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Take a Call and Make it Better

Mar 16, 2011

In new technical report in Nature Genetics, researchers from Harvard Medical School used "population-level concepts to reinterpret the technical features of sequence data that often reflect structural variation," an approach that Dan Koboldt breaks down at his blog MassGenomics. The researchers used three new analytical angles — allele sharing, population heterogeneity, and allelic substitution — to improve calls. "Together with SNP- and small indel-detection algorithms, these approaches will help realize the full potential of population-scale sequencing," Koboldt says.

Breaking News
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.