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.
CRL's CLIA Lab to Help Bar Harbor BioTechnology Develop MDXs
Lab techs at Clinical Reference Laboratory are going to be busier than usual for the foreseeable as they help Bar Harbor BioTechnology co-develop a number of molecular diagnostics.
The first of the assays is BHB's qPCR-based genetic risk-assessment test for colorectal cancer, which CRL's CLIA lab in Lenexa, Kan., will clinically validate.
Details of the other tests and financial terms of the partnership were not disclosed.
The deal comes two months after privately held CRL penned a multi-year agreement with Nottingham, UK-based CompanDx to co-develop biomarker panels and companion diagnostics for pharmaceutical, biotech, and academic clients worldwide.
As part of that deal, the 32-year-old reference lab, which has a satellite laboratory near Cambridge, UK, will help CompanDx develop its "Time to Event" breast cancer-signature test.
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