Category Archives: Genetic Engineering

LINCOLN, Neb. & SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--A team of researchers from the USDAs Meat Animal Research Center in Clay Center, Nebraska (USMARC) and University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) have identified two major genes associated with bovine congestive heart failure (BCHF) in beef feedlot cattle. This study is the first to confirm genetic risk factors associated with BCHF. Collaborating with scientists from MatMaCorp, a developer of diagnostic systems for science, agriculture, and medicine, this information was rapidly translated into a genetic test that is already being used to inform selective breeding and animal health management.

The research is being presented today at 1:55 pm at the International Plant & Animal Genome (PAG) XXVIII conference taking place in San Diego.

BCHF involves pulmonary hypertension that culminates in right ventricular failure and eventually death. For some producers, BCHF is the single most costly health-related problem with losses exceeding $250,000 annually in individual operations, surpassing those from bovine respiratory disease.1

Reducing the impact of BCHF is a high priority for the cattle industry, said Dr. Brian Vander Ley, assistant professor, veterinary epidemiologist at UNL, and co-principle investigator on the project. One of our aims is to develop a genetic test for BCHF to help manage this disease and improve animal health and well-being. Mitigating BCHF will have a positive impact on beef feedlot cattle, especially in the Western Great Plains of North America, which are home to approximately 20% of the national herd.2

Samples of 102 cases of BCHF and 102 unaffected matched pen mates were used in a genome-wide association study, which revealed 21 genomic regions highly associated with BCHF. Regions with the strongest association included the arresting domain-containing 3 protein (ARRDC3) and nuclear factor IA (NFIA) genes. Animals with both risk factors were approximately 15-fold more likely to have BCHF compared to those without (p-value < 10-10).

Although the roles of these genes in disease pathogenesis are unknown, their discovery facilitates classifying animals by genetic risk for heart failure and will allow producers to make informed decisions for selective breeding and animal health management.

Prior to this study, there were no known genetic risk factors for BCHF, said Michael Heaton, USMARC scientist and co-principle investigator on the project. Once we had the associated genes in hand, we wanted to begin validating the two best markers immediately because animals are dying every day from this disease. Our aim was to use a platform that allowed us to transfer the technology without delay. Working closely with MatMaCorp scientists, we developed our first targeted genetic test for BCHF in one week. Soon after, we began validating our results in newly identified BCHF cases, and subsequently we identified high- and low-risk calves in a crop of more than a thousand from a severely affected herd.

Dr. Vander Ley added, It looks like these markers can provide immediate information to make breeding decisions today that can reduce losses for next years feedlot cattle. They may also allow us to identify high-risk cattle from affected herds that can be managed more effectively to reduce the impact of disease.

This is an example of an ideal application for MatMaCorps technology, said Dr. Abraham Oommen, MatMaCorp founder and President. We can easily take genetic data and rapidly develop a cost-effective, simple test that allows significant in-the-field decisions for a wide range of applications. We look forward to seeing this research advance and also working closely with USMARC and UNL to improve the BCHF genetic test and confirm breeding outcomes.

1 Heaton MP, Bassett AS, Whitman KJ et al. Evaluation of EPAS1 variants for association with bovine congestive heart failure. F1000Research, 2019, 8:1189.

2 Drouillard J. Current situation and future trends for beef production in the United States of America A review. Asian-Australas J Anim Sci, 2018;31(7):1007-1016.

About MatMaCorp

MatMaCorp (Materials and Machines Corporation) is a developer of comprehensive solutions for science, medicine, and agriculture. By combining engineering, life science, and information technology, MatMaCorp has developed a portable, easy-to-use, and affordable suite of products to power genetics for human diagnostics, animal conservation, and agriculture applications, including food safety, and breeding. By eliminating the need for large laboratory equipment like centrifuges, pipettes, and refrigerators, MatMaCorps products are geared towards making molecular biology and diagnostic techniques accessible to anyone, anywhere, anytime, and without contamination and background noise. Solas 8TM is a portable device that combines both the purification and detection of DNA/RNA. DNA/RNA purification on the Solas 8 is accomplished with the MagicTip and SNP/sequence detection is done using C-SAND Assays. For more information, please visit http://www.matmacorp.com and follow the company on Twitter.

See more here:
New Genetic Test for Bovine Congestive Heart Failure May Help Breeding and Management Decisions - Business Wire

SIOUX FALLS, S.D.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SAB Biotherapeutics (SAB), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical development company advancing a new class of immunotherapies, today announced that it has entered into multiple collaboration and option agreements with global biotherapeutics leader CSL Behring. The collaborations will explore the possibility and the potential of new therapies to treat challenging autoimmune, infectious and idiopathic diseases by leveraging SABs DiversitAb platform.

SAB has developed a unique platform, through advanced genetic engineering, to naturally and rapidly produce large amounts of human antibodies without using human donors.

The agreement includes a research program which will investigate a potential new source for human immunoglobulin G (IgG). Human IgG is currently used for a number of immunological and neurological diseases including Primary Immunodeficiency, Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy (CIDP), Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS), Immune Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP), and Multifocal Motor Neuropathy (MMN).

CSL Behring is a leader in the global immunoglobulins market, which has grown substantially over the last five years. Key factors fueling market growth include an aging population, increased emphasis on the diagnosis and treatment of immune diseases, and its increased use in new indications.

SAB Biotherapeutics has developed a very interesting and novel platform for the production of human immunoglobulins, said Dr. Andrew Nash, Senior Vice President, Research for CSL Behring. CSL Behring is committed to the continuous development of innovative therapies that address unmet needs for patients with rare and serious diseases. This collaboration will provide both companies an opportunity to explore the potential of these new approaches to positively impact areas of need.

CSL Behrings R&D footprint includes more than 1,700 scientists across the globe with an R&D investment exceeding $800 million in 2018 - 2019.

We are excited that CSL Behring has chosen to work with SAB Biotherapeutics to explore new immunotherapies leveraging our technology platform, said Dr. Eddie J. Sullivan, president, CEO and co-founder of SAB Biotherapeutics. We believe combining our unique human antibody development and production capabilities with CSL Behrings established immunoglobulin franchise and vast expertise in biopharmaceutical development will broaden therapeutic possibilities.

CSL Behring and SAB will share research program and related costs and plan to complete the initial phase in 2020. The collaboration may lead to subsequent development and commercialization agreements.

About SAB Biotherapeutics, Inc.

SAB Biotherapeutics, Inc. (SAB), headquartered in Sioux Falls, S.D. is a clinical-stage, biopharmaceutical development company advancing a new class of immunotherapies leveraging fully human polyclonal antibodies. Utilizing some of the most complex genetic engineering and antibody science in the world, SAB has developed the only platform that can rapidly produce natural, highly targeted, high-potency, immunotherapies at commercial scale. The company is advancing programs in autoimmunity, infectious diseases, inflammation and exploratory oncology.

Read the original post:
SAB Biotherapeutics Announces Research Collaboration With CSL Behring - Business Wire

Vance Crowe is a communications consultant who thrives on chaos. Heis a keynote speaker at the Land Expo 2020 in Des Moines on January 14. Successful Farming magazine caught up with him ahead of time to get a preview.

VC: My talk is called The Edge of Chaos, where and how society changes. What is accepted, what is desirable, and what is not allowed in a society? There is a difference between perceptions in the countryside and the city. What ramifications does this have for how things will be done in the future with agricultural lands, whether thats growing crops or raising animals? Which perceptions and demands of people living in the city are fads, and which ones actually have a chance of radically changing the way land is being managed?

VC: Ive only been involved in agriculture for the last five years. Before that, my jobs varied widely. I ran a camp for inner city kids, was a deckhand on a ship that traveled around the Western Hemisphere, lived in Africa as a Peace Corps volunteer, worked in public radio in northern California, worked at the World Bank, and then worked at Monsanto.

It has been an interesting journey. I have seen how ideas started and then flowed out into society. That became very real for me when I was working at Monsanto. A group of people who disagree with modern agriculture can alter the publics perception of the way the world ought to change. I saw what happened when society and culture turn against certain components of agriculture.

VC: Things you think are certain can change. The Overton window can shift on you. Changes in society that you couldnt imagine can happen. Even if you know something is far better for society, it may reject it.

On the other hand, you can change perception with enough coordinated effort. Five years ago, there was a lot of concern about whether or not you should eat GMOs, and that fight has basically dissipated. There are people who still think that, but the issue is nowhere near at the velocity and temperature that it was before. Agriculture figured out that it was a technology people didnt understand, so we have to explain it to them. Otherwise they will become so impassioned that they wont let us use this technology.

VC: Catastrophic. It is the manifestation of how our legal system can be profited by individuals. If you can sue glyphosate, you can do that to any chemical, because glyphosate is one of the most innocuous. That has very serious implications for the future.

It is a challenge to be in the number one spot. People focus on you. The companies in the number two, three, and four spots dont jump up to help you out. They kind of scoot back and let you take the slings and arrows, even though they all have a shared interest in genetic engineering or crop protection. They say, Monsanto is the one being sued for glyphosate, its not really our problem, were going to stay out of this. But if you can knock glyphosate out, any chemical in their portfolio could get knocked out.

VC: Societies wont live in chaos. Its not acceptable. They will accept suboptimal conditions before they will accept not knowing. So people will choose a certain future that is less good, rather than an uncertain feature with lots of potential.

There are good things that can come from chaos. If you stay too much on the ordered side of life, you dont make the changes you need to make to evolve and thrive and get better. If youre too ordered, you become tyrannical.

VC: The people who thrive the most in these situations are the ones who are the most curious about the chaos the ones most interested in learning what is on the edge. Its good to have opinions, but loosely hold them so that other people can give you a good argument that makes sense. Be willing to change and adapt and not be so rigid that you break.

The only way you make change is if you get up there on the edge of chaos. You figure out what changes society is asking us to make that we should make, and which ones are unreasonable demands that we should find a way to convince them otherwise.

VC: Kenya, a place I used to live in while in the Peace Corps, is close to approving BT. Once farmers see the benefits of genetic engineering traits, you may watch the adoption of genetic engineering technology in a place that gets more sunlight than anywhere else on earth the continent of Africa. They are adding technology in a very big way. That will change global agriculture. It will change where countries like China look to do trade deals.

VC: Synthetic biology, whether it pertains to synthetic meat or other types of products that were naturally grown, is coming on in a big way. Where do farmers fit into that? Dont focus on the micro issues, because this is starting to blossom all over the world.

VC: Farmers either get mad or they get very dismissive of it. The biggest impact of synthetic meat is not going to be the burgers and steaks that the beef industry is so worried about. Its going to be pet food. Its like what the rebar market in steel did to the steel manufacturers. In Mexico, they built these tiny foundries that made cheap steel, and they stole 3% from the steel market, which was enough to grind that to a halt in the United States. Synthetic meat is going to enter through the pet food market, or some ancillary market that isnt going to compete on taste and texture.

VC: Absolutely, with 100% certainty. The things that are possible to do with precision gene editing over the long term are so mind bending as to be difficult to believe. It will have profound implications not only on the way we grow things, but also what we grow.

VC: Sensors will become inexpensive to put in peoples fields. Sensors can start figuring out exact applications of nitrogen for your field, meter by meter. Farmers will be able to conduct those tests themselves; they won't have to wait for an agronomist or a seed company to come by and tell them what to do. Thats coming very soon.

VC: I happen to know quite a bit about banking and the marijuana system. Banking is one of the biggest impediments, but once that flips and you can now start loaning on capital for hemp or for marijuana production, that is when the whole game takes off. Marijuana has been held off because you havent been able to do proper banking. We are within six months of that flipping, and then youre going to see a whole bunch of bankers looking for farmers to be taking those loans.

VC: There has not been a new active ingredients for crop protection approved by the USDA in the last 20 years. The rise of biologicals is because theyre regulated in a completely different way. Youre bringing it in through a side door. There is way more innovation going on there. A lot of it is snake oil, but some of it is solid gold. Biologicals are going to come on in a big way in feed. Its a way to lower methane emissions.

VC: I love Bitcoin. Thats one of my favorites. Its held its value. Its far and away the best investment Ive ever made by orders of magnitude. I was in pretty early.

VC: There is a concept called the intransigent minority. It was developed by a brilliant guy named Nassim Taleb, whos a mathematician that hates genetic engineering. He really hated Monsanto. The intransigent minority is the number of people you need in a given society to be absolutely entrenched on an idea that society relents to them and gives them whatever they want. For example, how many vegans would you need before you require all food to be vegan. Or organic?

Go here to see the original:
How To Thrive On the Edge of Chaos: A Guide for Farmers - Successful Farming

The first batch of genetically engineered salmon at a fish farm in Albany has grown from the size of a thread to 60 grams, or about two ounces, as shown here through a portal.(Photo: AquaBounty Technologies)

ALBANY, Ind. The first batch of genetically engineered salmon eggs that arrived here in May/Junehasmade it from thehatchery into nursery tanks the size of backyard swimming pools and then into grow-out tanks that hold up to 70,000 gallons of water apiece.

The formerly threadlike salmon,the size of the end of your thumbnail, had grown to a length of about 8 inches and a weight of around60 grams (about two ounces) by early December and is increasing in size daily, according to AquaBounty Farms-Indianaowner AquaBounty Technologies.

"The first cohort of AquAdvantage Salmon that hatched in our Albany farm in June are healthy and growing well," AquaBounty spokesman Dave Conley told The Star Press via email.

The fish, engineeredto grow faster than conventional Atlantic salmon,are attracting attention because they're the first genetically modified animals approved for human consumption in the U.S.

The fish were mentioned Dec. 20 by U.S. Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., when he recapped the farm and agribusiness stops he made in the Hoosier state, including Albany, during 2019.

Young learned about regulatory challenges facing the fish from fellow Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who reportedly has used riders to single-handedly block genetically engineered (GE)salmon for years. Murkowski's office told The Star Press her efforts are all about ensuring clear labeling of GE salmon before they go to market.

The batch of conventional Atlantic salmon that AquaBountystarted farming in June of 2018 is growing well and is expected to be harvested beginning in the third quarter of2020, followed by the first harvest of the GE AquAdvantage Salmon in the fourth quarter of 2020, according to Conley.

A second batch of AquAdvantage Salmon eggsarrived at the land-based farm in Albany in mid-October, has now hatched and is almost ready to be moved to the nursery for their first feeding.

AquaBounty Technologies CEO Sylvia Wulf talks to reporters at the company's Albany facility.(Photo: Seth Slabaugh, The Star Press)

Sylvia Wulf,AquaBounty's CEO, said in a prepared statement:We are thrilled with the progress of our salmon at our Indiana farm. The fish are growing extremely well, and they look fantastic."

In its most recent quarterly report, AquaBounty notes that its AquAdvantage salmon remains the subject of a federal lawsuit pending in the northern district of California, brought by Friends of the Earth and other plaintiffs, versus the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Issues include the risk of AquAdvantage Salmon escaping and threatening endangered wild salmon stocks.

But last month, U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria ruled in favor of the FDA, writing, "The lawsuit is both a broadside attack on the FDAs authority to regulate the genetic engineering of animals and a targeted attack on the particular process by which the agency approved the salmon.

(Netting covers the Albany farm'snursery fish tanks to prevent the salmon from jumping out. If any got through the netting, they would land on a concrete floor that drains to a trench containing screens to prevent them from advancing.

(As the fish grow in size and move to larger tanks, they encounter a number of screens, filters, gates, grates and cages to prevent an escape into the wild the chances of which AquaBountysays are zero. But even if a breakout occurred, the fish couldn't breed, the company says, because they're all sterilized females).

FDA has approved the production of the GE salmon eggs in a hatchery in Canada and the grow-out of the eggs in Albany.

The quarterly report also notes that legislative action could result in restrictions on or delays in commercialization of the GE salmon: "We could be subject to increasing or more onerous regulatory hurdles as we attempt to commercialize our product, which could require us to incur significant additional capital and operating expenditures and other costs in complying with these laws and regulations.

Murkowski included a provision within the Agriculture Appropriations bill for fiscal year 2020 to postpone the introduction of GE salmon to the U.S. market until a consumer label comprehension study is completed, to determine the effectiveness of USDAs new labeling guidelines for bioengineered foods, the senator's spokesperson, Karina Borger, told The Star Press earlier this month.

That bill advanced out of the full Appropriations Committee unanimously and then passed in the full Senate at the end of October as part of a funding package.

"Her efforts are all about ensuring clear labeling of GE salmon before they go to the U.S. market," Borger went on. "Murkowski has said we owe it to American consumers to ensure that the standards put in place for labeling GE salmon are clear, effective, and understandable. Murkowski believes that a clear, text-based label is the high standard that American consumers deserve, and has also introduced stand-alone legislation to that effect. That bill is the Genetically Engineered Salmon Labeling Act."

Sen. Todd Young talks to AquaBounty's Peter Bowyer during a tour.(Photo: Jordan Kartholl / The Star Press)

Sen. Young and fellow Hoosier Sen. Mike Braun have said in a letter the legislation would set "a troubling precedent regarding the function and authority of federal regulatory agencies. There are a great number of important agriculture innovations in the research, development and regulatory pipeline behind the bioengineered salmon. To effectively ban a first-in-class product for no legitimate reason will cast a chilling effect on the willingness or ability of other researchers and developers to invest in the United States."

Responding to Murkowski's position, Wulf, the CEO of AquaBounty, told The Star Press, "The senators feigned attempt at consumer concern is a smokescreen for her decade-long campaign to financially cripple a small company with an innovative way to combat the negative effects of climate change, which is a more significant threat to Alaskas salmon fishery than a faster-growing salmon. Putting 30 people out of work in Indiana will not solve her problem."

Because fresh and frozen fish are flown to markets all over the world, seafood has a large carbon footprint, AquaBounty says, adding that itsAquAdvantage Salmon can be grown in land-based facilities built closer to consumers to reduce the need for energy-intensive air freight shipping and transportation.

In September, the farm hosted a visit from Cornell University's Alliance for Science, which in turn was hosting a group of Turkish government regulators through a United States Department of Agriculture-funded program.

Since July 1, AquaBounty Farms-Indiana hashired 22 new people to work at the Albany farm, which now employs 30, according to Conley, who added the new hirescome from backgrounds in manufacturing, security andteaching. Some are recent Ball State graduates.

The farm also has added a lot of new equipment, including an automobile disinfecting system to improve bio-security, and has worked with local companies on farm improvements, including Versatile Metal Works of Muncie, which designed and fabricated fish handling equipment.

Fish manure is being spread as fertilizer on local crops.

The farm hosted a presentation for the town of Albany at the farm in October and sponsored a carriage ride for the Albany Christmas Festival on Dec. 8.

Non-genetically altered Atlantic salmon are raised in tanks at AquaBounty Technologies in Albany. The company began raising unmodified Atlantic salmon at the facility while waiting for FDA approval to transport genetically modified eggs across the Canadian border. (Photo: Jordan Kartholl/The Star Press)

Genetically engineered fish hatched in Albany

AquaBounty farm in Albany first of its kind endeavor

Contact Seth Slabaugh at (765) 213-5834 or seths@muncie.gannett.com

Read or Share this story: https://www.thestarpress.com/story/news/local/2020/01/02/genetically-engineered-salmon-doing-well-here/2737140001/

Read more here:
Genetically engineered salmon: An update on how they are growing in Albany - The Star Press

Hemophilia. Cystic fibrosis. Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Huntingtons disease. These are just a few of the thousands of disorders caused by mutations in the bodys DNA. Treating the root causes of these debilitating diseases has become possible only recently, thanks to the development of genome editing tools such as CRISPR, which can change DNA sequences in cells and tissues to correct fundamental errors at the sourcebut significant hurdles must be overcome before genome-editing treatments are ready for use in humans.

Enter the National Institutes of Health Common Funds Somatic Cell Genome Editing (SCGE) program, established in 2018 to help researchers develop and assess accurate, safe and effective genome editing therapies for use in the cells and tissues of the body (aka somatic cells) that are affected by each of these diseases.

Todaywith three ongoing grants totaling more than $6 million in research fundingDuke University is tied with Yale University, UC Berkeley and UC Davis for the most projects supported by the NIH SCGE Program.

In the 2019 SCGE awards cycle, Charles Gersbach, the Rooney Family Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering, and collaborators across Duke and North Carolina State University received two grants: the first will allow them to study how CRISPR genome editing affects engineered human muscle tissues, while the second project will develop new CRISPR tools to turn genes on and off rather than permanently alter the targeted DNA sequence. This work builds on a 2018 SCGE grant, led by Aravind Asokan, professor and director of gene therapy in the Department of Surgery, which focuses on using adeno-associated viruses to deliver gene editing tools to neuromuscular tissue.

There is an amazing team of engineers, scientists and clinicians at Duke and the broader Research Triangle coalescing around the challenges of studying and manipulating the human genome to treat diseasefrom delivery to modeling to building new tools, said Gersbach, who with his colleagues recently launched the Duke Center for Advanced Genomic Technologies (CAGT), a collaboration of the Pratt School of Engineering, Trinity College of Arts and Sciences, and School of Medicine. Were very excited to be at the center of those efforts and greatly appreciate the support of the NIH SCGE Program to realize this vision.

For their first grant, Gersbach will collaborate with fellow Duke biomedical engineering faculty Nenad Bursac and George Truskey to monitor how genome editing affects engineered human muscle tissue. Through their new project, the team will use human pluripotent stem cells to make human muscle tissues in the lab, specifically skeletal and cardiac muscle, which are often affected by genetic diseases. These systems will then serve as a more accurate model for monitoring the health of human tissues, on-target and off-target genome modifications, tissue regeneration, and possible immune responses during CRISPR-mediated genome editing.

Currently, most genetic testing occurs using animal models, but those dont always accurately replicate the human response to therapy, says Truskey, the Goodson Professor of Biomedical Engineering.

Bursac adds, We have a long history of engineering human cardiac and skeletal muscle tissues with the right cell types and physiology to model the response to gene editing systems like CRISPR. With these platforms, we hope to help predict how muscle will respond in a human trial.

Gersbach will work with Tim Reddy, a Duke associate professor of biostatistics and bioinformatics, and Rodolphe Barrangou, the Todd R. Klaenhammer Distinguished Professor in Probiotics Research at North Carolina State University, on the second grant. According to Gersbach, this has the potential to extend the impact of genome editing technologies to a greater diversity of diseases, as many common diseases, such as neurodegenerative and autoimmune conditions, result from too much or too little of certain genes rather than a single genetic mutation. This work builds on previous collaborations between Gersbach, Barrangou and Reddy developing both new CRISPR systems for gene regulation and to regulate the epigenome rather than permanently delete DNA sequences.

Aravind Asokan leads Dukes initial SCGE grant, which explores the the evolution of next generation of adeno-associated viruses (AAVs), which have emerged as a safe and effective system to deliver gene therapies to targeted cells, especially those involved in neuromuscular diseases like spinal muscular atrophy, Duchenne muscular dystrophy and other myopathies. However, delivery of genome editing tools to the stem cells of neuromuscular tissue is particularly challenging. This collaboration between Asokan and Gersbach builds on their previous work in using AAV and CRISPR to treat animal models of DMD.

We aim to correct mutations not just in the mature muscle cells, but also in the muscle stem cells that regenerate skeletal muscle tissue, explainsAsokan. This approach is critical to ensuring long-term stability of genome editing in muscle and ultimately we hope to establish a paradigm where our cross-cutting viral evolution approach can enable efficient editing in multiple organ systems.

Click through to learn more about the Duke Center for Advanced Genomic Technologies.

Excerpt from:
Duke Researchers Garner Over $6 Million in NIH Funding to Fight Genetic Diseases - Duke Today

Changing landscapes, habitat loss, fragmentation, and global climate change have been listed as the main reasons for biodiversity decline worldwide. Now, a new study from the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bengaluru, has added to the growing knowledge that anthropogenic activities can impact genetic connectivity or the movement among habitat patches usually resulting in mating and genetic exchange.

In several mammalian carnivores, juveniles disperse away from their mother's territory to establish their own territory. Males are known to travel longer distances than females. Isolation of habitat patches (due to habitat destruction and fragmentation) can restrict animal movement among habitat patches and thus reduce genetic exchange and increase the probability of extinction. Hence maintaining connectivity is critical to ensure long term persistence of a species, Prachi Thatte explains. Dr. Thatte is the first author of the paper published in Diversity and Distributions and now works with WWF-India on connectivity conservation

Four wide-ranging mammals Jungle cats, leopards, sloth bears, tigers were investigated for the genetic differentiation in central India, which is a critical landscape for several species. The DNA extracted from faecal samples were used for understanding genetic connectivity. The samples were collected from nine protected areas during the period 2012-2017.

The team looked at how land-use, human population density, nearby roads and traffic affected the genetic structure. The paper notes that tigers were impacted the most by high human footprint. Although known to travel long distances and move through agricultural fields to some extent, tigers in central India do not have equally high genetic exchange throughout the landscape. Some protected areas like Bandhavgarh tiger reserve seem to be getting relatively isolated (the 2014 tiger census report also shows the same), explains Dr. Thatte.

Jungle cats were found to be the least impacted. That is likely because in central India, they occupy a variety of habitats including forests, scrublands, grasslands and even irrigated agricultural fields close to the forests, she explains.

Despite being the least impacted by human activity, the team encountered several jungle cat road-kills while carrying out fieldwork. She explains that with increasing infrastructure and traffic, systematically studying the impact of roads on smaller species like jungle cat and jackals and ensuring the presence of mitigation structures like underpasses and overpasses would be crucial to ensure that we don't fragment the currently well-connected populations.

IIndia has also started paying attention to wildlife corridors and encouraging engineering reforms to promote wildlife movements. Last year, the Ministry of Environment along with the Wildlife Institute of India released a document that lays out the regulatory requirements for developing roads, railways, powerlines while recognising the impacts on wildlife and people. NHAI and all PWDs have been instructed to follow the guidelines.

You have reached your limit for free articles this month.

Register to The Hindu for free and get unlimited access for 30 days.

Find mobile-friendly version of articles from the day's newspaper in one easy-to-read list.

Enjoy reading as many articles as you wish without any limitations.

A select list of articles that match your interests and tastes.

Move smoothly between articles as our pages load instantly.

A one-stop-shop for seeing the latest updates, and managing your preferences.

We brief you on the latest and most important developments, three times a day.

Not convinced? Know why you should pay for news.

*Our Digital Subscription plans do not currently include the e-paper ,crossword, iPhone, iPad mobile applications and print. Our plans enhance your reading experience.

See original here:
How humans affect genetic connectivity of four mammals - The Hindu

Venezuelan philosopher, Antonio Pasquali, who wrote extensively about how media and society affected each other, passed away on Oct. 5, 2019, in Spain.

In 1984, Pasquali was appointed Deputy Director General of the Communications Sector of UNESCO and Regional Coordinator for Latin America and the Caribbean of UNESCO from 1986-1989. He played an important role in UNESCOs New World Information and Communication discussions.

Pasqualis contributions to media studies are well-known in Latin America, but his research is less known in the English-speaking world. His research on media and communication inspired many Latin American scholars and media practitioners including myself who place ethics at the centre of the discussion.

Pasquali was a fierce critic of Canadian media theorist Marshall McLuhans view that the medium is the message that the medium in which things are disseminated determines their meaning. Always returning to human communication as the basis of relationships betwwen people, Pasquali warned us about the necessary conceptual and practical difference between communication and media.

For Pasquali, the ability to communicate is inherent to the formation of society. And so, any modification or control of communications becomes to a modification or control of society itself. He argued that technological changes, with their benefits and disruptions, have yet to transform the essence of human communication.

Pasqualis work is important to consider because he warned us about some troubling challenges that we can see around us.

Pasquali wrote about the ethics of communication, or what he called the moral dimension of communication. In his book 18 essays about communications, he identified six hard trends that would mark humanitys future:

1) A process of human-made environmental degradation that approaches the point of no return, as in the impending ecological crisis brought about by climate change and its consequences;

Read more: Dealing with the absurdity of human existence in the face of converging catastrophes

2) Human interference in natural evolutionary processes. He warned that advances in genetic engineering that bring hope for the treatment of diseases and also open the door to sophisticated mechanisms of social engineering and control;

3) Challenging the very idea of what being human is by: a) machines combined with living beings (cyborgs), and b) by the shift of human decision-making to artificial intelligence that could make humans irrelevant and even disposable. This will require new ways of understanding the relations between digital machines and human;

4) The persistence of nuclear, bacteriological, chemical and terrorist dangers, in a context of political polarization coupled with the emergence of extremist ideologies that could lead to internal and external violent confrontations;

5) The consolidation of the disparity between rich and poor that is already generating social unrest in different regions, as we have seen recently in Latin America and the Middle East;

6) The transformation of democracy into a plutocratic dictatorship (the government by the wealthy) based on the technological manipulation of social consensus, as illustrated in the Cambridge Analytica/Facebook scandal.

Pasquali was persistent in his struggle to establish a public broadcasting service in Latin American countries. His passion in defence of the need for a public media service never declined, and seems to be more relevant than ever in the midst of the Internet explosion.

Pasquali observed that the internet is now largely controlled by monopolies such as Facebook, Google, Amazon and Apple, and manipulated by big emerging powers like China. He vehemently denounced the communication hegemony of the authoritarian government of Hugo Chvez and his successor Nicols Maduro. Pasquali documented the setbacks that the regime has inflicted on Venezuelan society from the point of view of telecommunications, the media and transportation infrastructure.

At the end of his essay Will we communicate or inform ourselves?, Pasquali wondered if we are ready to give up a fundamental condition for our existence the ability and experience of communication. For him, communication was a mixture of intellect, passions and will that was intrinsic to how people and made meaning, personally and socially. He asked: Are we going to give up without a fight the possibility of communicating to another human being that we love him/her?

The great body of work that Pasquali produced will help us to answer these fundamental questions about the future of communication. Pasqualis intellectual legacy will live on through his writings and teachings.

[ Expertise in your inbox. Sign up for The Conversations newsletter and get a digest of academic takes on todays news, every day. ]

Read this article:
Society can be controlled through its means of communication - The Conversation CA

We are Earths Tech Support, declared Randall Kirk, Executive Chairman of the Board of Directorsand former CEO ofIntrexon. Intrexonis one of the biggest developers of synthetic biology (or engineering biology) applications in therapeutics, agriculture and chemicals. Kirk gave a keynote speech atSynbio Marketson synthetic biologys struggle to break into mainstream markets and its revolutionary new approach for industrial biotech in the food, pharmaceuticals, chemicals and materials sectors.

Before these new technologies can save the world, they need to be accepted and get to market. Companies must overcome the usual hurdles in finding investment and meeting regulatory requirements. They must find compatible scale-up partners and face new challenges in communicating the benefits and safety of their novel technology to society.

Partnerships for Success

Collaborations are beginning to blossom in synthetic biology. The field is often likened to the silicon chip industry. In its infancy, a single company would design, build and use their own chips. Now, companies outsource the design, building, testing and manufacture of chips along a structured value chain thanks to standardization of parts and uniformity in the field. This took years to achieve. Synthetic biology companies are currently developing their own unique tools to perform new feats in engineering biotechnology. Standardization is the dream and, to achieve this, companies must work together to break into the market.

A striking partnership at the conference was that ofAMSilkandAirbus. The airline industry has a problem: they must increase fuel efficiency by reducing weight of their aircraft without compromising on safety. Composite materials are an alternative to hefty sheet metals and AMSilk produces a durable but lightweight material: synthetic spider silk. AMSilk is interesting for its energy absorption, which is important for safety of the aircraft, Detlev Konigorski of Airbus explains. This partnership could help Airbus develop safe new materials while helping the carbon footprint of the airline industry.

One of the kings of collaboration isGinkgo Bioworks. Ginkgo uses several automated platforms to speed up and precisely carry out genetic manipulation, growth and testing of cells. To build their analytical power, they collaborated withBerkeley Lights, whose technology allows functional screening of thousands of cells simultaneously, increasing throughput.

Ginkgo has used this actively in their healthcare collaborations, such as a recent team-up withSynlogic, a microbiome therapeutics company developing living medicines. Ginkgo used its platform to increase the potency of SynlogicsE. coli-based drug in non-human primates in less than a year. Ginkgo CCO Matt McKnight wants to build on these partnerships by partnering with early-stage companies. Theyrecently announced a $350 m platformto build companies using Ginkgos foundries. He foresees more partnerships in the synthetic biology space in future, I think we shouldnt have full stack engineering biology companies. In any discipline, we dont see this. People work together.

Chemicals giantBASFis also interested in partnering with synthetic biology companies. Markus Pompejus, Vice President for Innovation and Scouting addressed the conference in Berlin citing the companys wide range of products. In principal, many products could be produced with biotech methods. Synbio is a research topic, but biotech is the application, Pompejus says.

Partnering may be off-putting for early-stage companies who want to maximize ownership of their company and the topic came up repeatedly at Synbio Markets. Where do you draw the line? Where do you co-develop with customers or should you do it more yourself? asks session chair James Hallinan ofCambridge Consultants, an expert engineering firm.

Depends where you are, says Alexandre Zanghellini of protein design companyArzeda, The later you partner, the more value you capture. You certainly want to keep the process propriety until the point where it can be scaled, then partner with marketing, scale up and development partners.

Talking Tech and Selling Solutions

Synthetic biology exists at the nexus of biology and nearly every other field. Its less a field of study and more of a precision engineering approach to traditional biotechnology using standardized tools and platforms. Kirk argued in his speech humanity has been using synthetic biology for thousands of years, using crop breeding as an example of humans precisely selecting and breeding desirable traits to engineer better strains of corn, for example. Now our role in the world has changed.

Weve been doing it for 12,000 years and weve been doing it without thinking of the consequences. Synthetic biology allows us tremendous specificity and potential to solve world problems by targeting individual species, he said.

How does this help us synthetic biology products access new and existing markets? Every process has biology in it, McKnight says.InscriptasCCO Jason Gammack thinks the solution lies in getting a few tangible products to lead the way. We need to make the products tangible. In the US were in hyperdrive mode. Two years ago, there was very little. Now,Impossible Foodsis in Burger King, says Gammack. Gary Lin ofPurple Orange Venturesthinks we need to raise the profile of synthetic biology among the public, adding One of the hard challenges, we need policymakers and government funding to support this. The amount of capital gone into this space is a drop in the ocean.

The issue spills over into the regulation of gene-edited technologies, especially in Europe. We recently had a debate on CRISPR plants, says Nadine Bongaerts-Duportet ofScience MattersandHello Tomorrow. The European Union regulations says CRISPR-edited crops are defined as genetically modified (GM), while those edited by radiation exposure are not. Bongaerts adds, The difference between UV exposure and CRISPR [as gene-editing methods], everybody understands the regulations dont make sense. How do you, with a positive message, make sure everyone gets it? All the panelists agree that building trust is key.

The trust us, were scientists approach doesnt work because people dont understand the technology, according to Gammack. I would fault all the synbio community, says Kirk. We look at polling data on GMO attitudes, I thought healthcare would be the first area [accepted]. In terms of polling, people have the greatest acceptance to insect disease vectors, he says, citing IntrexonsOxitecand theirGM mosquitoas an example.

The messaging, particularly around GM and especially here in Europe, is a minefield. From our perspective, we need to be mindful of potential roadblocks, says Lin, GM in food is the most difficult to grapple with. Part of the process is creating awareness of what the food process looks like. Transparency and openness about the technology is a major factor in getting this technology to market.MonsantosFlavr Savr tomatodisaster is still fresh in peoples minds. Public acceptance to this technology is a must before the market can be broken into reliably.

We need to understand emotions and backgrounds of people we talk to, to link our advancements to the incentives they care about. We should not over-hype, because if you can be critical and open about it, people will trust you, says Bongaerts.

Originally posted here:
Getting the Most from Biotech: Precision Engineering and Partnership - BioSpace

My hope is that we pay more attention to the way we talk about food; dietary regimes have become a means of self-definition a set of rules to follow, a clan to be a part of, which creates the potential to become divisive.

iStockPhoto / Getty Images

In this part of the world, it will be increasingly difficult for small agricultural operators to survive, let alone compete in the years to come, says Tony Marshall, who with his wife, Penny, runs a small-scale organic farm in High River, Alta., that has been in the family since 1899. He predicts that the increasing cost of land, equipment and labour could limit growth of small family farms, which are also increasingly impacted by fluctuating weather patterns. In addition, he foresees the cost and sophistication of regulatory compliance, food safety, organic certification, etc., will increase to the point of being prohibitive for smaller producers and processors, leaving only large enterprises able to afford the implementation and ongoing maintenance of complex programs such as the Safe Food for Canadians Act, which became law in January, 2019.

Certain segments of the public will continue to pursue connections with the people growing and making their food, but overall the marketplace will gradually slip away from any direct association to the land and their food sources, Marshall says. Highly processed foods like Beyond Meat and other lab-based alternatives will exacerbate this disconnect. Increasing food security demands from a growing global population will put even more pressure on agricultural producers to embrace technologies such as genetic engineering, farmed fish and factory-grown designer meat.

Feeding a hungry world is as dependent on government policies, distribution and food waste as it is upon increasing production outputs, Marshall says. Addressing the problem of food waste, on the farm and during transport, storage, processing, distribution, in retail and by end-users, will be essential to resolving food security issues.

Story continues below advertisement

Im hoping restaurants will survive, restaurateur Tannis Ling says of the popular Bao Bei and Kissa Tanto in Vancouvers Chinatown, eateries that cultivate unique dining experiences with attention to decor, music, service and other details that are lost when food is ordered via delivery options, such as Uber Eats and DoorDash. Ling sees an increasing desire for fast casual, takeout and non-committal eateries that focus on just a few items, such as Juke Fried Chicken across the street from Bao Bei. Those who are doing it well are killing it, she says.

Though she has witnessed a dramatic shift in restaurant culture over the decades cooks, kitchen and front of house staff are paying more attention to their physical and mental health, and prioritizing a more manageable work-life balance Ling worries, as does the back of house operations manager Alain Chow, about staffing becoming even more challenging in the coming years. In a gig economy, many young people who have traditionally sought jobs in the food industry are opting to make money doing multiple smaller tasks, many of them virtual or digital. Were still finding passionate young cooks, Chow says, but retaining them is the hard part.

They both expect technology to have an ever-increasing presence in the coming decade, citing a local hot pot restaurant at which diners order from their tables on iPads, but believe that social media has hit a plateau in terms of its influence on the dining experience. With such a constant barrage of imagery and information, Ling says, it no longer has the same impact.

Big changes are gradual, almost imperceptible, but were in the midst of one, says educator, activist and historian Anita Stewart, who has been writing about food in Canada for almost 40 years, and this year will see the creation of her namesake Alumni Food Laboratory at the University of Guelph, a multifunctional lab and teaching studio that will enable hospitality and nutrition students to learn innovative practices in food preparation, production and food science.

Our food supply is among the best in the world and Canadian chefs, restaurateurs and even grocery chains with branding programs have adopted local/regional foods as a point of differentiation, she says. Even a generation ago, locally grown food was not commonplace on restaurant menus; today its almost a given that restaurants will support local farms and producers. Stewart sees that trend continuing, propelled by a rise in concern over the impact our food choices have on the environment. Reducing the miles our ingredients travel has to be a factor, she says.

My hope for the coming decade is that the industry be more collaborative, Stewart says. Look down, on whose shoulders are we standing? Look beside, whos travelling on a similar pathway? Look ahead, there are way too many silos and we need to build some bridges. We all, as consumers, need to be more grateful, introspective and well-informed advocates for Canadian agricultural and processing communities who are competing not only with the world, but increasingly devastating weather.

I probably check the weather three times a day, says Ann Sperling, winemaker and director at Canadas first biodynamic vineyard and winery, Southbrook Vineyards, in Ontarios Niagara on the Lake, and owner and winemaker at Sperling Vineyards in Kelowna, B.C.

Story continues below advertisement

Covering two growing regions in Canada, she says our wine industry is flourishing, and yet all regions Nova Scotia, Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia have had challenges in recent years, much related to erratic weather. More investments are being made to develop technology to mitigate environmental instability issues; textiles to cover vines in colder regions, wind machines to minimize frost risk and irrigation for periods of drought are just some of those innovations. But there are still no systems in place to deal with crop failures, and government has been reducing its support for the industry, and agriculture in general. Theres no bigger picture safeguard, she says. Were more on our own.

The more people realize there is an impact on climate, that C02 levels are rising, the more people will start to make their buying decisions based on environmental impact, Sperling says. The good news: By next year, B.C. will have one of the highest percentages of organic vine production in the world, at around 12 to 15 per cent.

Because, generally, we do not find wine as intimidating as it used to be, Sperling doesnt see new cannabis legislation affecting the industry; the two fit a different niche in peoples lives. And much of the industrys marketing is geared toward younger consumers, who have increasing buying power without the same biases of generations past. Theyre more inclined to try new things, Sperling says, and they think more globally in terms of how they spend their money.

A shift in attitude toward food excites me. At home, people are paying attention to food waste and learning to cook more intuitively, approaching mealtimes from the standpoint of whats in the fridge that needs to be used, rather than sourcing specific ingredients for a recipe they perhaps saw online. Home cooking is becoming more valued and less competitive. People are sharing more meals at home, and even at work. My hope is that we pay more attention to the way we talk about food; dietary regimes have become a means of self-definition a set of rules to follow, a clan to be a part of, which creates the potential to become divisive.

Plan your weekend with our Good Taste newsletter, offering wine advice and reviews, recipes, restaurant news and more. Sign up today.

Visit link:
How we'll eat in the decade ahead - The Globe and Mail

Jack Duffy-Protentis said he has enjoyed working with his hands since childhood and looks forward to working in the automotive industry.

EASTON Jack Duffy-Protentis is less than a year away from graduating and starting a career as an engineer, a field that he enjoys because it allows him to work with his hands.

In addition to being a college student and learning concepts from chemistry and physics he has applied to his work, the Easton native has faced another challenge: being visually impaired.

"I do the same thing as everyone else, but I just have to find a different path," said Duffy-Protentis, who attends Worcester Polytechnic Institute and studies mechanical engineering.

Being visually impaired is challenging, the 22-year-old said. It adds more steps and time to do things, but that isn't a barrier.

"It's not stopped me from doing anything other than driving," Duffy-Protentis said.

His family realized that he had difficulty seeing in kindergarten when he struggled to read and write.

In the third grade, Duffy-Protentis was diagnosed with Stargardt's disease, a rare degenerative genetic disease that affects the retinas.

Duffy-Protentis recalled feeling relieved that he wasn't stupid. For his parents, the diagnosis was more difficult and they wanted to find a way to help him, whether it was through treatment or support.

"Part of Jack's success now and in life is that he doesn't have an attitude that is defeated," said his father Paul. "He's optimistic. He doesn't look at obstacles as obstacles. There are just challenges to overcome."

Today, Duffy-Protentis has about 20 percent of his vision left. His peripheral vision is good, but his central vision, where most details come from, has decreased.

He can make out shapes. When Duffy-Protentis looks at people, he looks at the tops of their heads and can understand where their features are, but can't see their facial expressions.

He has been interested in tinkering with things and later found that engineering would be a good fit for him. Duffy-Protentis wanted to find a school with a hands-on approach to learning like WPI.

After graduation in December, he wants to go into automotive engineering and work abroad with hypercar companies like Lamborghini, Ferrari or Sweden-based manufacturer Koenigsegg.

"Everything is mechanical and working in sync and relating to another system," Duffy-Protentis said about his interest in cars. "It all sort of comes together."

Before college, he restored a 1964 Mustang. Despite his diminishing vision, Duffy-Protentis has continued to work on it by using his sense of touch.

There were also other signs that he was mechanically inclined. Duffy-Protentis liked building toys, like Legos, and was a co-captain of the Oliver Ames High School robotics team.

He is also the only science person among his three siblings and cousins.

WPI is academically challenged and fast-paced, he said. For his senior project , Duffy-Protentis is working with a team of students to convert a gasoline jet ski into a solar energy and electric one. The goal is to build a prototype.

In class, he sits at the front of the room and takes pictures of notes on the board. He meets daily with a tutor to make sure he understood material from lectures.

To navigate, he has a guide dog named Adonis. Duffy-Protentis and the 2-year-old yellow Labrador retriever have been together since May after they graduated from a training school called Guiding Eyes for the Blind.

Duffy-Protentis said he is the first guide dog user at his university.

When he's not on the job, Adonis is a regular dog who likes to play and receive. Once the harness is on, he's focused.

Having Adonis has helped Duffy-Protentis feel more approachable, he said. When using a cane, people didn't really know how to act around him, but with a dog, he said people are more likely to interact with him or ask questions.

Adonis, the guide dog, has kept him company, but Duffy-Protentis has also made an effort to combat the social isolation of blindness.

His solution has been to become more of an extrovert and to introduce himself to people around campus.

His other interests include outdoor activities, like hiking, and board sports, like skiing and surfing. Being visually impaired helps him balance better, he said.

Duffy-Protentis is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers and the Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity.

He knew that his fraternity was a good match for him when his brothers made an effort to include him in one of its traditions.

After members are accepted into the fraternity, they play a game of football. Duffy-Protentis planned to sit the game out because he can't see the ball when it's in the air.

Fraternity members asked if he could play soccer, which Duffy-Protentis can because he can see it better. The fraternity altered the tradition so that he could participate.

Beyond school, Duffy-Protentis has interned at a manufacturing center in Easton called Case Assembly Solutions that makes circuit boards.

He has volunteered a science, technology, engineering and math camp for children through the National Federation for the Blind and likes that he can be an example of a visually impaired engineer.

"There aren't many visually impaired engineers out there," Duffy-Protentis said.

Staff writer Mina Corpuz can be reached at mcorpuz@enterprisenews.com. Follow her on Twitter @mlcorpuz.

Here is the original post:
Visually impaired Easton native finds a different path as an engineer - Enterprise News