Skip to main content
Premium Trial:

Request an Annual Quote

"That Is I/The Eternal Thing in Man/That Heeds No Call to Die"

If you've got a little bit of the poet in you, the Genomics Forum and the Scottish Poetry Library have teamed up to hold a genomics poetry competition. It's not so far-fetched — the Forum says that germ plasm theory inspired Thomas Hardy to write his poem 'Heredity.' Submit a poem no longer than 50 lines along the theme of "improving the human" and you could win the £500 first place prize. The deadline is October 7th — National Poetry Day in the UK — and the winner will be announced in November.

The Scan

Positive Framing of Genetic Studies Can Spark Mistrust Among Underrepresented Groups

Researchers in Human Genetics and Genomics Advances report that how researchers describe genomic studies may alienate potential participants.

Small Study of Gene Editing to Treat Sickle Cell Disease

In a Novartis-sponsored study in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers found that a CRISPR-Cas9-based treatment targeting promoters of genes encoding fetal hemoglobin could reduce disease symptoms.

Gut Microbiome Changes Appear in Infants Before They Develop Eczema, Study Finds

Researchers report in mSystems that infants experienced an enrichment in Clostridium sensu stricto 1 and Finegoldia and a depletion of Bacteroides before developing eczema.

Acute Myeloid Leukemia Treatment Specificity Enhanced With Stem Cell Editing

A study in Nature suggests epitope editing in donor stem cells prior to bone marrow transplants can stave off toxicity when targeting acute myeloid leukemia with immunotherapy.