Santa's Reindeer Suspected of Performance Enhancing Drug Use

A recent photo of Comet

              It's the time of year that all attention is on Santa and his reindeer; cookies are baking, trees are decorated, the eggnog is appropriately  spiked with rum, and preparation for Christmas night is under full swing at the North Pole. However, this year the attention is on Santa and his reindeer for an entirely different reason. All nine reindeer are currently serving indefinite suspensions from Reindeer Games DLXXIII under suspicion of using performance enhancing drugs. "It's ridiculous!" says Arrow, another reindeer residing at the North Pole, "How can nine reindeer fly around the world in one night? It's obvious that they have an unfair advantage from PED use! How can any of the other reindeer even compete?". This is not the first time that the Reindeer Games have handed out suspensions, most famous is the suspension of Rudolph from the reindeer games in 1939 due to his glowing red nose, an obvious side effect from PED abuse (see Rudolph v. All of the other reindeer, 1939). "It's scary," claims Jingle, one of Santa's elves, "I accidentally kicked snow at Comet and he hauled off and kicked me in the teeth, I had to get dental surgery from Hermey!" Issues with controlling anger is a common reported side effect of anabolic steroid abuse.

"How can nine reindeer fly around the world in one night?

It's obvious that they have an unfair advantage from PED use!"

 -Arrow, an "other" reindeer

Yukon Cornelius addressing the media Monday afternoon

            The Reindeer Games Athletic Committee is currently reviewing the case and will make recommendations for disciplinary actions based on their findings. "All reindeer participating in this year's Reindeer Games have submitted samples for testing. These will be extracted appropriately through solid phase extraction and reviewed by the committee." Yukon Cornelius, chair of the Reindeer Games Athletic Committee, told the media on Monday afternoon. "Until such time as conclusive results have been provided to the committee all nine of Santa's reindeer have been placed under indefinite suspension."
             Aurora Biomed, located in Vancouver, BC, have graciously reached out to the Reindeer Games Athletic Committee offering to lend an automated solid phase extraction workstations for the investigation. "We reach out to everyone at the North Pole in this time of turmoil," said a spokesperson for Aurora, "automation of sample extraction will ensure a speedy resolution to this issue by enabling faster turn around time for sample preparations. Additionally, automation will help ensure all samples are handled with uniformity to make sure that the entire screening process is fair. We want to see a fair and speedy resolution to this issue so the Reindeer Games can continue as planned." Results of the testing are expected later this week. At the time of publication Santa could not be reached for comment.

www.aurorabiomed.com

Its the barcode, the barcode of life.

              A few weeks ago we wrote about a study which used DNA barcoding to analyze the contents of natural supplements. Today let's talk about the Barcode of Life project. The goal of this project is to have DNA barcoding information for every species on earth (yeah, that's a lot!). You might be asking "What's the point of this? I can clearly look at a giraffe and see that it's a giraffe." Well you are right in that respect, but the applications of having a genetic barcode for every species are very wide: information could be used to identify species in poaching cases (Is it endangered? What sub-species is it? What sub-population?), identify pathogens, plant species, the possibilities are very wide. Having information like this could allow researchers, conservationists, etc. to have rapid, specific, accurate identification of species within a few hours.

Nants ingonyama bagithi baba, sithi uhhmm - The barcode, the barcode of life

          DNA barcoding is still in its youth, however, the principle of the technique is sound. In essence, a DNA sequence which is common, but slightly different in every species is sequenced. The slight differences combine to give unique identification of a species, kinda like how all barcodes are made up of many black bars, but the thickness and spacing gives unique identifications. For some genes, the only difference between you and a giraffe is a few nucleotides.
              The scope of DNA sequencing projects is continuing to increase more and more. Another blogger, Nick Loman, has compiled a list of the biggest sequencing projects completed to date, as well as even bigger ones which are yet to be completed (see the list here). Lab automation is necessary for these large projects to expedite manual processes and ensure that the projects are completed on a reasonable timeline. At Aurora we are extremely excited to be a part of this continuously growing movement and can't wait to see where it goes next!

More information about Aurora: www.aurorabiomed.com

Forensic Dismantling Begins at Scene of Hobbit Murder

Gruesome scene uncovered at home of "Lord of the Rings" director Peter Jackson

           Yesterday, The Onion reported the arrest of film maker Peter Jackson following the discovery of a gruesome scene where 15 hobbits were found murdered and dismembered. The discovery sent shockwaves through the Shire, early reports suggest that the captive hobbits were held for lengthy periods of time, beaten and tortured often only being allowed one breakfast per day and completely deprived of elevensies. Authorities have begun thorough dismantling of the scene and are preparing forensic evidence for analysis.
          "I've never seen anything like this," forensic investigator William Bradley told reporters on Thursday, "the amount of work needed to completely process this scene could take months, even years. It will be a long time before we have a good idea of exactly what happened here."
           Jackson was found delusional at the scene claiming that he was hosting friends from the Shire and was preparing a feast for his guests. However, several times during questioning Jackson referred to his victims as "filthy hobbitses" insisting that one of [them] had stolen his "precious". As several of the hobbits appear to have been sexually assaulted, authorities are working to recover DNA evidence, authorities are not clear if Jackson acted alone or if there may be additional suspects in this case. Criminal profiling experts believe that Jackson may have been too delusional to have acted alone. Local authorities are also calling in forensic experts from Middle-Earth who have a better idea of the extreme tortures the victims endured. "The careful collection and cataloging of foot-hair trophies suggests more a more organized and methodical psychosis than Mr. Jackson is currently displaying, we suspect that he may not have acted alone in this case" says Sancho Bulge of the Middle-Earth Behavioral Analysis Unit. Authorities are currently looking into the possibility that Jackson may not have acted alone.

"The careful collection and cataloging of foot-hair

 trophies suggests more a more organized and methodical 

psychosis than Mr. Jackson is currently displaying, we suspect

 that he may not have acted alone in this case"

- Sancho Bulge, Council of Elrond, Middle-Earth Behavioral Analysis Unit

          Collection and processing of DNA evidence will help authorities shed light on this subject. "This kind of sample processing takes time, the number of samples we have to process is large and we need to ensure high quality DNA is recovered for forensic applications. Typically this process is automated to avoid human error and expedite the sample processing, we don't want any mistakes to be made in our analysis of the scene."
              Representatives for Jackson have not made a comment to media at this time. A latern release ceremony has been arranged over the Brandywine river in memorium of the victims.

Note: The Onion is a fictitious news source, Peter Jackson did not murder 15 hobbits and is not in police custody. Hobbits are a fictitious character from the fantasy series "Lord of the Rings" they do not exist. However, if they did exist, the VERSA NAP workstations would be able to extract their DNA for forensic applications described above. Pretty cool huh? We can purify hobbit DNA.

Read the original post on The Onion: http://www.theonion.com/articles/grisly-remains-of-15-hobbits-discovered-in-peter-j,34754/
Find out more about Aurora Biomed: www.aurorabiomed.com

Snakes are cool!

         Ask any ten year old boy and he'll tell you straight: snakes are cool. Little does that ten year old know that that statement is actually very profound from a scientific point of view. Recently, the assembled genome of the Burmese python was published in PNAS. The reason this is so profound is examining the genes of the python may lend clues to our own evolution. As crazy as this sounds, its true. For the most part we have the same genes as a python, differences in gene copy number and expression level/differential expression in different tissues is the reason that we are human and a snake is a snake.
           One of the things that the Burmese python is known for is its ability to consume prey larger than it is. We have all heard of its ability to unhinge its jaw and slowly consume very large prey, however, the physiological processes that accompany this ability are "cool" to say the least. The python is able to greatly increase metabolic gene expression following a meal to ensure that the prey is properly digested. Not only that, but several organs actually increase in size during digestion returning to their normal size approximately 1 to 2 weeks later. Understanding the genetic processes that allow these changes to take place may help us to come up with new treatments for human diseases.

          As the power of next generation sequencing continues to increase new genomes are being published at an unprecedented rate, uncovering clues not only about evolution but also related to human issues. Recently the genome of the king cobra was published in order to examine genes involved with venom production in the snake. This is the second venomous vertebrate genome published to date; the first was the platypus, yes that's right, even the platypus has its genome published.
          The next step in acquiring knowledge about the secrets of life is to continue to sequence genomes. Large consortium projects such as the 1,000 genomes project will allow more comparative genomics to tease out the subtle differences that make us who we are. As the scope of these projects continues to increase the needs of sequencing providers to process sample libraries is also increasing. To meet this demand Aurora offers the VERSA NGLP liquid handling workstation. Find out more here.

More about Aurora Biomed: www.aurorabiomed.com

It's a community thing

        What if I told you that 90% of your genome isn't human. What if I told you that for every human cell, your body hosts 10 bacterial cells. What if I told you that bacteria don't just live in us, they are a part of us. It's true, bacteria outnumber us 10 to 1 in our own bodies, their DNA and biochemistry contributes to our own biochemistry as a greater "super-being". That's right, we are all super-beings made up of part human, part bacteria. It doesn't seem so bad when someone calls you a super-being does it? The truth is bacteria are as much a part of us as they are just "on us". Studies have linked our bacterial populations to many diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease, diabetes, obesity, chronic C. difficile infection, and even tumorigenesis in cancer. The genes and biochemistry of bacteria contribute to all these things.
          How you ask? Different sub-populations of bacteria contribute different aspects to your microbial community. Just like the TV show "Community" different sub-populations play different roles in the group; depending on who is or isn't present, the whole group can work well together, or fall apart in a hilarious episode of mayhem (it isn't as funny when it happens in real life...). If one role is over or under represented the entire system can be thrown off leading to a disease state.
           Recently these conditions have had good success being treated by restoring the microbial balance to that of a "healthy" situation. Obesity has been reversed, insulin sensitivity increased, and bowel diseases such as IBS and Crohn's have been treated through fecal transplant therapy. Yup, it is disgusting as it sounds but it goes to illustrate how important a healthy microbial community is to our overall health. Transplant not only temporarily helps to change the recipients microbial population but these changes are retained over time essentially transplanting a healthy microbial community and resulting in real biochemical changes in the host due to different interactions with microbes.
           It is being increasingly revealed that our microbiome plays a huge role in our body's physiology. Microbiome studies have greatly increased in number in recent years and it seems as though we are just beginning to uncover the extensive interplay between our body and our microbes. As the analytical powers of Next Generation Sequencing continue to increase we will be able to solve more and more of these mysteries. Prospective samples for NGS studies need to be handled with uniformity to ensure that no one species is over or under represented due to processing error. Automation helps ensure that each sample is handled in exactly the same way and helps remove sources of error associated with manual techniques. To learn more about Aurora's automated NGS library prep workstation, click here.

More info about Aurora Biomed: www.aurorabiomed.com