A Little Golden Nugget

A Little Golden Nugget

Pope Francis blessing a sample of Golden Rice in the Phillipines

          In North America we are lucky. For the most part we don't have to worry about where our next meal will come from, diseases associated with malnutrition are much more rare. This is not the case in the developing world where food security is still an issue of great concern. According to the Declaration of Human Rights put forth in 1948 by the UN "food security exists when all people, at all times, have access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life". However, upwards of 250,000 to 500,000 children in the developing world go blind every year due to Vitamin A deficiency and up to half of these die from the condition. Vitamin A is found in many foods: carrots, spinach, mango, papaya, eggs and cheese, all of these foods can act as sources for Vitamin A, but lack of access to nutritious food drives the problem in many parts of the developing world.
 

World distributions of Vitamin A deficiency

            In the early 2000's a potential solution was created: Golden Rice. The rice was genetically modified by a team in Switzerland to include the synthetic pathway of  a Vitamin A precursor. As rice is a staple food in many of the countries where endemic Vitamin A deficiency is a serious issue, this presented a viable solution. However, Golden Rice has faced much opposition throughout its development. Some fear that cultivation of Golden Rice will lead to wider acceptance and adoption of other GMO's, others argue that allowing corporate control of food production in this countries actually undermines food sovereignty and would help perpetuate the cycle of poverty. In either case, all the implications of adopting GMO products must be weighed against the potential benefits to society.

Golden Rice (right) compared to normal rice (left)

          Earlier this year Pope Francis blessed a sample of Golden Rice in the Philippines shortly after protesters destroyed a field of the grain. The benefits to mankind outweigh the negative aspects of this GMO crop which is why Pope Francis chose to bestow his blessing on it. Other GMO's act to add resistance to herbicide or disease, in general acting to benefit the farmer and not the consumer. In this case just the opposite is true, Golden Rice has been supported by a variety of NGO's and is designed to benefit the people and not put profits in the pockets of large corporations. As with adoption of any technology, the benefits must be weighed against the risks.
          Production of GMO's is a complicated and arduous process. Regardless of personal views of the risks and benefits of GMO's, thousands of brilliant scientists continue to work on developing new varieties; some may benefit the producers, some may benefit people, and some may only help to add to the bottom line of large corporations. Aurora's goal is to help the scientist, to expedite sample preparation in basic lab operations such as DNA extraction, PCR setup, and DNA sequencing efforts necessary for development of new crops whether they are created through genetic modification or conventional breeding programs. Automating the techniques associated with the scientific process helps to drive development cycle and bring new, beneficial products to market faster. To find out more about how Aurora helps drive various applications visit our webpage.

Find out more about Aurora: www.aurorabiomed.com

Telling Your Future

Telling Your Future

            A few weeks ago we wrote about the debate surrounding genetic testing in newborns (read "The  Great (DNA) Debate" here). Now we ask, how much of your genetic future would you like to know? Some infantile diseases require immediate action; diseases like phenylketonuria are devastating in newborns, early detection and treatment can stop the progression towards serious disease. But what about a slightly higher risk for cancer? Would you live your life differently knowing what your future may (or may not) have in store for you? Should screening be performed for untreatable diseases knowing that the only information an individual could gain would be the knowledge that they are going to die. Sure, it is the responsibility of the physician to share this information, but would you want that knowledge hanging over your head for your whole life?

           How much information we should have about ourselves (and when to have it) is a debate that is still on-going. The issue is not only personal information relevant to yourself, but who else will have access to it? Where is technology headed? Will we identify genetic markers commonly found in criminals so the CIA could track those people throughout their life? (Throw on your conspiracy shoes people because this just got real!) Could entire career tracks be predicted and "optimized placements" be made based on genetic predispositions?
         The fact remains that newborn screening is an extremely beneficial process and a great benefit to mankind. Where NGS technologies go from here remains to be seen, I for one would embrace more comprehensive testing of newborns to increase the quality of life for my future children and their children but am wary of what could be done with this information. Regardless, labs require the power to process the samples, and Aurora is happy to provide that power. How you ask? Why with the VERSA 1100 NGLP of course!

Aurora Biomed: www.aurorabiomed.com

Don't Judge a Bottle by its Label

Don't Judge A Bottle By Its Label

Ginko - Yeah, I didn't know what it looked like either...

Don't judge a book by its cover, or so the saying goes. This is especially true when the title of the book has nothing to do with the topic, who would guess Moby Dick was about a whale? You might wanna throw a picture of a whale on the cover there Melville, just so people don't get confused! That's why its easy with herbal supplements, the label tells you exactly what's in the bottle, if you buy a bottle a ginko root, boom it says it right on the bottle!

It turns out it might not be that simple. A recent study published in BMC Medicine used DNA barcoding techniques to look at the actual contents of 44 herbal supplements and compared them to their living relatives.To do this, researchers must extract the DNA, amplify a small region of the DNA which contains changes unique to that species (like a barcode on a box of cereal, get it?!), then sequence the DNA to see the specific changes and identify the species. In the case of the ginko root, the researchers found it was contaminated by black walnut, the nerve!

This paper has received a lot of attention, and not necessarily all of it positive. There have been calls to have the paper retracted saying that the use of DNA barcoding is not the appropriate technique for this application and that the researchers made errors while doing so. The critics also call for a more stringent peer review process to ensure that the appropriate changes are made to the paper.

DNA barcoding is a fairly well established technique. It is less onerous and time consuming than RFLP and can be used to deliver high quality reliable results. Not only that but the critics have used DNA barcoding in their own, similar studies. Not to mention that BMC Medicine does require publications to be peer reviewed by two "experts" in the field which is fairly standard for medical journals. Maybe the critics are upset because they can no longer think about their daily ginko hit in the same way...

Studies like this one are becoming more and more common, and the criticisms are just as common. The new generation of genomic techniques has enabled us to look at things at the finest levels. However, the techniques leading up to analysis have not changed, DNA extraction and PCR remain largely the same since the techniques were first described. To push the industry forward, liquid handling robotics enable faster, more precise preparation of samples and help push from raw input to results faster. For more information, take a look here.

Read the original paper in BMC Medicine: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7015/11/222

Find out more about Aurora: www.aurorabiomed.com

Off to Phoenix!

 Off to Phoenix!

           Next week we will be off to beautiful Phoenix, AZ to attend the 2014 Annual Meeting of the Association for Molecular Pathologists. We will be rubbing shoulders and hob-nobbing with some of the brightest pathologists in America. Don't be jealous, it's not forever, the conference only lasts for 3 short days, so we will be out of the heat and back to rainy Vancouver in no time!
            We are very excited to attend this conference. Increasingly, molecular pathology is using genomic techniques to screen for diseases. This includes DNA microarrays, DNA sequencing, and other techniques which allow rapid and highly accurate diagnosis. The field of molecular pathology is on the fore-front of medicine and we are excited to see the growth this rapidly advancing field has undergone.
             At the show we hope to do some showing off of our own. We will be showing our VERSA 10 NAP workstation and the VERSA 1100 NGLP workstation at our booth. These workstations help enable clinicians, researchers, and masters of molecular pathology alike to keep up with demands placed by the rapid growth of this field by increasing walk away time and allowing them to focus on more important things like making sure sick people get healthy! Don't stand there and do it yourself, let VERSA do it!

More information about AMP: http://www.2013amp.org/
Aurora Biomed: www.aurorabiomed.com

What's that smell? (It's you!)

What's that smell? (It's you!)

          When you think of smell you think of lots of different things: dogs,  sharks, Nelson from The Simpsons. One critter you don't think of is the mosquito. Well put that idea aside because as it turns out the mosquito can smell, specifically it can smell YOU! Researchers have found that the Anapheles mosquito, the main vector for malaria, appears to have evolved a specialization for sniffing out humans. Over the years Anapheles gambiae has specialized in finding and feeding on humans; kinda like Jaws but more annoying and itchier.

            The infected female anapheles transmits malaria when feeding on a healthy individual. The parasites enter the bloodstream and quickly infect the host blood cells causing the disease we know as malaria. Malaria is a worldwide problem affecting  219 million people in 2010 as estimated by the World Health Organization. Although the primary region affected by malaria is sub-Saharan Africa, the disease is far reaching to even the United States.

            In the paper (found here) scientists sequenced and analyzed the genome of Anapheles gambiae as well as Anapheles quadriannulatus, a related species which does not appear to preferentially feed on humans. The researchers found that there was a combined effect of mutations in some (what I'm going to call) "smell receptors" in the mosquito's antennae (it smells with its antennae? gross) as well as an abundance of other "smell receptors" that help it specifically smell humans. (This is a huge simplification, for more info read the paper!)

            Studies like this one are rapidly changing our understanding of disease and disease transmission. Driven by the power of next generation sequencing, our ability to undertake these projects is increasing every day; a project like this would have been impossible not so long ago! However, with great sequencing power comes great necessity for sample processing. And we all know what spiders do to flies

Read the original paper:  http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2164/14/749/abstract

More about Aurora Biomed: www.aurorabiomed.com

The Great (DNA) Debate

The Great (DNA) Debate

             At the recent ASHG meeting one of the hot-button topics was DNA sequencing in newborns. Currently, the states require the screening of minimum 21 genes in all newborn babies for hereditary disease; having information about the babies A's, T's, C's and G's can immediately improve their treatment to make sure they can learn their ABC's. As DNA sequencing technology continues to improve we may be able to completely sequence the entire genome of a newborn child. This may help answer questions like will the child succumb to the family predisposition to diabetes or heart disease, giving valuable information about potential for diseases and other information that could help discover markers and treatment for diseases (or find a genetic marker for being devilishly handsome).

Terminator, as portrayed in the movie "Terminator"

             

         The idea of complete genome sequencing for newborns is not without arguments against it. Where and how will this information be stored? (Please not on a computer named Skynet!) How long will it be stored for, and who will have access to it? Will the information be strictly for clinicians? Could researchers use it to help drive research? Will insurance companies deem individuals ineligible for insurance, or base insurance premiums off of this information?

               We live in an exciting time where technology is moving at a blistering pace. As much as we need the innovators pushing us forward, we need the critics urging caution (before a cyborg from the future travels to the past to kill our mother before we are born). Where is the line drawn? Will the future consist of a race of genetically engineered superhumans? The debate on how much information should be taken from DNA sequencing projects and what should be done with that information is taking place right now.

              Speaking of DNA sequencing and robots (http://www.aurorabiomed.com/nucleic-acid-isolation.htm) there already exists robots for the automatic extraction of DNA from human tissue. This helps researchers by freeing up time for them to do other tasks while DNA can be extracted from many samples at once, with minimal concern of time travel and minimal danger for prospective mothers.

More information about Aurora Biomed: www.aurorabiomed.com