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Using CRISPR for tissue-specific gene knockouts in Xenopus
Why study human diseases in frogs? For starters, 79% of genes implicated in human disease have orthologs in the African clawed frog Xenopus laevis. Frogs also produce hundreds of embryos that can be grown in a dish, meaning they can be manipulated in ways that are impractical on a large scale in mammals. For example,…
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Early Career Scientist Leadership Spotlight — Nicole Green
We’re taking time over the following weeks to get to know the members of the GSA’s Early Career Scientist Committees. Join us every week to learn more about our early career scientist advocates. Nicole Green Career Development Subcommittee Kansas State University Research interest One of the major challenges in developing new treatments for muscle diseases…
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New Faculty Profile: Daniel McKay
New Faculty Profiles allow GSA members who are establishing their first labs to introduce themselves to our wider community. If you’d like to submit your profile, please complete this form. Daniel McKay Assistant Professor, Biology Dept, Genetics Dept, Integrative Program for Biological and Genome Sciences (iBGS) (July 2013) University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Lab website Briefly…
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Tales told by ancient human DNA
Archaeologists have long known how to extract millennia-old stories from a single tooth buried in an ancient ruin—and now geneticists have the tools to join them. Advances made in the last several years have enabled researchers to sequence tiny amounts of DNA preserved in very old specimens, such as the material inside a tooth from…
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Hyper-conserved sperm proteins can still evolve rapidly
The fastest-evolving genes in eukaryotes commonly encode reproductive proteins—and the rate at which genes for male reproductive proteins change, in particular, often vastly outstrips the rate of change across the genome as a whole. A recent paper in G3: Genes|Genomes|Genetics describes an unusual exception: the amino acid sequences of the most abundant sperm proteins in…
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Genetics Society of America honors Job Dekker with 2018 Edward Novitski Prize
The Genetics Society of America (GSA) is pleased to announce that Job Dekker of the University of Massachusetts Medical School is the recipient of the 2018 Edward Novitski Prize. The award honors investigators who have exhibited “an extraordinary level of creativity and intellectual ingenuity in the solution of significant problems in genetics research.” Dekker, a…
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Marnie Gelbart on the importance of engaging both scientists and our communities in spreading awareness of personalized genetic technologies
Marnie Gelbart, Director of Programs at pgEd, shares her perspective on the need for bidirectional exchange between scientists and communities to shape the path forward. She pinpoints how interdisciplinary networks have helped pgEd grow and gives suggestions on how to get involved. In the Decoding Life series, we talk to geneticists with diverse career paths, tracing the…
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New in G3: Genome Reports galore, genomic prediction in cauliflower and trout, and use of a sibling subtraction method
Check out the February issue of G3! Table of Contents Genome Reports Whole Genome Sequencing of Hulunbuir Short-Tailed Sheep for Identifying Candidate Genes Related to the Short-Tail Phenotype Dafu Zhi, Lai Da, Moning Liu, Chen Cheng, Yukun Zhang, Xin Wang, Xiunan Li, Zhipeng Tian, Yanyan Yang, Tingyi He, Xin Long, Wei Wei, Guifang Cao G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics…
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Battle-scarred flies help us understand the genetics of aggression
Whether it’s a battle over territory or a brawl over a sports game, aggressive behavior is a hallmark of the animal kingdom. The influence genetics has on aggression is undeniable—but the process of determining the genes involved has been frustratingly slow. To better understand genetic factors involved in aggression, some researchers have turned to male…
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Genetics Society of America honors Philip Hieter with 2018 George W. Beadle Award
The Genetics Society of America (GSA) is pleased to announce that Philip Hieter is the recipient of the 2018 George W. Beadle Award, bestowed in honor of his outstanding contributions to the genetics research community. Hieter is Professor of Medical Genetics in the Michael Smith Laboratories at the University of British Columbia. Geneticists across the…
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Reevaluating the Role of Staff Scientists
Guest post by Irini Topalidou. In the last decade or so, biological research has moved to a new level of complexity and competitiveness. Principal Investigators (PIs) are now primarily tasked with grant writing and managing, while also executing the numerous additional responsibilities the position demands. But to be successful, labs require experienced scientists to help…