Human Genetic Variation Alters Anthrax Toxin Sensitivity
Martchenko, Candille et al., PNAS
Researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine show that genetic variation affecting capillary morphogenesis gene 2, or CMG2, dramatically alters toxin sensitivity in humans. In its analysis, the team reports on "a CMG2 single-nucleotide polymorphism occurring frequently in African and European populations [that they found] independently altered toxin uptake." The group goes on to suggest "testing of genomically characterized human cell populations may offer a broadly useful strategy for elucidating effects of genetic variation on infectious disease susceptibility."
Outsourcing Sequencing
February 09, 2010
At Science Progress, Scripps' Jeanne Loring explores the possibility that American researchers will soon be outsourcing their sequencing projects to China. China's sequencing capability is growing rapidly, she writes, pointing out that BGI has ordered 128 Illumina sequencers, bringing the total number of sequencers there to 157 — nearly double what the Broad Institute has. Instrument and reagent costs are only part of the price of sequencing, Loring says. "The Chinese will be able to achieve with DNA sequencing just what they attained in the manufacturing industry: the ability to do it cheaper and faster than anyone else," she says.
China does not respect
China does not respect intellectual property. So why would someone outsource projects that they depend on for drug targets to China? Quality control is another issue, considering that the writer parallels sequencing with large static manufacturing processes.
As far as doing it faster, they will have to create new algorithms for genome assembly that rewrite the time and space demands.
Considering their disrespect of US patents, they will probably start marketing their own Next Generation Sequencer by reverse engineering the Illumina machines.
Many countries have legal
Many countries have legal controls on shipping medical dna samples externally. I intend to be very cautious about outsourcing medical research samples where any mixup would be hard to verify and extremely costly with such technology. It is up to any genome services center to prove its capabilities for cost, turnaround time, quality and sample tracking. The further the physical distance between the research lab and the service center, the harder it is to document these things. But not impossible.
Based on James Hadfield’s map
Based on James Hadfield’s map & DB of next-gen sequencers available at http://pathogenomics.bham.ac.uk/hts/, the US appears to have a sizable lead on China in terms of NGS instruments. A quick count based on these data indicate at least 325 institutional instruments in the US and 59 in China. This does not include the commercial capacity of companies like Complete Genomics, Illumina, etc.
The government has recently
The government has recently stated that they have problems with outsourcing in other countries, but they cannot see that outsourcing has far greater benefits than it costs , especially with professional outsourcing like emi encore marketing and other firms that offer great quality .