September 2008

Welcome to the first edition of the IGSP eNewsletter! We have tailored the content based on the results of our survey and we hope you will find it to be a valuable way to distribute news about IGSP faculty, staff and students. In this issue, you will find at a glance the latest IGSP publications, news, awards and opinions. If we are missing anything, please tell us and remember to keep us informed about relevant news as it happens. Also, a reminder that this eNewsletter is not a replacement for the feature stories you are used to finding in GenomeLIFE. Look for the first 2008-2009 issue of the magazine--which will cover the passage of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, the research of Darwin-Wallace Award winner Mohamed Noor, the IGSP Summer Fellows Program and a Q&A with David Goldstein about the recent discovery of rare genetic variants for schizophrenia--later this month.

Finally, as you see, the eNewsletter still needs a real name. Please submit your ideas (creativity is a plus!) to kendall.morgan@duke.edu. If you would like to provide feedback about the new publication, please take our quick survey.

Gene Hunt Hints at Cause of Bipolar Disorder
In a New York Times article, David Goldstein urges caution in interpreting a new study that finds two genetic variants that may be risk factors for bipolar disorder.

Deciphering the Genetics of Evolution
A News Focus feature in the journal Science highlights Greg Wray and a heated debate among scientists over the molecular mechanisms that underlie evolutionary change.

Gene-Hunters Find Hope and Hurdles in Schizophrenia Studies
The New York Times reports that two groups, including the IGSP's David Goldstein, have found new genetic variants responsible for schizophrenia, all of which are exceedingly rare. Read Goldstein's Nature article entitled "Large recurrent microdeletions associated with schizophrenia."

Where is Human Evolution Heading?
In a U.S. News & World Report feature, Greg Wray discusses recent evidence that human evolution has accelerated in the past 5,000 to 10,000 years.

Gene Variation May Raise Risk of HIV, Study Finds
David Goldstein comments in the New York Times on a study reporting that a genetic variant that once protected people in sub-Saharan Africa from malaria may have left them more vulnerable to HIV infection.

Breast Cancer More Serious for Young Women
MSNBC reports on a Cancer Center and IGSP study that finds young women's breast cancers share unique, and more aggressive, genomic traits not found in older women. Read the original research article in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Moving Beyond Race-Based Health
A company selling vitamins "specially-formulated" for African-Americans, Caucasians and Hispanics is misleading the public to believe that races are biologically distinct, says Susanne Haga in a Herald-Sun op-ed.

Personal Genomics: Access Denied?
Even if we can't interpret the data, consumers have a right to their genomes, Misha Angrist argues in Technology Review.

Screening Athletes Could Save Lives
In a Herald-Sun op-ed, Susanne Haga says newborn screening results for sickle cell trait should be made available to physicians and parents who want them.

Genetic-Test Firms Must Follow Law
Bob Cook-Deegan and colleagues at Stanford discuss California's recent crackdown on direct-to-consumer personal genomics companies in The Mercury News.

The HCP5 Single-Nucleotide Polymorphism: A Simple Screening Tool for Prediction of Hypersensitivity Reaction to Abacavir
David Goldstein is co-author of a study in The Journal of Infectious Diseases assessing the usefulness of the single-nucleotide polymorphism HCP5 for predicting hypersensitivity reaction to the HIV drug abacavir.

DXZ4 chromatin adopts an opposing conformation to that of the surrounding chromosome and acquires a novel inactive X-specific role involving CTCF and antisense transcripts
In Genome Research, Brian Chadwick suggests that the macrosatellite repeat known as DXZ4 has acquired a novel function unique to the process of X chromosome inactivation.

Informed consent for biorepositories: assessing prospective participants' understanding and opinions
In a report in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, Laura Beskow and her colleague conclude that biorepositories should devise ways to communicate clearly about the research being conducted and what is being learned.

Patterns of cell signaling pathway activation that characterize mammary development
Joe Nevins and colleagues explore the events associated with mammary gland development using gene expression profiling in the journal Development.

Genomic analysis of erythrocyte microRNA expression in sickle cell disease
Ashley Chi and colleagues have discovered significant microRNA expression in mature human red blood cells that is dramatically altered in sickle cell disease, according to a report in PLoS One.

Pharmacogenetic testing: Not as simple as it seems
In the journal Genetics in Medicine, Susanne Haga and her colleague propose a classification of pharmacogenetic tests to identify and prioritize policy issues that need to be addressed to ensure their appropriate delivery.

November 25th is the deadline for an "Implementation Planning Grant for Educational, Behavioral, or Social Studies for Translation of Genetic Factors in Common Diseases" from the National Institutes of Health and an NIH grant entitled "Translation of Common Disease Genetics into Clinical Applications."

The National Institutes of Health will begin accepting funding applications September 5th for collaborations with the NIH Roadmap for Medical Research National Centers for Biomedical Computing.

The National Institutes of Health has also announced funding to examine whether genetic variants can predict individual response to dietary components that alter cancer processes and modify individual susceptibility to cancer.

The National Institute of Mental Health has announced funding for new genomics technologies or analytical methods for profiling mental disorders.

For full details and the latest updates on IGSP seminars and events, see the Events Calendar

A selection of upcoming events:

Tuesday, September 2nd
Genome Biology Meeting
Meleah Hickman (Rusche Lab) will present.

Wednesday, September 3rd
Computational Biology Seminar
CBB graduate student Curtis Layton (Homme Hellinga group) will present.

Wednesday, September 3rd
Humanities in Medicine Lecture
Visiting Fellow Chris MacDonald will present a talk entitled "From Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Testing to Pricing the New Biologics: Corporate Ethics in the World of Biotechnology."

Tuesday, September 9th
Tuesday Seminar Series
Nancy Andrews, dean of the Duke School of Medicine, presents "Running in Circles."

Thursday, September 11th
Genomic Medicine Forum
Geoff Ginsburg, director of the IGSP's Center for Genomic Medicine, will kickoff the weekly seminar series.

Monday, September 15th
Cancer Genomics Seminar
Anil Potti will present a talk entitled "Oncogenic pathway deregulation as a guide to therapy in lung cancer."

Thursday, September 18th
Genomes@4
Muin Khoury, director of the CDC's National Office of Public Health Genomics, presents "Public Health Genomics: Closing the Gap Between Human Gene Discoveries and Population Health."

Thursday, September 25th
Crown Lecture in Ethics
Bioethicist Julian Savulescu of Oxford University makes the case for human enhancement through biotechnology.

Mohamed Noor will receive one of 13 Darwin-Wallace Medals from the Linnean Society of London for "major advances in evolutionary biology" in the last 50 years. Look for a story about Noor's accomplishments in the next issue of GenomeLIFE.

Greg Wray has received a National Science Foundation "Human Origins Moving in New Directions" (HOMINID) grant for study of the genetic bases for the evolution of human diet.

Sandeep Dave has received a Clinical Scientist Development Award from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation to study molecularly targeted therapy in patients with lymphoma.

Ornit Chiba-Falek has won a New Scholar Award in Aging from the Ellison Medical Foundation to support a project entitled "Identification and characterization of genetic variants underlying cognitive decline."

Alex Cho has received funding from the Veterans Administration Medical Center to explore genomic testing and risk assessment for type II diabetes in veterans.