To Understand Brain Disorders, Illumina to Sequence 10,000-year-old DNA
In a collaboration with Lundbeck Foundation Centre for GeoGenetics at the University of Copenhagen, Illumina will sequence DNA of bones and teeth taken from thousands of ancient Eurasian human remains. The researchers plan to build a large dataset that can be used to understand the genesis of brain disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease and schizophrenia. GEN reports that the researchers will also “explore the relationship between the evolutionary history of select mental and neurological disorders and infectious pathogens.” According to FierceBiotech, “the publicly available dataset will be split into two subsets of genomic data: a panel of 5,000 ancient human genomes, and a panel of ancient DNA from pathogens or microbes associated with human diseases.”
What’s up with San Diego’s Tech Scene?
Has San Diego finally caught the wave of tech unicorns? With our first tech unicorns, Seismic and TuSimple, this blog post on the San Diego, Life Changing website, delves into what is helping make our tech community grow. It’s a mix of local and macro economic factors, as well as advancements in technology and, of course, San Diego’s great weather.
Hope Is the Takeaway from Sanford Burnham Prebys’ 10th Annual Rare Disease Day
This year’s Rare Disease Day Symposium focused on rare bone conditions and cancer, including multiple hereditary exostoses (MHE), a condition that causes excessive bone growth. The big news at the symposium was that clinical trials have started for the first drug that may be able to slow or halt bone growth in this disease. Previously, the only treatment option for children diagnosed with MHE was surgery to remove painful growths, which is not a disease-modifying treatment.
POW: Podcast of the Week
99% Invisible, one of my favorite podcasts, covers one of my favorite books, The Secret Lives of Color. Here’s the podcast and accompanying write-up.
It’s Happening Here
SDBN is launching a new series of called “SDBN After Work” to provide more regular networking opportunities. The first one will take place April 2 at Gravity Heights in Sorrento Valley.
CHI’s 14th Annual Drug Discovery Chemistry conference will take place April 8-12 at the San Diego Convention Center.
On April 16, the UC San Diego Office of Innovation & Commercialization will host an event asking: Microbiome: Is the microbiome ready for prime time?
