SARS-CoV-2 infection induces functional changes in platelets that make them more likely to aggregate and cause clots, according to a recent study by researchers at the University of Utah. Those changes may explain some the disease’s most dangerous complications, such as heart attacks and strokes. Until now, little was known…

The cholesterol-lowering medications called statins are taken by millions of people around the globe and represent one of the most widely prescribed drug classes. While these compounds were designed to effectively reduce heart attack and stroke, a recent finding has shown that there is a clear link between improved gut…

A genetic association study that analyzed data from more than 47,000 people in an Estonian biobank has implicated ALK—a well-known oncogene in anaplastic large-cell lymphomas and non-small cell lung cancer—as a key gene that may regulate thinness and play a role in resisting weight gain in metabolically healthy thin people.…

The results of a small-scale study in human volunteers have shown how specifically low-carb, high-fat ketogenic diets (KDs)—which are widely publicized for their purported health and weight loss-promoting benefits—have a dramatic impact on the gut microbiome that differs to that of high-fat diets (HFDs). Additional studies in mice by the…

The use of some medications, such as stomach acid neutralizers—proton pump inhibitors—are associated with disruption of the microbial communities of the gut. Now, researchers find that statins could potentially modulate the disrupted gut microbiota and linked inflammation in obesity. The findings are published in Nature in a paper titled, “Statin therapy is…

Molecular diagnostics and bioinformatics company OpGen which focuses on infectious disease, announced an investigator-initiated collaboration with Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, to identify bacterial co-infections in patients admitted to the ICU for COVID-19 pneumonia. High-risk COVID-19 patients, which includes the elderly and others with co-morbidities including diabetes and obesity, are also at…

Researchers believe a combination of health factors and type II diabetes puts some patients at a higher risk than others for suffering more severe effects of COVID-19. A new study from the National Institute of Health (NIH) may explain why certain populations in the US are more prone to develop…

Sarah H. Elsea, Ph.D. Sarah H. Elsea has been elected to the board of directors of the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics Foundation  (ACMGF). Elsea, Ph.D., FACMG, is professor of molecular and human genetics at Baylor College of Medicine and senior director of biochemical…

The coming decade is guaranteed to bring a panoply of emerging fields will help us better understand the intersection between genetics and health and how to incorporate them into routine medical practice. Polygenic risk scores (PRS) is, perhaps, at the top of the “must watch” list. With a firm footing…

ProSciento said today it will combine its predictive screening methodology and clinical protocol with Nordic Bioscience’s biomarker technology in a collaboration designed to improve the diagnosis, prognosis and development of therapeutics for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Under their collaboration—whose value was not disclosed—the companies plan…

The results of studies in mice by researchers at Georgia State University suggest that targeted immunization against bacterial flagellin, the major structural protein of bacterial flagella, could represent a new strategy to protect against chronic inflammatory diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. The scientists, headed by a team at the Institute…

Some people wake early every morning to run, bike, swim, or lift. For others, finding the motivation to work out can be more of a challenge. A new study shows that the difference between the two may be held in the epigenetic control of the expression of certain genes. And,…

Although it is recommended for most people to get 7 to 9 hours of sleep, there are some people who can sleep for just 4 to 6 hours and feel well-rested. The team that identified two known human genes that promote this “natural short sleep” have now discovered a third,…

Two independent sets of research published in Science Immunology have demonstrated how a subset of immune cells in the gut, known as group 3 innate lymphoid cells (ILC3), are tuned to the body’s daily circadian clock as they sense and interact with gut microbes. Collective results from the research indicate…

Gene-editing pioneers based at the University of California (UC) are partnering with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) to establish a new laboratory that will explore how gene mutations cause disease, and develop new CRISPR-based technologies aimed at speeding up drug discovery. Jennifer Doudna, Ph.D., of UC Berkeley, and Jonathan Weissman, Ph.D., of UC…