It’s no secret that obesity rates are rising — quickly.  Between 2000 and 2005 the prevalence of obesity rose by 24%.  Extreme obesity increased by more than 50%.  If current trends continue, more than half of all Americans will be clinically obese by the year 2030.
Rapid changes in the prevalence of a disorder suggest that [...]

Tags: copy number variant, environment, epigenetics, Nature, Nature Genetics, nurture, obesity, sequencing, SNP

First came the Human Genome Project when, in the year 2000, an international team of scientists began mapping all 23 pairs of our chromosomes.  Then in 2005, the Chimpanzee Genome Project took off, attempting to do the same for the 24 chromosomes of our species’ closest living relative.  With intimate knowledge of the genetic make-up [...]

Tags: 454 Life Sciences Corp, neanderthal, Neanderthals, sequencing, Svante Pääbo

Understanding the genetic changes that lead to different cancers is key to more effective diagnosis and treatment of the disease. And thanks to the availability of faster, cheaper genome sequencing technologies, researchers are now able to peer more deeply into the DNA of cancer cells than ever before.
Recent studies have sequenced more than 600 [...]

Tags: acute myeloid leukemia, cancer, Gleevec, Nature, sequencing, Washington University