Connection Between Epigenome, Selective Mutability, Evolution, and Human Disease
Li, Harris et al., PLoS Genetics
Researchers at the Baylor College of Medicine and elsewhere propose a "connection between the epigenome, selective mutability, evolution, and human disease" based on the findings of their study on associations of structural mutability with germline DNA methylation and with non-allelic homologous recombination mediated by low-copy repeats. "Combined evidence from four human sperm methylome maps, human genome evolution, structural polymorphisms in the human population, and previous genomic and disease studies consistently points to a strong association of germline hypomethylation and genomic instability," the Baylor-led team writes.
Buying Vidalia Lab Services, Houston's US Clinical Labs Expands Into Georgia
US Clinical Laboratories has acquired Vidalia, Ga.,-based Vidalia Lab Services for an undisclosed sum, a move that marks USCL's first step to reach beyond its home market of the greater Houston area.
The acquisition, closed and announced yesterday, is an important step for privately owned USCL, a modest CLIA lab whose CEO, Rodney Proto, was last employed as president and chief operating officer of Sanifill, a waste-management firm. (At least the lab's biohazard material is sure to be handled with care.)
VLS, which is also a CLIA lab and specializes in servicing nursing home and skilled nursing clientele, services 45 counties in the southern portion of Georgia and provides walk-in testing to the Vidalia community.
It adds a significant footprint and customers to 1-year-old USCL — which now has four labs and 12 draw station locations in two states — and a modest menu of routine tests.
The buy "marks our entry into the nursing home and skilled nursing segment of laboratory testing in Georgia," Proto said. "In addition, VLS will offer us the opportunity to bring services to clients that VLS has not traditionally served."
Terms of the deal call for VLS President and Founder Riley McDonald to remain as president, and to "spearhead the integration" of the two labs.
He will also be charged with "focus[ing] his efforts on the expansion of business throughout Georgia and neighboring states," according to USCL.
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