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."
Play It Safe
June 29, 2009
The way grants are doled out leads researchers to play it safe -- and that's why there has been little progress in the "war on cancer," writes Gina Kolata in the New York Times. Incremental research is chosen by reviewers because "with too little money to finance most proposals, they are timid about taking chances on ones that might not succeed," Kolata writes.
At Respectful Insolence, Orac says that questioning whether the money was well-spent is fine, but that in the article. "Specifically, there is an unspoken assumption that 'riskier' research is inherently more likely to result in 'breakthroughs' than the more incremental model of building on previous results," Orac writes.