastrointestinal symptoms and both are marked by an improper response by the body's immune system to harmless cells or bacteria. Over the last ten years, researchers have performed genome-wide association studies, looking across the genomes of thousands of patients with either CD or UC and compared them to genomes from people without these diseases to find significant genetic differences. The new study not only brings together the original data from those previous analyses, but also adds genetic information from another 40,000 people either with or without a form of IBD.

"If we want to get more hits but also dissect the differences between Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis or understand the commonalities, we really need to share all of our genetic data," said co-first author Stephan Ripke, a researcher at the Broad Institute and MGH. Ripke worked closely with co-first author Luke Jostins of the Sanger Institute to combine and then analyze genetic information collected by researchers from many different institutions.

The new study identified 71 additional genetic associations for IBD, many of which have been previously implicated in other immune-related disorders, including ankylosing spondylitis and psoriasis. The new research also suggests a strong overlap between IBD susceptibility genes and genes tied to the immune system's response to mycobacterial infections, including tuberculosis and leprosy. Researchers have observed similarities between the immune response in CD and that seen in tuberculosis and hypothesize that CD could be an aberrant response to certain harmless organisms present in the gut that trigger a similar reaction.

In addition to drawing upon original data from previous studies, the work utilizes a relatively new tool known as the immunochip, which samples 200,000 sites in the genome previously tied to autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.

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New genetic links for inflammatory bowel disease uncovered

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ScienceDaily (Oct. 31, 2012) Completing the second phase of the 1000 Genomes Project, a multinational team of scientists reports that they have sampled a total of 1092 individuals from 14 different populations and sequenced their full genomes. The researchers described the feat as a collegial effort to equip biologists and physicians with information that can be used to understand the normal range of human genetic variants so that a patient's disease genome can be interpreted in a broader context.

A report on the research, published online in Nature on Nov. 1 represents the culmination of five years of work, says Aravinda Chakravarti, Ph.D., professor of medicine and pediatrics and a member of the Institute of Genetic Medicine at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Chakravarti helped to design the population genetics sampling plan.

"The DNA donors in the study were not known to have any diseases, so the study gives us the genomic background we need for understanding which genetic variations are 'within the normal range,'" Chakravarti says. "With this tool, scientists now have a standard with which they can compare the genome of someone with diabetes, for example." That in turn, Chakravarti says, will increase opportunities for understanding the disease and creating targeted, individualized treatment.

The selection of the 14 populations sampled was based on their ancient migratory history and their genetic relationship to the other populations studied. Within each population, healthy, unrelated donors were randomly chosen for blood draws. The blood samples were first transformed into cell lines that can be stored and grown indefinitely so that they will always be available for future studies. After cell lines were grown, the DNA was sequenced and added to a public database.

The first human genome to be sequenced, published in 2003, made clear that as much as 98.5 percent of human genetic material does not encode proteins, as had been thought. Scientists now know the role of some of the non-protein-coding regions and, although much of the genome remains a mystery, there is reason to suspect that at least some of it plays a part in the variability seen in disease susceptibility and prevalence.

"The 1000 Genomes Project started at the beginning, with the whole genome and with no bias in the search for disease-related variants toward protein-coding genes," Chakravarti explains. "Regulatory sequences and sequences we still don't understand were also catalogued, so this information widens the areas of the genome we can search when looking for disease-causing variants." Most of the genetics research done to date has begun with a disease or a protein that is known to be malfunctioning, followed by a hunt for the responsible genetic variants.

The genetic variations found in the populations analyzed were categorized by how frequently they appeared in the individuals tested. Variants seen in more than five percent of the samples were classified as common variants, while low-frequency variants appeared in 0.5 to five percent of individuals and rare variants in less than 0.5 percent of the samples.

The 14 populations sampled were divided into four ancestry groups: European, African, East Asian and American. As expected, most of the common variants had already been identified in previous studies, and their frequencies varied little between ancestry groups.

By contrast, 58 percent of the low-frequency variants and 87 percent of the rare variants were described for the first time in this study. Rare variants were sometimes twice as likely to be found within a particular population as in that population's broader ancestry group. Different populations also showed different numbers of rare variants, with the Spanish, Finnish and African-American populations carrying the greatest number of them.

Amazingly, Chakravarti says, the researchers found that among rare variants, the healthy people in their study possessed as many as 130 to 400 protein-altering variants; 10 to 20 variants that destroy the function of the proteins they encode; two to five variants that damage protein function; and one or two variants associated with cancer. The implication is that all healthy people everywhere carry similar numbers of rare, deleterious variants.

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1092 human genomes sequenced to determine standard range of human genetic variation

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BUDAPEST, HUNGARY--(Marketwire - Oct 22, 2012) - Genetic Immunity ( OTCBB : PWRV ), a leader in immunotherapy technology, announced the peer-reviewed publication on the Company's groundbreaking nanotechnology and details on its potential for the cure of HIV. The manuscript is entitled "Nanomedicine applications Towards the Cure of HIV" by J. Lisziewicz and E. R. Toke (http://www.nanomedjournal.com/article/S1549-9634(12)00287-0/abstract).

The Scientists of Genetic Immunity pioneered research for the cure of HIV: in 1999 they described in the New England Journal of Medicine the first patients whose immune system was boosted to control HIV after interruption of his daily drug treatment (http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM199905273402114). This observation inspired development of a new medicine called DermaVir that boosts the immune system to specifically recognize and kill HIV infected cells. Today, DermaVir is the most advanced nanomedicine developed for the cure of HIV.

"We have about 30 potent HIV drugs suppressing viral load, but we do not have any to eliminate the infected cells from the reservoirs. To cure HIV we need new drugs to activate these infected cells and to kill them. In our manuscript we described the new drugs that are needed and the strategy that will result in the cure of HIV. One of these new essential drugs for HIV eradication is DermaVir, our lead HIV-specific immunotherapeutic product. In contrast to the daily oral drugs, DermaVir is administered a few times a year with four patches. Our Clinical Trials have shows DermaVir to be as safe as a placebo and it induced long-lasting HIV-specific T cell production. Our GIEU006 Phase II trial demonstrated significant killing of HIV-infected cells, producing 70% viral load reduction compared to a placebo. Our results suggest that DermaVir provides the immunologic drug component towards the eradication of HIV," said Dr. Julianna Lisziewicz, CEO of Genetic Immunity.

Eradication of HIV is a difficult goal to achieve, because a reservoir of HIV is established soon after infection and it persists even after years of potent antiretroviral treatment. New drugs under development can activate dormant HIV and flush the virus from the reservoirs. However, activation is not enough, HIV-infected cells must be detected and killed by the immune system. In Hepatitis C, which is caused by a virus transmitted through the blood similarly to HIV, the cure rate is up to 75% because the use of drugs that suppress virus replication and induce the immune system to fight the virus. Up to now the cure of HIV has not been achieved with drugs that suppress the virus. Therefore, DermaVir will be required to induce the immune system to fight HIV and contribute to the cure of HIV/AIDS.

Genetic Immunity is a wholly owned subsidiary of Power of the Dream Ventures, Inc. ( OTCBB : PWRV ).

About Genetic Immunity

Genetic Immunity, a wholly owned subsidiary of Power of the Dream Ventures, Inc. ( OTCBB : PWRV ), is a clinical stage technology company committed to discovering, developing, manufacturing and commercializing a new class of immunotherapeutic biologic drugs for the treatment of viral infections, cancer and allergy. Our Langerhans cell targeting nanomedicines are exceptional in both safety and immune modulating activity boosting specific Th1-type central memory T cells. These are essential to eliminate infected cells or cancerous cells, and balance the immune reactivity in response to allergens.

In 1988 Drs. Lisziewicz and Lori founded Genetic Immunity in the US after they described the 1st patient whose immune system was boosted to control HIV after treatment interruption (Lisziewicz et al. New England Journal of Medicine 1999) that lead to the invention of DermaVir. The Company's innovative technology team directed by Dr. Lisziewicz, a champion of immune boosting therapies, is now headquartered in Budapest, Hungary. She has been invited into the Scientific Advisory Board of the HIV Cure Initiative led by Francoise Barre-Sinoussi, Nobel Prize Laureate for her HIV research in 2009. For more information please visit http://www.geneticimmunity.com

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Genetic Immunity Publishes the Technology Roadmap for the Cure of HIV

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith