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Maybe One Day the Mammogram Will Be Ancient History

Dec 20, 2007

Scientists at Orion Genomics and other labs, including Cold Spring Harbor, have used microarrays in a genome-wide screen to look for epigenetic biomarkers for early stage detection of breast cancer. In the study, published yesterday in PLoS ONE, they found about 200 loci that were differentially methylated, and then went on to validate these in 230 clinical samples. The differential cytosine methylation events, they write, were independent of patient age, tumor stage, estrogen receptor status, or family history of breast cancer.

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The Scan

Pig Organ Transplants Considered

The Wall Street Journal reports that the US Food and Drug Administration may soon allow clinical trials that involve transplanting pig organs into humans.

'Poo-Bank' Proposal

Harvard Medical School researchers suggest people should bank stool samples when they are young to transplant when they later develop age-related diseases.

Spurred to Develop Again

New Scientist reports that researchers may have uncovered why about 60 percent of in vitro fertilization embryos stop developing.

Science Papers Examine Breast Milk Cell Populations, Cerebral Cortex Cellular Diversity, Micronesia Population History

In Science this week: unique cell populations found within breast milk, 100 transcriptionally distinct cell populations uncovered in the cerebral cortex, and more.