Category Archives: Epigenetics

AncestryDNA, 23 and Me, National Geographic Geno 2.0..today so many of us turn to genetic testing to nd out more about ourselves. While some of us search our genetic code to discover where our ancestors began; others are turning to genetic testing to reveal health concerns which may lay hidden in the spirals and twists of our DNA. Problems can arise then when we mistake our new-found information about what is written in our genes with how our health will be in the future.

Recent studies reveal that a better predictor of future health lies in our epigenes.

EPIGENETICS: the study ofthe process by which genetic information istranslated into thesubstance andbehavior of an organism: specically, the study of the way in which the expression ofheritable traits is modied by environmental inuences or other mechanisms without a change to the DNA sequence.

Simply put, our environment aects the expression of our genes. To illustrate this, lets imagine The Book of You.

Your prologue contains snippets of your parents, their well being, and the quality of combined DNA which they passed to you via egg and sperm. It contains the struggles they encountered, the foods they ate, and the adaptations of their genetic material as they coped with their environments over millennia.

All of this pre-work isnt YOU yet. It is back ground information which has been collected from your families DNA library. The rst page in The Book of You begins at conception.

CONCEIVE: 1) to become pregnant 2) to form in themind; to imagine.

The dualistic nature of conception as both a physical event and a metaphysical event, represents the magic that begins The Book of You. We are both body and spirit by design. Our physical conception in the womb underlies the divine conception of our soul when we were thought onby Creation itself. We operate in a body that eats, sleeps, works, plays, and reproduces in a physical realm; while at the same time we laugh, cry, hope, believe, and dream in a spirit that exists in a metaphysical realm.

Our health at birth appears as a reection of our environment during time spent in the womb. As a tiny sentient being, you responded to your mothers voice, and dwelt in the mystical darkness beneath her heart. You heard the rhythmical beat of her heart sending oxygenated blood to her body; and oated in the hammock of her body as she moved throughout her day. Maybe you heard her singing and felt her laughter. Her body gave you your rst nourishment, delivered through the placenta. Your wellbeing was entirely dependent on the wellbeing of your mother, and life was good.

Or not. Maybe your mother suered from stress or depression. Perhaps she lived in poverty, and was physically abused. Cloaked in her body, you felt her body tighten around you. You heard her cry and scream. You felt her stumble and fall. Maybe your mother retreated to drugs or alcohol. Your tiny body became accustomed to the rush of chemicals as they washed through your system. Here lies the story of epigenetic expression, and how it can shape our very beginning.

The magical truth about epigenetic expression is that it can be changed. For the sake of simplicity, your epigenes are electrons, that act like tiny protein switches that can turn on or turn o the expression of your DNA. These protein switches are only visible on a quantum level when you look at them, then they disappear as you look away because they are made of energy.The energy to form our epigenes is generated from food, nutrients, and thought.

This is how our environment aects our epigenetic expression: if we are in an environment, rich with organic foods, healthy relationships, and pleasant surroundings, we produce healthy epigenes that switch our DNA to health. However, if we are eating heavily processed foods, living with abusive relationships, immersed in stressful surroundings, we produce unhealthy epigenes that switch our DNA to disease.

Two of the fastest ways to start repairing our DNA and to switch our genes to health is through liposomal bovine colostrum and mind/body practices.

Because liposomal colostrum is the rst food of life for all mammals, it is the most perfect food to rebuild healthy genetic expression. It gives us all the necessary building blocks needed to form our internal environment. Liposomal colostrum is bio-identical to human colostrum, and enables us to utilize colostrum therapeutically. Two very important components of liposomal colostrum are immune factors and growth factors.

Immune factors in liposomal colostrum include lactoferrin, proline-rich peptides, leukocytes, cytokines, oligo polysaccharides and immunoglobulins. These target harmful bacteria and viruses. While harmful bacteria and viruses create a stressful environment in our microbiome, liposomal colostrum replaces the harmful bacteria with healthy bacteria, changing our internal environment to one of health.

As we are constantly regenerating cells, the growth factors in colostrum encourage healthy expression of epithelial cells, broblasts, hormones, and platelets.

Our power of thought may be the most over looked tool in determining healthy gene expression. Thoughts and emotions create proteins in our epigenetic electrons, and happy, positive thoughts create healthy epigenes. Throughout millennia, it has been observed that when we think we are receiving a medicine, we often get better. Its called the placebo eect, and has been documented throughout medical literature.

So as we re-write our Book of You, from a story that may hold health concerns in the DNA of our prologue, it is important to remember that we control the pen while writing the story of our health. Choosing healthy, organic foods, and forming healthy relationships; by thinking happy, positive thoughts, we are shaping our environments. And in shaping our environments, we are shaping our genetic destinies.

Read this article:
The Book of You: Creating a Story of Health Through Epigenetics - Thrive Global

Drawing on Ancient Wisdom, Modern Science, and the field of Epigenetics.

LENOX, Mass., April 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Marc Aronoff, MA, LMHC, is delighted to announce the opening of his new Energy Healing practice, Divine-Source Healing Services, offering individual and group sessions via tele-health conference. (www.divine-sourcehealing.com). Combining traditional therapeutic modalities of Insight and Talk-therapy with ancient wisdom, a Divine-Source Healing session is a unique opportunity for stress reduction and a renewed sense of Self-confidence during difficult times.

Derived from over 30-years' experience working with individuals, groups, and Fortune 500 corporations as a Wellness Consultant, Divine-Source Healing offers tangible tools for coping more effectively with personal stress and anxiety, offering a gateway to experience deep states of relaxation and peace. This is accomplished through dialogue, inquiry, awareness, and remote healing, strengthening one's innate resources for coping in fresh new ways.

"After a divine-source healing session, I feel more relaxed in my mind and body and the feeling seems to stay as I go about my day."

Not a system of religious or dogmatic beliefs, Divine-Source Healing draws on tenets of Quantum physics and the revolutionary field of Epigenetics; which may be seen here as the genetics of our lineage. Science has shown that our state of mind and relationship to stress, in particular fear, has a profound effect on well-being and the immune system. Science also demonstrates our DNA is a "frequency generator" which is changeable: we may align with a frequency of health and healing or potentially dis-ease. The question is, in times like this, how do we care for our mental and psychic health, while isolated and faced with uncertainty. COVID-19, while demanding us to make safe choices, also offers an inner journey.

Clients often come with a range of issues from emotional distress, anxiety, and worry, to physical pain. While not a substitute for traditional medicine where needed, a Divine-Source Healing offers the chance to cultivate harmony in one's life, offering the solace of experiencing what you can do for yourself. Each 30 60-minute session is custom tailored. While these are stressful times, humans are wired for transformation. How we see and experience the world will determine our well-being. The premise is simple: We have an influence over our biology.

Contact http://www.divine-sourcehealing.com for a free consultation.

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SOURCE Marc Aronoff

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Licensed Therapist offers Innovative Stress Reduction for Reducing Anxiety and Fear around COVID-19 - Yahoo Finance

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Viviane Labrie, PhDDr. Labrie is an associate professor in Van Andel Institutes Center for Neurodegenerative Science, where she studies Parkinsons, Alzheimers and other neurological diseases.

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: One of the most puzzling and persistent mysteries in neuroscience has been why some people are right-brained while others are left-brained. The two sides of the brain have different jobs. The left side is analytic and problem-solving, while the right side manages creativity and artistic talents. But despite their differences, the two sides are composed of the same cell types essentially, brain neurons and their support cells. In this study, we sought to understand how it is possible for these cells to behave completely differently depending on what hemisphere theyre located in.

We also wanted to examine the reasons behind asymmetry in Parkinsons disease; that is, why Parkinsons symptoms typically start on one side of the body before the other. This asymmetry in neurodegeneration and symptoms in patients is one of the biggest unsolved puzzles in the Parkinsons disease field why do brain cells in one hemisphere begin dying before brain cells in the other hemisphere?

MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings? What are the implications for Parkinsons disease?

Response: We found that hemispheric differences are related to molecular modifications on DNA that help determine the day job of a brain cell. Two cells that look totally identical can behave differently because of the molecular, or epigenetic, marks on the cells DNA.

Each cell in the brain has the same genes, but it is epigenetics that dictate whether those genes are switched on or off. Our team found numerous epigenetic differences between the hemispheres of healthy brains that are linked to variations in gene activity. This is important to our fundamental understanding how our brain is built and works.

It may also contribute to understanding the asymmetric nature of Parkinsons disease. In the same study, we found that asymmetry in Parkinsons disease is associated with variations in these epigenetic marks in brain neurons that affect brain development, chemical signaling and immune activation. In other words, epigenetic abnormalities on one side of the brain could make that hemisphere more susceptible to the processes that cause the death of brain cells in Parkinsons.

MedicalResearch.com: What should readers take away from your report?

Response: Both hemispheres of the brain may, at first glance, look identical in structure comprising brain neurons and their helper cells but molecular-level patterns in the cells DNA can cause vastly different behaviors in each hemisphere and enable asymmetry in the brain.

As it relates to Parkinsons disease, the brain appears to be wired at the molecular level such that one hemisphere is more vulnerable to neurogenerative processes than the other. The differences in cell death across hemispheres leads to the appearance of the diseases hallmark symptoms, such as tremors, on one side of the body before the other

MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this work?

Response: We are already looking at how the molecular differences that may cause brain asymmetry come into play in other diseases like Alzheimers, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrigs disease), multiple sclerosis and schizophrenia.

Understanding how hemispheric differences in the brain affect disease progression sheds light on underlying factors of the disease, which has huge potential for translating into new therapeutic strategies.

Disclosures: Other authors include Peipei Li, Ph.D., Elizabeth Ensink, Sean Lang, Lee Marshall, Ph.D., and Meghan Schilthuis of Van Andel Institute; and Jared Lamp, Ph.D., and Irving Vega, Ph.D., of Michigan State University College of Human Medicine. The Flow Cytometry Core, Bioinformatics and Biostatistics Core and Pathology and Biorepository Core at Van Andel Institute and Integrated Mass Spectrometry Unit at Michigan State University also contributed to this work. Brain tissue was provided by the Parkinsons UK Brain Bank, the NIH NeuroBioBank and the Michigan Brain Bank.

This work was supported by Van Andel Institute.

Labrie is supported by the U.S. Army Medical Research Materiel Command through the Parkinsons Research Program Investigator-Initiated Research Award under award no. W81XWH1810512. Opinions, interpretations, conclusions and recommendations are those of the author and are not necessarily endorsed by the U.S. Army. Labrie also is supported by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R21NS112614 and by Michigan State University through the Gibby & Friends vs. Parky Parkinsons Disease Research Award. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health or other granting organizations.

Citation:

Peipei Li, Elizabeth Ensink, Sean Lang, Lee Marshall, Meghan Schilthuis, Jared Lamp, Irving Vega, Viviane Labrie.Hemispheric asymmetry in the human brain and in Parkinsons disease is linked to divergent epigenetic patterns in neurons.Genome Biology, 2020; 21 (1) DOI:10.1186/s13059-020-01960-1

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Why Do the Identical-Looking Brain Hemispheres Act Differently? - MedicalResearch.com

Editors note:Dr. Shedingeris a Professor of Religion at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. He is the author of a recent book critiquing Darwinian triumphalism,The Mystery of Evolutionary Mechanisms.

No better advertisements for intelligent design exist than works written by establishment scientists that unintentionally make design arguments. I can think of few better examples than well-known cosmologist Paul Daviess recently published book The Demon in the Machine: How Hidden Webs of Information Are Solving the Mystery of Life (2019).

With a nod toward James Clerk Maxwells entropy-defying demon, Davies argues that the gulf between physics and biology is completely unbridgeable without some fundamentally new concept. Since living organisms consistently resist the ravages of entropy that all forms of inanimate matter are subject to, there must be some non-physical principle allowing living matter to consistently defy the Second Law of Thermodynamics. And for Davies there is; the demon in the machine turns out to be information.

Throughout the book, Davies marvels at the stunning complexity of life, especially at the cellular and molecular levels. He wonders at the existence of molecular machines like motors, pumps, tubes, shears, and rotors paraphernalia familiar to human engineers and their ability to manipulate information in clear and super-efficient ways, in Daviess words conjuring order out of chaos. In fact, he calls the cell a vast web of information management, observing that while molecules are physical structures, information is an abstract concept deriving from the world of human communication.

Yet despite all these analogies between the nanotechnology of life and the world of human engineering, Davies deftly ignores the obvious conclusion the nanotechnology of life must have been designed, just like human-engineered machinery. Though he tries valiantly to ignore this obvious conclusion, Davies cannot completely run and hide, for he explicitly says, It is hard not to be struck by how ingenious all this machinery is, and how astonishing that it remains intact and unchanged over billions of years. (Emphasis in the original.) Indeed! Anything so ingenious must, almost by definition, be the product of intelligence if we are not to drain the word ingenious of its meaning.

But trying to ignore the implications of his own work, Davies soldiers on with more unintentional ID statements:

Lifes ability to construct an internal representation of the world and itself to act as an agent, manipulate its environment and harness energy reflects its foundation in the rules of logic. It is also the logic of life that permits biology to explore a boundless universe of novelty.

Logic, of course, is a product of mental activity. So is Davies implying an active intelligence working at the cellular and molecular level? It appears so even if he would never admit it. Yet he does practically admit it when he throws up his hands and declares, Indeed, lifes complexity is so daunting that it is tempting to give up trying to understand it in physical terms.

If the molecular machinery of the cell has overwhelmed Davies with its sublime complexity, he is equally astounded by the field of epigenetics: In the magic puzzle box of life, epigenetic inheritance is one of the more puzzling bits of magic. He discusses the research on directed mutation by John Cairns in the 1980s, more recent work on epigenetics by Eva Jablonka, and the early work on transposition by Barbara McClintock and its flourishing in James Shapiros Natural Genetic Engineering and concludes: its tempting to imagine that biologists are glimpsing an entire shadow information-processing system at work at the epigenetic level. Tempting indeed! And lest we forget, information processing derives from and is a property of intelligence.

Finally, Davies turns to the origin of life question which he brands as almost a miracle. He agrees that chemistry alone cannot explain the origin of life because one also needs to account for the origin of information. For Davies:

Semantic information is a higher-level concept that is simply meaningless at the level of molecules. Chemistry alone, however complex, can never produce the genetic code or contextual instructions. Asking chemistry to explain coded information is like expecting computer hardware to write its own software.

The origin of coded information is, according to Davies, the toughest problem in evolutionary biology. But, of course, it is only a tough problem for those who have excluded intelligence from the equation a priori. From an ID perspective, the origin of information is no mystery at all. It is always the creation of intelligent minds, a point made consistently by Stephen Meyer.

To explain all this, Davies can do no better than to speculate that somehow new laws and principles emerge from information processing systems of sufficiently great complexity. But he entirely ignores the question of the origin of the information processing system itself, which he has already pronounced as beyond the ability of chemistry alone to explain.

It is likely that Davies would never want to align himself with the ID community. He might believe that the professional cost is just too great. But if I didnt know any better, I would swear that The Demon in the Machine had rolled right off the presses of Discovery Institute. If abstract information is truly at the root of life, then intelligence has to be factored into the equation. Davies has made a compelling case for the former, so by extension and much to his chagrin he seems to be making a compelling case for the latter.

Photo: Paul Davies, by Cmichel67 / CC BY-SA.

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Hey, Paul Davies Your ID is Showing - Discovery Institute

CRISPR technology has led to innumerable advances in our understanding of the human genome and genetically inherited diseases, however it is not without imperfections. A newer technology, TARE (Toxin-Antidote Recessive Embryo), is being tested out in animal studies, which have thus far been very promising. TARE genomic modification technology improves on CRISPR in two aspects: genetic expression of the modified gene and the ability to pass on the mutation to future generations.

TARE was developed for modifying the epigenetics of non-human species, but as it is a genomic editing technology, can be used to test and modify any genome through the same mechanisms, including human.

CRISPR uses gene drives from genetic engineering to create a desired mutation in a few individuals. To spread this mutation, these individuals mates with a larger population, thus modifying the epigenetics of that species by passing on their DNA. In humans, it could remove and replace an allele that causes a disease.

In theory, such a mechanism could be used to prevent malarial mosquitoes from transmitting disease, or possibly wipe out an invasive species by disabling its ability to reproduce.

Though scientists have had success proving the concept in the lab, they have found that wild populations invariably adapt and develop resistance to the scheme. And when gene drives work, they are and all or nothing, meaning either the gene is modified or not.

A new Cornell study titled, A toxin-antidote CRISPR gene drive system for regional population modification, published Feb. 27 in the journalNature Communications, describes a new type of gene drive with the potential to delay this resistance.

In a classic gene drive, called a homing drive, an offspring inherits one set of genes, or genome, from the mother and another from the father. If an offspring inherits a gene with a drive from one parent and not the other, the drive copies itself into the genome from the parent without the drive.

Those are two things that this new drive that we developed here addresses to some extent, said Philipp Messer, an assistant professor of computational biology, and the papers senior author. Jackson Champer, a postdoctoral researcher in Messers lab, is the first author.

Now that individual has that drive in both of its genomes and it will pass it on to every offspring, Messer said.

The drives are engineered with CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technology, so when the drive are copied into a new genome, the CRISPR machinery will cut into the chromosome without the drive, and paste in the new code. However, occasionally cells will repair the incision and, in doing so, randomly delete DNA letters. When this happens, the CRISPR gene drive can no longer find a genetic sequence it recognizes in order to make the incision, which creates resistance to the gene insertion and stops the gene drive from spreading.

Natural genetic variationanother source of changes in DNA sequencescan also create resistance to editing technology, since CRISPR gene drives must recognize short genetic sequences in order to make the genomic incision.

We were among the first labs to show that this is a tremendous problem, Messer said.

The paper describes a new gene drive, called TARE (Toxin-Antidote Recessive Embryo), which works by targeting a gene that is essential for an organism to function. Because the organism can survive with only one intact copy of this essential gene, instead of cutting and pasting DNA as homing drives do, the TARE drive simply cuts the other parents gene, disabling it.

Meanwhile, the engineered TARE drive gene has a DNA sequence that has been recoded; the gene works but it wont be recognized or cut in future generations. This way, if an offspring inherits two disabled genes, those individuals wont survive, thereby removing those copies from the population. Meanwhile, as viable individuals mate, more and more surviving offspring will carry TARE drive genes.

This technology allows for a more smooth genetic modification, and one that can last for several generations without worries of the gene being lost after insertion.

Because TARE drives do not cut and paste a drive into a target gene, instead they destroy one of the target gene copies in the offspring, the drive requires a higher frequency of engineered individuals in the population to spread. For this reason, TARE drives are less likely to transfer from one distinct population to another.

A CRISPR gene drive that carries a red fluorescent protein as payload is spread through a population of fruit flies in laboratory experiments. [Jackson Champer/Cornell University]In lab experiments, when fruit flies with TARE gene drives were released in cages of wild-type fruit flies, all the flies in the cage had the TARE drive in just six generations.

The researchers pointed out that resistance can indeed evolve with a TARE drive in the wild, especially in very large populations, but they believe it will take longer and evolve at a much lower rate, Messer said. The implications of using this technology to study human disease remain to be seen.

See the article here:
TARE May Be the Future of Genome Editing, Improving on CRISPR Gene Drive - Clinical OMICs News

Benjamin Mayne is a molecular biologist and bioinformatician with expertise in epigenetics and next-generation sequencing. His PhD. research revealed regulation of gene expression and association with aging due to DNA methylation, an epigenetic modification.

Until now, the lifespan of both humans and animals could only be estimated by observation. No scientific data was proof for the fact that the bowhead whales lifespan is 211 years. This research proves that the accurate estimate is 57 years higher than the previous assumption. It was the worlds longest-lived animal.

The study, therefore, can help estimate the lifespans of extinct species, but, more important, it is fundamental for wildlife management and conservation. It can help the endangered species, helping to understand what populations are viable. Hunting and fisheries can also be controlled, with the help of lifespan to determine catch limits.

The function of gene body methylation is not well understood. But it looks like the new research might narrow the way to understanding it. DNA methylation is a biological process that studies heritable phenotype changes that do not involve alterations in the DNA sequence. DNA methylation patterns are largely erased and then re-established between generations in mammals. Almost all of the methylations from the parents are erased.

In humans and other mammals, DNA methylation levels can be used to accurately estimate the age of tissues and cell types, forming an accurate epigenetic clock. The loss of methylation is proportional to age. The lifespan of vertebrate species can be estimated by looking at where DNA methylation occurs in 42 particular genes.

And it looks like humans are expected to live no more than 38 years. The difference we live to see today, between the DNA expiry date and how long humans live today, is due to the outstanding evolution of medicine and lifestyle. It looks lifestyle can overcome DNA prognostic.

Related

Link:
DNA Study Revealed That Humans Are Genetically Programmed To Live Only 38 Years - Webby Feed

Epigenetics Market Overview

The Epigenetics Market report released and promoted by CMI draw out historical, existing, and forecast valuation of the Epigenetics industry till 2026. The report highlights the market essentials, opportunities, regional market, Emerging Growth Factors, market challenges, forecast and competitors joined with their market share. The fundamental purpose of Epigenetics Market report is to provide a appropriate and strategic analysis of the Epigenetics industry.

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The Market structure covers the value chain, player categories, product ranges, key players presence across products and end user segments of the market. The report also provides a snapshot of key competition, market trends with forecast over the next 5 years, anticipated growth rates and the principal factors driving and impacting growth market data and analytics are derived from a combination of primary and secondary sources.

The research process involved the study of various factors affecting the industry, including the government policy, market situation, competitive landscape, historical data, present trends in the market, technological innovation, upcoming technologies and the technical progress in related industry, and market risks, opportunities, market barriers, and challenges.

Top merchant analysis is one of the key component and is exceptionally helpful for each player to comprehend focused scene in the market. Major key companies present in Epigenetics market report are:Illumina Inc., Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., Merck Millipore Limited, Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc., Qiagen Inc., Zymo Research Corporation, Diagenode s. a., Enzo Life Sciences, Inc. and New England Biolabs Inc.

Epigenetics Market report is the believable source for gaining the market research that will exponentially accelerate your business. Additionally, it Presents new task SWOT examination, speculation attainability investigation, and venture return investigation.

Market Event Factors Analysis

Market driver Increasing market invasion of new technolgies. For a full detailed, view our report

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Epigenetics Market- Growth Opportunities by Manufacturers, Regions, Type, Application and Trends Forecast - Redhill Local Councillors

Two UAB neuroscientists have been included in a listing of 100 of the most inspiring black scientists in the nation.

Farah Lubin, Ph.D., and Michelle Gray, Ph.D.Two scientists on the faculty at the University of Alabama at Birmingham have been named to a list of 100 inspiring black scientists in America by Cross Talk, the official blog of Cell Press, a leading publisher of cutting-edge biomedical and physical science research and reviews.

Farah Lubin, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Neurobiology, and Michelle Gray, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Neurology, made the list.

The blogs guest author is Antentor O. Hinton Jr., Ph.D., a Ford Foundation and Burroughs Wellcome Fund postdoctoral fellow at the University of Iowa.

Theres a plethora of black scientists who make significant contributions to science, but many of them are unknown to the masses, Hinton said. Its imperative that young black scientists know about the myriad accomplished scientists from African, Afro-Caribbean, Afro-Latinx, and African American backgrounds in the fields of life sciences, chemistry, engineering and physics.

Lubin is the director of the NINDS-funded Neuroscience Roadmap Scholar Program. She is also a scientist in the Comprehensive Center for Healthy Aging, the Comprehensive Neuroscience Center, the Center for Neurodegeneration and Experimental Therapeutics, and the Evelyn F. McKnight Brain Institute. Her research focuses on learning, memory and synaptic plasticity, epigenetics, non-coding RNAs gene transcription, epilepsy disorders, neurodevelopment, and developmental disabilities.

Gray is the Dixon Scholar in Neuroscience in the Center for Neurodegeneration and Experimental Therapeutics, a scientist in the Comprehensive Neuroscience Center and the Evelyn F. McKnight Brain Institute, and co-director for the School of Medicines Summer in Biomedical Sciences Undergraduate Research Program. Her research focuses on the pathogenesis of Huntingtons disease with a specific interest in astrocytes, as well as cardiac abnormalities in Huntingtons disease and X-linked dystonia Parkinsonism.

The list includes 75 established investigators, including Lubin and Gray, who range from tenure track assistant professors to full professors and 25 scientists whom the author labels as rising stars.

Visit Cross Talk to see the list in its entirety.

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Two from UAB lauded as among 100 inspiring black scientists in America - UAB News

Its not just about eating right anymore but a diet that meets the specific needs of your body

EVERYONE wants to be as healthy as they can be. However, while wearable technology has made it possible for people to track their physical activity, personalised nutrition has yet to be fully addressed.

For example - while it is basic understanding that a clean diet and frequent exercise will lead to weight loss, a one-size fits all approach may not work for everybody.

Perhaps some people need more calcium, while others may need to up their protein intake. Each body is different, and in-depth analysis can provide a clearer picture of what needs to be done.

How does personalised nutrition work?

Sandeep Gupta, chief founder and director of the Expert Nutraceutical Advocacy Council (ENAC) says consumers are constantly finding ways to monitor their health status.

We are entering an age of personalised nutrition where science and technology can dictate which foods are right for us. Its not only for weight management, but more importantly to manage our overall health and well-being, says Gupta, who was also a speaker at the Vitafoods Asia 2019 Conference from Sept 25-26 last year.

Not long ago, we believed our genetic makeup was pre-determined and a biological reality, he says.

The emergence of epigenetics, which is the study of mechanisms that switch genes on and off, has shed light on the fact that our genes are fluid and can be shaped by various internal and external factors, Gupta notes.

We are entering an age where science and technology can dictate which foods are right for us. Picture: Designed by Freepik.

Personalised nutrition companies collect and analyse your biodata, after which, they customise nutrition plans that help you meet your health goals, be it weight management or disease prevention.

Biodata is collected in various ways. For instance, wearable devices can collect rudimentary data such as your rate of physical activity or height and weight. Home testing kits collect specialised data such as DNA, nutrient levels in blood, blood types and even gut microbiomes.

Europe and the United States are at the forefront of personalised nutrition. It is also a growing trend in Asia, with developed countries such as Japan, South Korea and Singapore seeing most activity.

Some examples in Asia include Singapores Imagene Labs, which formulates supplements and fitness solutions according to DNA; and Nestle Japans partnership with Genesis Healthcare and Halmek Ventures, both of which are DNA labs based in Japan, designed to provide personalised nutrition advice for senior citizens. The partnership has garnered over 100,000 participants since its announcement..

Less developed countries in Asia have yet to catch on due to the high costs of personalised nutrition programmes, where fees can run into the hundreds or even thousands, says Thomas Hayes, an analyst at Lux Research.

A one-size-fits-all diet does not work. anymore. Picture: Designed by Freepik.

THE CHALLENGES

Disease prevention is a key aim of personalised nutrition. Diabetes, which can be prevented through improving ones diet, is an example.

Hayes, who was also a speaker the Vitafoods Asia 2019 conference, hopes personalised nutrition will help eliminate Type 2 diabetes, the more common form of diabetes, which afflicts nearly half a billion people around the globe. Hayes adds that the global cost of diabetes is estimated to be almost US$1 trillion (RM4.13 trillion) per year; the bulk of this cost is spent on managing the complications that arise from diabetes, rather than treating diabetes itself.

The combination of increasing disease prevalence and increasing per capita cost signals that new solutions are needed to supplement, or replace, traditional diabetes prevention and management tools, he explains.

Personalised nutrition, says Hayes, can help on the prevention front, by uncovering genetic qualities of those who are predisposed to develop diabetes.

As such, we see genetics being a necessary data input in forming personalised nutrition recommendations and products for diabetes prevention, he adds.

But key challenges in its mainstream adoption remain there needs to be more scientifically-backed evidence on what works and what does not. That will also justify the higher costs involved in customising nutrition plans, says Hayes.

Gupta agrees with Hayes. He says it can be challenging to design effective and efficient personalised nutrition services for different individuals and getting the technology in sync with parameters like individual dietary preferences, age group, health conditions. Doing this is costly and companies may face growth constraints as a result.

Furthermore, the data needs to be extra secure to ensure it does not end up in the wrong hands adds Gupta.

Personalised nutrition helps you meet your health goals. Picture:Designed by timolina / Freepik.

To resolve these issues, Hayes recommends that personalised nutrition start-ups partner with large corporations to offset the high costs of research and customisation.

A personalised nutrition start-up can approach a large corporation pitching it as a preventative tool for employees. Corporations can offset costs and offer it as part of healthcare benefits. Insurers can also work with employers to cover the cost of personalised nutrition programmes. he says.

*Article courtesy of Vitafoods Asia.

Read more here:
The rise of personalised nutrition - New Straits Times

Liang Feng of the School of Engineering and Applied Science, Erica Korb of the Perelman School of Medicine, and Weijie Su of the Wharton School are among the 126 recipients of the 2020 Sloan Research Fellowship. The award recognizes early-career researchers and scholars in the United States and Canada, and each recipient will receive a two-year, $70,000 Fellowship for their research.

Feng is an assistant professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and holds a secondary appointment in the Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering. His expertise is at the intersection of nanomaterials and photonics, with an eye toward applications in computer and communication systems. By exploring quantum symmetry to design materials that can generate photons with properties necessary for their use as a carrier of information, or efficiently route them from place to place on a photonic computer chip, Feng aims to develop the circuit architecture necessary for the next generation of sensing, computational, and communication technologies.

Korb is an assistant professor in the Department of Genetics. Her lab works at the intersection of neuroscience and epigenetics, studying how the environment can influence gene expression in neurons in ways that enable humans to learn and adapt. Her research is focused on chromatin, the complex of DNA and histone proteins which package DNA into complex structures, and on how chromatin regulates neuronal function and neurodevelopmental disorders.

Su is an assistant professor in the Department of Statistics. He works with high-dimensional statistics, deep-learning theory, machine-learning optimization, and privacy protection. Su is also the co-director of the Penn Research in Machine Learning forum, a joint effort between Engineering and Wharton that connects the large and diverse machine-learning community at Penn. He is also a recipient of the 2019 National Science Foundation CAREER award, which recognizes early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in both research and education.

Since the first Sloan Research Fellowships were awarded in 1955, 120 faculty from Penn have received Sloan Research Fellowships.

Candidates must be nominated by their fellow scientists and winning Fellows are selected by independent panels of senior scholars on the basis of research accomplishments, creativity, and potential to become a leader in their field.

Original post:
Three Penn faculty named 2020 Sloan Research Fellows - Penn: Office of University Communications