Monday at the International Congress of Genetics
Teeth reveal missing slavery stories
Who owns and benefits from DNA
Capturing the Tree of Life
Tiger genetics
‘Blood’ DNA reveals prostate risk
And more from the International Congress of Genetics in Melbourne
- “Same ol’ genetic racism, new biocolonialism,” says Dr Krystal Tsosie, a member of the Navajo Nation, who realised that her cancer research was unlikely to help her people. So she founded the Native BioData Consortium – to ensure that Indigenous people benefit from their DNA and data. Her research has been featured in the NYT.
- Capturing the genetic code of every species in the Tree of Life. Mark Blaxter’s UK team have sequenced their first thousand species as part of a bold project to read the genome of every species on Earth. He will report that some animals throw away some of their DNA in their bodies (retaining it in their germlines).
- Reconstructing the lives of some of the 12 million Africans forcibly transported to colonial Americas. Maria Nieves-Colón is piloting the use of tooth DNA to start to discover the history of enslaved workers at a sugar plantation in Peru.
- Prostate cancer: a blood test for circulating tumour DNA could reveal which patients are at higher risk according to Bernard Pope from the University of Melbourne
- Do jumping genes enable mosquitos to adapt to urban environments, asks Spain’s Dr Josefa Gonzalez
- Nobel Laureate Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard, African Biogenome Project leader Anne Muigai, Science Executive Editor Valda Vinson on Women in Science – unique journeys to different peaks, with Jen Martin.
Media welcome, at the Melbourne Convention Centre.
Last night Professor Kathryn North opened the Genetics Congress outlining potential genetic futures:
- Accessing your complete genome in a user-friendly form on your smart phone.
- Knowing the biological function of every human gene, leading to new treatments.
- Collecting DNA from air and water to measure and protect plants and animals and explore the Tree of Life.
- Boosting food production with more resilient crops.
- Equity, bringing the genetic revolution benefits to First Peoples around the world.
Over the next five days we’ll explore these ideas with nearly 1,000 talks, presentations and posters.
/Public Release.
