Grail: A billion-dollar gamble?
Grail has vowed to change the field of cancer diagnostics via simple blood tests and ctDNA analysis. Their Big Data approach, in which the company will build an atlas of DNA found in the blood, convinced major investors, such as Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, of the technology’s potential. A whopping $1 billion was gathered in the company’s series B financing round. Yet, do Grail and its technology deserve this huge ticket?
DuPont Pioneer’s next generation of waxy corn shows the green side of CRISPR-Cas9
CRISPR-Cas9 is making its way into the agricultural sector. Agricultural heavyweight DuPont Pioneer is clearly taking the lead in bringing the technology into plant breeding: about a year ago, the company announced that it would develop a new and improved waxy corn variety with CRISPR-Cas9. Is CRISPR the technology that will make genetic engineering for […]
IP strategy for oligonucleotides
Oligonucleotides have been gaining traction in the world of molecular biology. Their huge potential in both diagnostic and therapeutic applications has made them a popular research subject. However, protecting oligo-based applications can be complex and a careful IP strategy is needed when dealing with oligos. Fortunately, we have an expert partner in NLO to guide […]
Multiplicom: a strong focus on DNA analysis
Multiplicom offers molecular diagnostics products, focused on human genetics, oncology and prenatal testing. The company was built on a technology that came from the University of Antwerp and VIB, allowing multiplexing on a very high level. They combined this technology with Next Generation Sequencing (NGS), resulting in convenient and reliable products, enabling a simplified workflow […]
First “three-parent baby” born
Mutations in mitochondrial DNA can cause severe diseases and fertility problems. Since mitochondria are only inherited from the mother, a mother with faulty mitochondrial DNA will pass this on to her children without exception. Techniques involving the use of a donor egg with healthy mitochondria were developed to avoid this. However, the fact that the resulting embryo contains genetic material from three different individuals raised many ethical questions. Also, the science behind mitochondrial transfer hasn’t been fully elucidated. Nonetheless, a scientific group from New York went ahead and applied the techniques, and last April, a three-parent baby was born.
Why Nobel laureates are condemning Greenpeace’s anti-GMO campaign
Genetically modified crops are grown by 18 million farmers in 28 countries worldwide. In May, a federal study by the National Academy of Sciences declared that there is no substantiated evidence of human and environmental harm caused by genetically modified crops. But not everyone was convinced, including the environmental activist group Greenpeace. In response, more […]
The power of big data constricted by law?
Huge amounts of data, including personal data, are currently being created. If we are to believe IBM, 90% of the existent data today was created in the last two years. Big data presents extremely interesting opportunities for research. But is big data, which is characterized by volume, variety and velocity, reconcilable with data protection laws? […]
The Center of Human Genetics reveals all your secrets
Have a cystic fibrosis or BRCA mutation, or maybe a dangerous variant of the Huntington’s gene dangling in your cells? The Center of Human Genetics (CME) in Leuven will clear this out for you. As the biggest diagnostic unit in Belgium, CME is a major player at the European level in terms of genetic diagnosis. […]
I was published in science – A cocktail of bugs
Each one of us carries trillions and trillions of ‘bugs’, as Jeroen Raes (Group Leader at Bioinformatics and (eco-)systems biology lab, VIB/VUB/KU Leuven) likes to call them —micro-organisms that live in our bodies and make up the so-called microbiome, or gut flora. While these microbes have been linked to different diseases, information about which factors in a healthy individual’s diet and lifestyle affect the microbiome has remained elusive. What is the potential of the microbiota as a diagnostic solution at this time? Can we manipulate it to prevent diseases and use it to influence drug sensitivity? What are the challenges in the microbiomics field? Will we be able to develop targeted, even personalized probiotics? Is there a hype surrounding microbiomics that the public, scientists and communicators must take into account when evaluating its recent advances and future possibilities?
GlycoDelete: the road to plant-grown pharmaceuticals
What if our pharmaceuticals could be grown in plants? It might sound like science fiction, but two VIB/UGent research groups are working hard to scrap the “fiction” part. In a recent paper published in Nature Biotechnology, Prof. Nico Callewaert and Prof. Ann Depicker describe how they addressed pharming’s most pressing problem: plant glycosylation. “Pharming,” or […]
Precision oncology: shaping a patient-centric approach
OncoDNA was founded only three years ago in Gosselies. Its focus: help the oncologist follow the evolution of a patient’s cancer, collect relevant clinical data on this cancer and create a network for discussion during all phases of the treatment process. “The situation for an oncologist is becoming more and more complex, with more targeted […]
Zostera Marina’s dive into the blue – Published in Nature
Seagrass genome provides insights into the way marine ecosystems might adapt to climate change Coastal ecosystems are highly productive and diverse, and seagrasses form the bedrock of these habitats. Seagrasses are marine angiosperms (flowering plants) that underwent a severe habitat shift: They colonized the seas from a terrestrial environment, a move that required extreme structural […]
Sammson gene causes melanoma
In collaboration with big N2N researchers from UGent, VIB scientists from KU Leuven have revealed a remarkable link between malignant melanoma and a non-coding RNA gene called SAMMSON. The SAMMSON gene is specifically expressed in human malignant melanoma and, strikingly, the growth of aggressive skin cancer is highly dependent on this gene. The conclusions could […]
Help! First aid for the Nagoya Protocol
The Nagoya Protocol, an international agreement concerning the utilization of genetic resources, entered into force more than a year ago. However, the compliance obligations and even the existence of the protocol are not yet generally known. In this article, representatives from ABS-int, a service provider dedicated to helping organizations comply with the Nagoya requirements, discuss […]
I was published in science! – Expanding the RNA alphabet
A completely new area of genetic research is on the rise. In the past two years, RNA epigenetics has increasingly intrigued researchers with the enormous amount of new information it potentially contains. Scholars specializing in this process believe the details of RNA epigenetics may cause a true paradigm shift in how we see genetics. The […]