DNA Today: A Genetics Podcast

#22 Rare Disease Day 2015

Presentations at the Rare Disease Day 2015 are recapped. Presentors include Dr. Anton Alerte, Juliet and Tara Lynn, Dr. Caroline Dealy and Ethan Talbot. Check out joshuafrase.org, Favafoundation.org, and rarediseases.org for more information.

#21 Rare Diseases Day 2015

Attend the Rare Diseases Awareness Event 2015 at UCONN Health Center on February 25th. Sophia Walker explains the celebration of individuals who have rare diseases and the many researchers and physicians who are fighting to find cures for these conditions. Listen to patients, doctors, and students share their experiences and learn about rare diseases! Everyone is welcome and the free event is geared towards the general public. Email sowalker@uchc.edu for any questions. Visit rarediseaseday.us, rarediseaseday.org and rarediseases.org for more information.

#20 The Alliance for Aging Research Interview

This episode features an interview with Noel Lloyd who is the communications manager from the Alliance for Aging Research. The Alliance for Aging Research is the leading nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the pace of scientific discoveries and their application to vastly improve the universal human experience of aging and health. Noel explains how the Alliance advances science and enhances lives through education campaigns and working with legislation. You can read the blog post Noel references about Obama's Precision Medicine Initiative that I discussed last episode of DNA Today along with the 21st Century Cures Initiative blog post. Check out the nonprofit on their website, agingresearch.org, and follow their activties on Twitter @aging_research.

#19 Obama’s Precision Medicine Initiative

President Barack Obama proposed the Precision Medicine Initiative. It has a $215 million investment in the President’s 2016 Budget. This initiative focuses on the making major advances in personalized medicine. This means tailoring the treatments based on specific characteristics of individuals, such as a person’s genetic makeup, or the genetic profile of an individual’s tumor.

#18 New Advances on Fragile X Syndrome

Researchers have identified a genetic mutation accountable for a metabolic disease among Inuits in northern Canada. New research has provided new insight into fragile X syndrome, learn more about the syndrome at fragileX.org. January is National Birth Defect Month! I go over the CDC's top 10 most common birth deffects in the US. Prevention of birth defects is presented.

#17 PTSD and Breast Cancer Genes

All about genes! New study finds gene variants may be a contributor to PTSD. New genes have also been discovered to be linked to triple-negative breast cancer. Scientists have successfully used light to trigger REM sleep in mice.

#16 DNA Goes To Space

First news story is about research on how genetics can affect the brain and therefore behavior. Another study has been published regarding the mechanism that regulates dopamine levels in the brain, which all comes down to one gene. Last news story is about DNA traveling into space.

#15 Mindful DNA

A study finds meditating cancer patients are able to affect the makeup of their DNA, hear how they are able to do this. Learn about the Klinefelter Syndrome, which is the presence of an extra X chromosome in males.

#14 Epigenetics

A lesson on what epigenetics is. A news story reveals that long-term endurance training alters the epigenetic pattern of the human skeletal muscle. Dr. Brian Chadwick, Assistant Professor of Biological Science at Florida State University, presented his research of X chromosome inactivation at UCONN and I give the highlights and share how it relates to epigenetics.

#13 New DNA Sequencing Device

A plant has more foreign DNA, than its own DNA, how is that possible? A new DNA reading device was developed that is a thousands of times smaller than width of a single human hair. How might his change personalized medicine? The effects of caffenine on embryos are explored.