Archive by date | October 2009

ASHG 2009: Sequence, and then sequence again

Posted on behalf of Chris Gunter Believe it or not, some people are complaining that now the ASHG meeting has too much genomics. This comes after years of dire warnings that the society was ignoring genomics at its own peril. Friday morning featured yet another all-genomics platform session, with multiple talks on sequencing whole human genomes. Matthew Bainbridge of Baylor made crowd laugh by saying all we need is an assay with 100% sensitivity and 100% specificity. In the meantime, he’s using a method of sequencing a genome on two different platforms and comparing the results. He and others at  … Read more

ASHG 2009: Your Individual Development Plan: Two Modest Proposals

Posted on behalf of Chris Gunter In 2006 I blogged from ASHG’s career development session and hate to say that not much has changed. Back then I said “The session was kicked off by Bill Lindstaedt, Director of the UCSF Office of Career and Professional Development. He delivered the depressing news first: the median age of first tenure-track positions is 38; the median age of receiving a first NIH research grant R01 is 42; and only 4% of such grants go to first-time investigators.”  … Read more

ASHG 2009: Personal genomics fears overblown?

One of the major themes of this meeting is personalized medicine – the promise that some day, doctors will be able to tailor treatments for all of us based on our genetic makeup. Scientists and researchers are excited about the future prospects of personalized medicine, but there are also huge questions about how useful it will really be. Social scientists are wondering: can patients can handle genetic information? Will they overreact upon learning they have some small increase in risk for a disease? Or will the information wash over them like the myriad public service announcements exhorting us to eat right and get more exercise – messages that, apparently, most of us have learned to ignore?  Read more

GSA 2009: Prehistoric culture roamed southwards

Scientists have discovered a site containing the most extensive evidence seen so far in Mexico for the Clovis culture. The find extends the range of America’s oldest identifiable culture, which roamed North America about 13,000 years ago. Read the full story on Nature News here.  Read more

GSA 2009: A 3,000-year-old pit house in the American West

Posted on behalf of Rex Dalton The oldest dwelling structure in Utah — dated to 3,000 years ago — was reported this week, offering a glimpse of ancient life in the Great Salt Lake Basin. The pit house structure was located near a river bed in the highly developed Salt Lake City region after a team of scientists persevered for years to study the location without project funding. Some now fear the potentially important site may be lost to development, with but a plaque to mark the location. In a lecture at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of  … Read more

GSA 2009: Younger Dryas impact criticised again

Posted on behalf of Rex Dalton The fast-sinking idea that a comet struck North America 13,000 years ago, killing off the Clovis Paleo-Indians and triggering the Younger Dryas cold snap, was again undermined by geochemical tests released this week. A US-Belgium team has reported that it can find no evidence of a comet impact at seven sites and in sediments in two ocean cores corresponding to when the object reportedly exploded over the North American ice sheet. Francois Paquay, a doctoral student at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu, reported the team’s results at the annual meeting of the Geological  … Read more