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The Great White Shark Genome Is Here

BY MEGAN MOLTENI WIRED 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 six-ton, razor-toothed, meat-seeking missile.

Large genetic study finds first genes connected with ADHD

BY CATHLEEN O'GRADY ARS TECHNICA If you have ADHD, chances are higher that your siblings do, too. Estimates differ as to how strong the connection is, but the arrows point in the same direction: genetics helps determine someone's risk for ADHD.

genomic privacy

The Future of Crime-Fighting Is Family Tree Forensics

BY MEGAN MOLTENI WIRED In April, a citizen scientist named Barbara Rae-Venter used a little-known genealogy website called GEDMatch to help investigators find a man they’d been looking for for nearly 40 years: The Golden State Killer. In the months since, law enforcement agencies across the country have flocked to the technique, arresting a flurry of more than 20 people tied to some of the most notorious cold cases of the last five decades.

It’s time to talk about who can access your digital genomic data

BY CURTIS AND HEREWARD THE CONVERSATION We are approaching a time when you might be too scared to have your genome sequenced. Only last week, a US senator called for an investigation into the privacy policies of direct-to-consumer DNA companies.

professional regulation

Despite CRISPR baby controversy, Harvard University will begin gene-editing sperm

BY ANTONIO REGALADO MIT TECHNOLOGY REVIEW In the wild uproar around an experiment in China that claimed to have created twin girls whose genes were altered to protect them from HIV, there’s something worth knowing—research to improve the next generation of humans is happening in the US, too. In fact, it’s about to happen at Harvard University.

‘I want to help humans genetically modify themselves’

BY TOM IRELAND THE GUARDIAN Josiah Zayner, 36, recently made headlines by becoming the first person to use the revolutionary gene-editing tool Crispr to try to change their own genes. Part way through a talk on genetic engineering, Zayner pulled out a syringe apparently containing DNA and other chemicals designed to trigger a genetic change in his cells associated with dramatically increased muscle mass.

emerging technologies

SickKids scientist calls for ‘national strategy’ to get genome sequencing covered in Canada

BY GENNA BUCK NATIONAL POST The U.K. is rolling out a program in which all seriously ill children without a diagnosis will be able to get a full genetic work-up for themselves and their parents, for free. The blood test, called whole-genome sequencing, yields a Human Genome Project’s worth of information about an individual person.

World’s first living organism with fully redesigned DNA created

BY IAN SAMPLE THE GUARDIAN Scientists have created the world’s first living organism that has a fully synthetic and radically altered DNA code. The lab-made microbe, a strain of bacteria that is normally found in soil and the human gut, is similar to its natural cousins but survives on a smaller set of genetic instructions.

gene patents

Like air and water, DNA should not be patentable

BY ANDRÉ PICARD THE GLOBE AND MAIL ‘Gene patents no longer need to stand in the way of diagnosing life-threatening disease.” That’s how Alex Munter, president and chief executive officer of the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, summed up the impact of an out-of-court settlement in the lawsuit CHEO launched against Transgenomic Inc. in 2014. Transgenomic, a biotechnology company based in Omaha, Neb., owns five gene patents related to the potentially deadly heart condition Long QT syndrome.

Genes can’t be patented, rules Australia’s High Court

BY MICHAEL SLEZAK NEWSCIENTIST Your genes are no longer patentable in Australia. The country’s highest court found unanimously that two previous Australian judgments allowing patents of genes were wrong, and they do not constitute a patentable invention.