Shankar Balasubramanian: Indian-Origin Chemist In Millennium Tech Prize-Winning Team For Revolutionary DNA Sequencing Tech
by Bhaswati Guha Majumder - May 19, 2021 02:32 PM
Prize winners David Klenerman (L) and Shankar Balasubramanian (R)
Snapshot
The development of next-generation DNA sequencing technology earns Cambridge University chemists a prestigious global science and technology prize.
Part of the winning duo is a chemist of Indian origin.
Shankar Balasubramanian, a British-Indian chemist from the University of Cambridge, has been declared the winner of the 2020 Millennium Technology prize along with his colleague David Klenerman.
The duo was awarded the prestigious science and technology prize on 18 May by the President of the Republic of Finland, Sauli Niinisto, who is the Patron of the prize, during a virtual ceremony.
https://www.afinalwarning.com/513683.html (Natural News) The state of Washington was the site of the first major coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in the U.S. in March last year. As infection rates and the need for tests were spiking, BGI Group – the world’s largest biotech company – approached the state with an enticing offer.
BGI proposed to build and help run state-of-the-art COVID testing labs, provide technical expertise and high throughput sequencers and make additional donations. Given the situation, it seemed like an offer the state couldn’t refuse. But officials were suspicious about BGI and its connections with the Chinese government.
Abstract
There is increasing evidence linking the gut microbiota to various aspects of human health. Nuts are a food rich in prebiotic fibre and polyphenols, food components which have been shown to have beneficial effects on the gut microbiota. This systematic review aimed to synthesise the evidence regarding the effect of nut consumption on the human gut microbiota. A systematic search of the databases MEDLINE, PubMed, Cochrane CENTRAL and CINAHL was performed until 28 November 2019. Eligible studies were those that investigated the effects of nut consumption in humans (aged over 3 years old), utilising next-generation sequencing technology. Primary outcome measures were between-group differences in α-and β-diversity metrics and gut microbial composition. A total of eight studies were included in the review. Included studies assessed the effects of either almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts or pistachios on the gut microbiota. Overall, nut consumption had a modest impact on gut microbio
Researchers have independently validated industry-leading blood tests that can detect the DNA released by tumours.
An international team today reports the findings of an independent assessment of five commercially-available assays for tumour DNA sequencing – a fast, cheap and less invasive method to diagnose and monitor cancer.
The researchers revealed that all assays could reliably detect so-called circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) when it made up 0.5% of the total DNA in blood, a level of sensitivity that allows detection, genetic analysis and monitoring of late-stage and metastatic tumours.
Published in the journal Nature Biotechnology, the study is a major milestone for the use of ctDNA assays as cancer diagnostics, outlining best-practice guidelines and uncovering key areas of future development.
Leopards are among the most widespread carnivores today, living in a wide range of habitats, from deserts to rainforests, and from the lowland plains to the mountainous highlands.
Over the past century, they’ve experienced extreme habitat losses due to human activity, both directly from hunting and indirectly from habitat reduction and prey competition. This has led to the land they occupy being reduced by over 50% in Africa, and over 80% in Asia, involving the local extinction of many populations.
Genetic analysis of leopards is important to understand their population history, structure and dynamics. Particularly important is the analysis of whole nuclear genomes, which means all the DNA contained in the cell core – approximately 2.5 billion DNA bases (pairs of DNA building blocks).