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.
'Drug Administration' Just Has a Different Ring to It
March 24, 2009
In President Obama's naming of Margaret Hamburg and Joshua Sharfstein to the top spots at the FDA, some see a signal that the Obama administration favors splitting the FDA in two, one part to oversee drugs and the other food, according to this wire story. The article says drug company executives are in favor of the partition as they see an opening for faster drug reviews -- the FDA missed deadlines last year on an estimated 20 percent of drug applications -- and the FDA has been besieged by food safety issues that some say "have made senior officials even more risk-averse on drug approvals."