A detailed map of the koala genome is vital to understanding their susceptibility to disease, their genetic diversity, and how they may respond to new environmental pressures.
The coronavirus vaccine was developed faster than any vaccine in history. It took just 332 days from the first sequencing of the virus genome to the first vaccines given to the public.
The number one scientific breakthrough for 2020: multiple vaccines to prevent COVID-19.
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The development of multiple vaccines against the virus that causes COVID-19 has been hailed as the breakthrough of 2020. But there were many more supporting discoveries that made this possible.
As mountain goats face pressures from climate change and human disturbance, analyzing their genome provides useful information on their ecology and evolution.
Today smallpox can only be found in deep freeze inside a few highly secured laboratories, like this one at the CDC in 1980.
CDC
The smallpox virus appears to have been with humanity for millennia before a global vaccination drive wiped it out. Current genome research suggests how smallpox spread and where it came from.
Genome sequencing technologies have transformed biological research in many ways, but have had a much smaller effect on the treatment of common diseases.
Statins are imprecise and rather brilliant.
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Africa is known to be where humans originated. This makes it the most genetically diverse region in the world. Diversity in other populations represents a subset of the diversity within Africa.
The talamanca hummingbird, or admirable hummingbird, is found in Costa Rica and Panama.
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How many genes do you really need? Are there any that we can lose? Researchers are now identifying species that have streamlined their genome to adapt to a particular lifestyle.
Ethical frameworks, rules, laws: all try to have their say.
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CRISPR technology could have momentous effects if it's used to edit genes that will be inherited by future generations. Researchers and ethicists continue to weigh appropriate guidelines.
Bacteriophages are viruses that attack and infect bacteria.
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New research investigated who uses the wide array of tools available to people who've received their own raw genetic data and want to maximize what they learn from it.
Screening millions of healthy people for their risk of disease can be cost-effective. But it raises ethical and regulatory concerns.
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Yeast isn't just important for the foods we consume. A rogue lineage of yeast species that evolves faster than any other is revealing secrets that may help illuminate the molecular causes of cancer.