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.
Keep BEN Alive!
This is one bioinformatics budget cut that users are not taking lightly. It seems that for the last few months the Belgian node of the European Molecular Biology Network called BEN (Belgian EMBnet Node) has been essentially unmanned and will most likely cease to function by the end of September.
The community first learned of BEN's impending demise back in March when the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office announced that because of budgetary restrictions, no more government funding -- a yearly budget of €4,962,000, to be exact -- would be allocated to keep the server online. Following the bleak announcement, BEN's user community quickly organized itself to drum up support and save their favorite node.
In fact, a glimmer of hope has sliced through the bleakness in the form of an online petition, which has already met its minimum goal of virtual signatures. The petition includes an open letter to Minister Laruelle of Belgian Science Policy that implores the government to "reverse this unfortunate decision." Fred R. Opperdoes, secretary of the Belgian Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, created the petition and writes on its site that "many of the Belgian biochemists and molecular biologists are familiar with the functionalities of BEN, or have followed one or more of its courses such as an introduction to sequence analyses and bioinformatics or are using its databases and search facilities. BEN, with its up-to-date analysis software, its more than 70 databases and introductory and expert courses, fulfills a vital function for scientists both from Belgium and abroad."
Indeed. After all, the community clearly still needs the data and resources to live somewhere, so to the Belgian government I ask, why not leave well enough alone instead of creating more IT headaches for another site with already overtaxed resources? It's time to fight The Man.