Researchers at North Carolina State University have for the first time mapped human disease-causing pathogens, dividing the world into a number of regions where similar diseases occur. The findings show that the world can be separated into seven regions for vectored human diseases – diseases that are spread by pests, like mosquito-borne malaria – and five regions for non-vectored diseases,…
The Institute for Public Knowledge invites you to join us for a conversation with Aaron Panofsky, Ann Morning, and Dalton Conley on Panofsky’s new book, Misbehaving Science: Controversy and the Development of Behavior Genetics. Behavior genetics has always been a breeding ground for controversies. From the “criminal chromosome” to the “gay gene,” claims about the influence of genes like these have led to often vitriolic…
ISG professor, Soraya de Chadarevian, recently co-edited “Heredity and The Study of Human Populations After 1945” in the Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences. Abstract: The essays in this issue look at the contested history of human heredity after 1945 from a new analytical angle, that of populations…
ISG professor, Soraya de Chadarevian, recently published “Chromosome Surveys of Human Populations: Between Epidemiology and Anthropology” in the Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences. Abstract: It is commonly held that after 1945 human genetics turned medical and focussed on the individual rather than on the study of human…
Dr. Eric Vilain, a professor of human genetics, urology and pediatrics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and co-director of UCLA’s Institute for Society and Genetics, was interviewed Oct. 6 by the New York Times and Oct. 7 by KPCC 89.3FM’s AirTalk show about a young female sprinter from India who was banned from competition due to…
An obscure swatch of human DNA once thought to be nothing more than biological trash may actually offer a treasure trove of insight into complex genetic-related diseases such as cancer and diabetes, thanks to a novel sequencing technique developed by biologists at Texas A&M University. The game-changing discovery was part of a study led by Texas A&M biology doctoral candidate…