GCB News

Techniques include gene editing and enhancing body's own repair mechanisms

GCB has partnered with the Duke Center for Applied Genomics and Precision Medicine (CAGPM) and North Carolina Central University (NCCU) for the Summer Scholar’s Program in Genome Sciences and Medicine for Underrepresented Minority Underclassmen. Nine students from all over the country will spend the next 10 weeks at Duke working with PIs from both Duke and NCCU. The program runs from May 21 to July 25.

The Center for Applied Genomics and Precision Medicine (CAGPM) is hosting its first ever Snyderman Scholars Summer Program for Undergraduates. The program runs form May 21 – July 25 and gives undergraduates the opportunity to participate in a faculty-mentored research project in applied genomics and precision medicine. There are two Snyderman Scholars this summer: Sarah Feng (2019) and Vidit Bhandarkar (2019), and both will be mentored by PIs in GCB.

Researchers from Duke University, Massachusetts General Hospital and the International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research in Dhaka, Bangladesh have used machine learning algorithms to spot patterns within communities of bacteria living in the human gut that no human would ever be able to pick out. These patterns could indicate who among the approximately one billion people around the globe at risk of cholera infection will get sick with  the diarrheal disease.

Here are summaries of a selection of the papers published by GCB faculty in April 2018:

Metastatic cancer cells can reprogram their metabolism to thrive in new organs, research shows. Specifically, the finding shows that cells originating from colorectal cancer change their dietary habits to capitalize on the high levels of fructose often found in the liver.

The work, published in Cell Metabolism on April 26, offers both general and specific insights into new ways of fighting metastatic cancer.

Technique allowed researchers to reduce blood cholesterol in adult mice.

Biomedical engineers have discovered an unlikely potential ally in the global fight against tuberculosis -- an FDA-approved drug originally designed to treat cancer.
Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are naturally produced by animals to break down connective tissue for a wide array of biological processes such as wound repair, growth and tissue development. Many diseases, however, can hijack these enzymes for their own purposes. 

Highlights to the current issue include:

GCB is excited to announce the creation of its fifth core facility. The Microbiome Shared Resource (MSR) will serve as a centralized hub to enhance existing interactions with the Duke Microbiome Center, the Duke Cancer Institute and the Genomic Analysis and Bioinformatics shared resource to address the role of microbial systems in human healthcare, food production and environmental restoration.