research professionals

Wellcome Trust – Genomics research resources

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

Scientists may have found a way to treat cancer without chemotherapy by replicating our body’s own self-destruct system

BY LISA SCHONHAAR BUSINESS INSIDER Every day, millions of cells in our bodies "kill" themselves and are quickly removed. While the mechanism may sound dramatic, it's for our own good.

AP Exclusive: First gene-edited babies claimed in China

BY MARILYNN MARCHIONE THE ASSOCIATED PRESS A Chinese researcher claims that he helped make the world’s first genetically edited babies — twin girls born this month whose DNA he said he altered with a powerful new tool capable of rewriting the very blueprint of life. If true, it would be a profound leap of science and ethics.

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.