What If Gmail Had Been Designed by Microsoft?

from the Google Blogoscope.

Fun apart I think the new Windows Live Mail (the Outlook style desktop software) is a good tool especially with its Feed Reader features and windows common feed list. Equally good is the Attensa Feed reader

The Staphylococcus aureus microarray Database inching closer to Staph Infection Vaccine

MRSA the very name send shudders to any one working in a hospital setup, the aggressive Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) , is a bacterium responsible for some difficult-to-treat infections in humans.

The organism is often the cause of community-acquired MRSA (CA-MRSA) or hospital-acquired MRSA (HA-MRSA) depending upon the circumstances of acquiring disease,

University of Southern Mississippi biological science professor Dr. Mohamed Elasri and student Vijayaraj Nagarajan, a doctoral student have developed an online database that holds collected data on genes related to stap.The Staphylococcus aureus microarray meta-database, known as SAMMD

There are more than 400 SAMMD users from 23 countries with numbers increasing daily. As researchers work to find a vaccine for MRSA, Elasri said this program can cut a significant amount of time it takes to find information about staphylococcal genes

microarray-based Clinical diagnostic tests

 Pathwork Diagnostics, and the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine has initiated an investigational study Genomics-Based diagnostic Test to determine a tumor’s origin so that tissue-specific management can begin.

The test uses microarrays from Affymetrix

More news on Pathworks website 

Wireless ID Skin Patch Technology for Personal diagnostics using cell phones

Medgadget reports about the IP Development Company Gentag and Frank Sammeroff working on a new smart, wireless ID skin patch technology that aims to reduce medical errors in hospitals worldwide,

 

This patented, non-invasive solution combines disposable skin patches with RFID tags and cellphones, enabling doctors and nurses to use their handsets or wireless PDAs to update medical charts, time of patient visit and drug administration.

 

Not only that, it can be used to warn about possible drug interactions prior to drug delivery on-the-spot – a great tool for a doctor who has been working for 2 shifts in a row without stopping.

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New Microarray technology replacing PCR and speed up HTS

Dr. Richard Gibbs, director of the Baylor College of Medicine Human Genome Sequencing Centre and his researchers along with the help of  NimbleGen Systems the  company recently acquired by Roche Applied Science has developed a new technique that combines gene chip technology with the latest generation of gene sequencing machines to allow fast and accurate sequencing of selected parts of the genome

 The technology, called “sequence capture,” enables fast and accurate enrichment of thousands of selected genomic regions, either contiguous or dispersed, such as segments of chromosomes or all genes or exons uses , The study had uses NimbleChip™ microarrays in preparation for a high-throughput 454 Sequencing™.

The study Direct Selection of Human Genomic Loci by Microarray Hybridization presented on October 10, 2007, at the J. Craig Venter Institute’s Genomes, Medicine, and the Environment (GME) conference, Roche NimbleGen and 454 Life Sciences, working with Dr. Richard , will create a whole-genome human exome (all exons) microarray, with the goal of resequencing the entire human exome faster and cheaper.

Till now researchers relied upon PCR for selection of specific genomic regions for resequencing

Limitations of PCR  meant the length of sequence it can amplify was small, is difficult to scale or multiplex for the enrichment of thousands of fragments, and has limited performance in the repetitive regions typical of complex genomes, such as human.

The sequence capture microarray technology bridges the gap between next-generation DNA sequencing technology and current sample preparation methods by providing an adaptable, massively parallel method for selective enrichment of genomic regions of interest.

The new process is simpler, more accurate and efficient than the multiplex PCR . In one experiment, more than 6,400 exons (the part of the genetic code that carries the instructions for making proteins), were analyzed. Using the old technology this would have taken at least six months.

So Thats how Humans Evolved! – Now we can begin to answer the big question

Which of the thousands of long stretches of repeated DNA in the human genome came first? And which are the duplicates the question have been answered by a team of scientists from University of Washington School of Medicine and University of California, San Diego.The research published by Evan Eichler from the University of Washington School of Medicine provide the first evolutionary history of the duplications in the human genome that are partly responsible for both disease and recent genetic innovations.

Evan Eichler has analyzed segmental duplications in the human genome and have successfully pinpointed the ancestral origin of each and identified the newly named core duplicon.

The study presents a comprehensive global analysis of the evolution of segmental duplications in the human enome. The authors identify the origin of ancestral duplication loci, regions of clustered duplicons, and evidence upporting a punctuated model of evolution.

This work marks a significant step toward a better understanding of what genomic changes paved the way for modern humans, when these duplications occurred and what the associated costs are – in terms of susceptibility to disease-causing genetic mutations.

Apart from the above study  the recently completed (check previous blogs) Genome of the marsupial Monodelphis domestica reveals innovation in non-coding sequences the study helps to explain the evolutionary origins of human DNA and the role played by transposons

Genomes can duplicate long stretches of DNA from one chromosome and insert the duplication in another area of the genome. The resulting segments of DNA are called segmental duplications.  They are important because they hold evolutionary secrets

Finding answers to questions such as, Which set came first? What changes were innovated, when and why? What was sacrificed when an innovation took effect? What is the connection between disease and innovations within segmental duplications?, are important because researchers can then design specific medical treatments and can lead to ket discoveries in  Pharmacogenomics research

Download the Research Article