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.
Web Resource Reaches Out to Women in STEM
Researchers at Arizona State University will soon launch a new resource, CareerWISE, which "offers online personal resilience training for women in STEM fields," according to the school's release. The team behind CareerWISE aims to "strengthen women's skills to manage whatever personal and interpersonal challenges arise along the way to completing STEM graduate degrees and entering careers," through multimedia Web-based training and "hundreds of 'HerStory' … interviews with women who have successfully navigated the hurdles of graduate school in a variety of STEM fields," among other things. The Web site, which is supported as part of the National Science Foundation's $3.2 million endeavor to "address the loss of committed women from science and engineering doctoral programs," will launch on November 4.
As part of the target
As part of the target demographic here, I am a little peeved by the implication that the loss of women from STEM fields is due to a lack of personal resilience.
As a senior investigator in
As a senior investigator in biomedical research, and a tenured faculty member in an AMC, I can think of no more valuable skill than to learn how to develop personal (and professional) resilience in the face of the inevitable challenges/stresses that women face at all stages in their careers! Effectively managing stress, learning how to take care of yourself so that you can 'bounce back' following such episodes, quickly, and 'better than ever' in disciplines where we have not yet achieved gender parity is a wonderful use of precious NSF dollars!! I anticipate this virtual network will also allow women to overcome the inherent sense of 'isolation' so common among women in these disciplines. Kudos to the organizers...!