Cannabis Sequencing Tech

Segra Deploys Disruptive Cannabis DNA Sequencing Platform

March 04, 2019 12:05 ET | Source: Segra International Corp.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, March 04, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Segra International Corp. (“Segra” or the “Company”), a cannabis agritech company, is pleased to announce that its Genotyping and Molecular Lab Services Division (“GMLSD”) has installed and operationally qualified Nanopore-based sequencing for its Next Generation Sequencing (“NGS”) platform. NGS allows for the collection of large amounts of genetic data from cannabis samples. You put your weed in there.

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Flesh-Eating Bacteria’s Genomic/Transcriptomic Trigger Found

Coordinating the sort of full-spectrum analysis more commonly deployed in cancer research, scientists based at Houston Methodist examined flesh-eating strains of Streptococcus pyogenesboth genomically and transcriptomally. Once the scientists had amassed an unusually large data set, they sifted through it with artificial intelligence tools and discovered a novel virulence mechanism. In addition to explaining how a run-of-the-mill strep infection can turn into a devastating flesh-eating disease, the mechanism may guide efforts to develop vaccines and therapies.

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Early days for new MGI sequencing tech...

MGI Announces New Advanced Sequencing Chemistry (CoolNGS)

MGI's "Broadband" Sequencing Delivers Bandwidth to Achieve Genome for All Vision

SAN JOSE, Calif., March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- MGI, a subsidiary of BGI Group, unveiled its novel CoolNGS chemistry, a disruptive new sequencing approach for its DNBseq™ sequencing technology that enhances the throughput, accuracy, read length and cost effectiveness of DNA sequencing.

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Common childhood melanoma associated gene identified

Genomic testing of a single patient reveals a gene commonly mutated in pediatric melanoma

Comprehensive clinical genomic testing of an adolescent patient, including whole genome sequencing, helped researchers identify mutations in a single gene that drive the most common childhood melanoma. The St. Jude Children's Research Hospital study appears as an advance online publication today in the journal Nature Medicine.

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More machine learning making models...

Sberbank creates algorithm to do data scientists' job

It seems that even data scientists are not immune to the corrosive impact of artificial intelligence on the jobs market. Russia's Sberbank claims to have created an algorithm - Auto ML (machine learning) - that "acts like a data scientist", creating its own models that then solve application tasks.

The bank carried out its first pilot in January, using Auto ML algos to create several baseline models to help with the targeting of sales campaigns.

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Genome sequencing "a waste of time for healthy people" claims NHS officials, missing the point

Genome sequencing for healthy dismissed as waste of time for UK project

Healthy people in the UK are to be controversially offered genetic testing by the National Health Service (NHS) – for a fee. The plan has stoked concerns among geneticists and clinicians, who question its clinical usefulness for healthy people and worry it could waste NHS resources.

UK health minister Matthew Hancock said seriously ill children and adults with genetic conditions will be offered the service for free, but healthy people will pay and have the option of having their DNA analysed by NHS scientists. This will help predict a patient’s risk of developing various conditions, he said.

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DUN DUN. DUUN DUUUN! THE GREAT WHITE SHARK GENOME IS HERE

Is there any more daunting animal to study than the great white shark? Just you try attaching a radio transmitter or drawing a tube of blood from a two-ton, razor-toothed, meat-seeking missile. But the scientific understanding of these iconic apex predators has been limited by technical challenges as much as a human bias for studying species that reside on closer branches of the taxonomic tree. Sharks evolved from the rest of the animal kingdom 400 million years ago—before the first adventurous amphibians left the oceans for dry land. What could the great white possibly teach 21st century humans?

A lot actually, according to the scientists who have spent years painfully decoding its DNA. Today, they reported their efforts mapping the first great white shark genome in the latest issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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Time to start watching Quantum more closely, here's a list...

10 hot quantum-computing startups to watch

Well-funded young companies drawing on academics and industry veterans for leadership are tackling hardware, software, algorithms, security, analytics, and more that are needed for quantum computing to become a reality in enterprises.

Quantum computing is still in its infancy, but you wouldn’t know it judging from the investments pouring into the space.

2019 looks like it could be an inflection-point year for turning quantum computing from theory to fact. IBM, D-Wave, and Rigetti all have commercial quantum computing products on the market now, and several startups in this top-10 lineup have already landed customers.

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After Scandal, China Proposes New Rules for Gene Editing

China has proposed new rules for gene editing and other “high risk” biomedical technologies. The proposals come three months after a Chinese researcher was widely criticized after claiming he had created the world’s first genetically-edited babies.

A draft of the measures was published this week on the website of China’s National Health Commission. The new rules would cover gene editing, stem cell experiments and biological products created for the human body, the Chinese government-supported Global Times newspaper reported.

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Uh-oh! 2 New Studies Emphasize CRISPR Off-Target Edits and Imperfections

CRISPR, the gene editing technique that promises to revolutionize healthcare and medicine, is not perfect. Right from the beginning, there have been concerns that this technique, which makes it easy to select specific areas of the genome and quickly and easily snip out and replace pieces of DNA, may also make unintended cuts in other areas of the genome at the same time. And two new studies, one in mice embryos and the other in rice plants, seem to confirm this.

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Chinese scientists have cloned genetically altered, non-Human, primates too

“This time last year, the first primates cloned through a nucleus transfer technique made headlines around the world. Now, Chinese researchers have pushed the envelope even further – by breaking a regulatory gene in macaques before cloning them. According to the researchers, cloning genetically altered primates has clear benefits for medical testing. But in the wake of controversy over gene editing on humans, progress in this contentious area could be outpacing ethics.

After the new experiment, five infant macaques born at the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Neuroscience in Shanghai all share the exact same genes, derived from a fibroblast taken from the skin of a donor monkey. More importantly, they all carry a copy of one specific gene – a version of BMAL1 that had been altered in the donor using CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing technology.”

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