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.
As Expected, NC Officials Bow to LabCorp's Cash Request for Expansion
County commissioners in Burlington, NC, on Monday voted to give LabCorp $552,000 in cash incentives over four years in exchange for a promise to expand a facility in west Burlington.
LabCorp, the county’s largest employer, asked for the money in exchange for spending $27.6 million to build an 110,000-square-foot expansion to an existing lab in the city, LabCorp's headquarters.
As a local news outlet reported today, "[t]he current facility is crowded and the company has been looking at locations to put an expansion for about 18 months."
The draft agreement with the county doesn’t require LabCorp to create any new jobs, but LabCorp has said it "would be available to take on incremental growth over time."
For instance, as I reported in February LabCorp has been considering expanding in Guilford County.
"Certainly there is no finer corporate citizen, no company any more important to Alamance County than LabCorp," one commissioner was quoted as saying in the article.
In early June I wrote about LabCorp's plan to expand in Burlington, and the following week the county signaled it is "ready to play ball" with the reference lab's request.
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